From June 13-14, the European Convenience Forum took place for the second time this year at the Gustav Stresemann Institute in Bonn. After a four-year break, partly due to corona, various personalities from the fruit and vegetable industry met for exchange and networking in the convenience or fresh-cut sector. Speakers included Dr. Hans-Christoph Behr of AMI Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft, Benjamin Singh of Food Freshly AFC, Jochem Wolthuis of GO4EXPORT and Prof. Stefan Töpfl of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.
Click here for the photo report on the European Convenience Forum.
The team from AMI Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft
Among the topics discussed were current trends, facts, and figures on the state of convenience and fresh-cut consumption in Germany, including comparisons with countries such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. What is striking here is that fresh-cut goods account for less than 4 percent of total spending on fresh vegetables in Germany, while the share in the Netherlands is around 36 percent, according to Jochem Wolthuis, referring to a study by Hans-Christoph Behr. Wolthuis, together with Ruurd Schut of JASA Packaging and Johan Otto of Smit's Uien, presented the new FoodTec Group from the Netherlands.
Jochem Wolthuis, Ruurd Schut and Johan Otto
Benjamin Singh, in turn, showed what lessons could be learned in this country from trends in the world's largest fresh-cut market, the United States. Singh also presented the results of a customer survey from the USA on fresh-cut products and the extent to which the respective legal requirements also favor or impede the production of cut products.
Benjamin Singh of Food Freshly AFC
In addition to the trade side, Prof. Stefan Töpfl also spoke about the scientific side. He presented physical processes such as non-thermal preservation.
Prof. Stefan Töpfl
Representatives from the retail trade, packaging companies, science, and other areas of the fruit and vegetable trade took part in lively discussions.
We will publish more articles on individual presentations in the coming days.
Click here for a photo report on the European Convenience Forum.