Responsible food&bev at Anuga FoodTec

As a global platform of technologies for the food and beverages industry, Anuga FoodTec 2024 (19-22 March, Cologne) underlined how true corporate responsibility goes far beyond daily activity, acting, rather, as a driving force for long-term sustainable growth. We report some highlights from Cologne.

1,307 exhibiting companies and almost 40,000 professional visitors coming from 133 counties reinforced Anuga FoodTec’s approach as a food technology fair focused on a shared future for all. The reference to “responsibility” is, therefore, explicit, expressed also in the exhibition programme that provided concrete answers regarding alternative protein sources, the sustainable management of energy and water, as well as all the natural resources along the entire value chain, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.

This was the clear objective right from the first moments of the fair, therefore, from the opening speech of Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of the Club of Rome*, who underlined the urgency of a sustainable and responsible development of the Food&Bev sector, which can no longer continue without production processes which respect people and the environment.

This concept was reiterated by Katharina Riehn, president of the DLG Food competence centre and vice-president of DLG (the German Agricultural Society), pointing out the need for ever closer networking between science and business practice: an interdisciplinary synergy that becomes a driver for innovation.

In this regard, reference is also made to the new “Environment & Energy” exhibition area dedicated to innovative energy solutions, fundamental for the food industry: solar thermal energy, heat pumps, biogas and biomass, which not only favour energy transformation, but also contribute to significantly reducing the CO2 emissions of companies and increasing overall energy efficiency.

A sector committed to renewal. Central themes such as responsibility, value creation, climate neutrality and safety are, therefore, strongly determining the direction of the food and drink industry. The processing and packaging systems and machines exhibited at Anuga FoodTec were the visible result of research aimed at tackling the challenges of a sustainable future from both an economic and ecological point of view.

In the field, this involves innovative ideas to combat food losses or improve wastewater treatment, and others to maintain the freshness of food without preservatives over a long time with the use of high-pressure technologies. Besides the offer of alternative materials, progresses made in the production of vegetable-based foods were also presented, and there was a preview exhibition of a system that allows for the production of food grown on an industrial scale.

Finally, reminding readers that the next edition of Anuga FoodTec will be taking place in Cologne from 23 to 26 February 2027, we present a number of direct testimonies collected at the fair.