This year’s Food ingredients Europe & Natural ingredients (Fi Europe & Ni 2019) – Europe’s leading trade show for food and beverage ingredients – will highlight the strengthening ‘green’ consumer trend with greater focus than ever before when the show returns in December.

 

As more and more companies focus on natural ingredients and organic provenance, exhibition organiser Informa Markets has more than doubled the size of the event’s Organic Pavilion. In addition, the natural ingredients zone has grown by more than 50 per cent. 

 

Currently, around 100 companies from all over the world have secured their spot for Fi Europe & Ni natural ingredients zone – including the agar specialist Setexam (Morocco), natural vanilla expert Eurovanille (France), the flavour house Enrico Giotti (Italy) and plant ingredients manufacturer Peruvian Nature (Peru). Trade visitors looking for natural alternatives will find what they are looking for both in this specialised area – and beyond.

 

The Organic Pavilion – with over 50 exhibitors already confirmed, including oleoresins and extracts producer Jean Gazignaire (France), import/export trader DO-IT (Netherlands) and natural fibre specialist Interfiber (Poland), offers an excellent overview of the immense diversity of organic quality alternatives that now exist.

 

In addition, Fi Europe & Ni will provide an extensive range of information and education opportunities on a variety of natural and organic topics. For instance, within the free-to-access Organic Spotlight trade visitors can gain insights into the latest trends in the organic sector, as well as regulatory issues and market analyses. The “Plant-based Experience” will focus on plant alternatives in particular: together with NGO ProVeg International, an extensive programme featuring live cooking events, lectures and innovation tours has been created. Meanwhile, the Fi Conference will focus on innovative concepts for clean labels, amongst other key areas.

 

The ‘green consumer’ is driving the market

 

In 2019, the ‘green consumer’ has already influenced two categories of Innova Market Insights’ top 10 trends: while ‘The Plant Kingdom’ charts the increasing market for plant alternatives, ‘The Green Appeal’ outlines current consumer demand for sustainability – stretching from responsible sourcing via upcycling ingredients and strategies against food waste to eco-friendly packaging solutions.

 

Although the claim ‘natural’ has no exact definition – contrary to the term “organic” – all major analysts agree that there is growing market for natural alternatives. Besides products that are free from artificial additives, colourants and flavours, and minimally processed foods and drinks, this also includes GMO-free solutions. According to the Mintel Global New Products Database, natural product claims appeared on 29 per cent of global food and drink launches between September 2016 and September 2017. 

 

“When the first exhibitors ventured into the arena of natural alternatives – at that time, primarily in the field of colours and flavours – we knew straight away that this was a major trend and created dedicated specialised zones and content hubs to showcase the latest developments,” reflects Julien Bonvallet, Brand Director of Fi Europe & Ni. “In 2007, we officially added an integrated natural ingredients exhibition to our show: since then, Fi Europe has added the Ni to its name. Now, we can justifiably say that for almost any challenge they face, visitors to Paris will be able to choose between a standard and a natural solution.”

 

Food ingredients Europe & Natural ingredients (Fi Europe & Ni 2019) will be held at Villepinte Parc des Expositions in Paris from 3-5 December. For more information, please visit: www.figlobal.com/fieurope/