MEAT-TECH 2021: an in-presence fair

In what is heralded as the grand return of MEAT-TECH, the IPACK-IMA fair will feature as a physically attended, in-presence event. The fair, dedicated to processing and packaging solutions for the meat, derivatives and ready meals industry, scheduled to take place in Milan from 17 to 20 May 2021, broadens its horizons by looking at related sectors, i.e. technologies for the Dairy and Fish & Seafood sectors, with a dedicated offer.

The concomitance with TUTTOFOOD strengthens its image as an event related to a supply chain project, capable of uniting, creating relationships, intercepting different targets, offering an all-round overview of the market.

The only event scheduled for 2021 for the segment, MEAT-TECH will take place in compliance with the strictest anti Covid safety protocols, as already experimented with the fairs held at FieraMilano in the second half of 2020.

Sustainability, traceability, food safety, digitization of production systems are just some of the trending topics of MEAT TECH, which will bring innovative elements and applications capable of combining innovation, effectiveness and technology transfer logic.

To the transversality of the topics, we add the variety of partners who support MEAT TECH, bringing skills, knowledge and unique networking opportunities for completeness. The strategic partners of the event are in fact UCIMA, ASSICA, ANIMA-ASSOFOODTEC.

OsseObservations and visions

The MEAT TECH fair is called to face with healthy realism an industrial and social situation in progressive change. In a complex year like 2020, there are in fact many elements of change that the market has had to face, starting from consumption habits oriented to “organic” products, chosen by 20% more consumers who, following a consistent path, associate and combine the quality of raw materials and ingredients with sustainable choices on the packaging front.

The environmental sensitivity increased by the emergency therefore starts from the choice of the product to move to the packaging, so much so that 9 out of 10 consumers believe that green packaging is an indispensable complement for organic products (Source: Nomisma).

But organic is not the only segment to grow in 2020, with the consumption of “insaccati”* [salami] standing at 130,000 tons sold, for a value of over 1,030 million euros, which follows the 413,000 tons of the Processed Meat segment, for a turnover of 2,978 million euros (Source: ASSICA).

At a global level, performance was also good for the Fish & Seafood sector which, with over 126,400 million euros in sales value, sees data up by +4.7% estimated in the period 2021 - 2024 (Source: Ipack Ima Business Monitor in collaboration with MECS).

Among  MEAT TECH’s focuses, we would also like to mention Dairy, in particular cheese, which, according to sales forecasts, will reach 886 million kg by the end of the year, for a value of over 9,000 million euros. The growth prospects for the world market in the 2021-2024 period are +0.9%, equal to 21,682 million kg for 178,795 million euros in sales.

* Cured gut contained cold cut meats.