Congress opens new fresh-cut fair

Berlin, 13 December 2007. The future for the fresh-cut convenience sector is the focus of the FRESHCONEX Congress, a one-day conference which takes place for the first time on the eve of the new specialist trade fair that opens in Berlin this year alongside FRUIT LOGISTICA, the world’s leading fresh fruit and vegetable trade fair.

Organised by Eurofruit Magazine in cooperation with United Fresh Produce Association, the FRESHCONEX Congress is going to look at developments in two key sectors for the future of the fresh-cut convenience business: food retail and food service.

"The fresh-cut convenience business is a fast-growing part of the fresh fruit and vegetable sector as a whole," said Chris White, managing director of Market Intelligence Limited, publisher of Eurofruit Magazine and organiser of fresh produce business conferences all over the world. "There is a lot of interest in it and a lot to discuss."

Key trends in the fresh-cut convenience sector at food retail and food service level are the focus on the day-long FRESHCONEX Congress, which takes place on Wednesday 6 February 2008. FRESHCONEX, the fresh-cut convenience exhibition, opens on Thursday 7 February and runs for three days. The trade fair takes place in Halls 7.2a and 7.2b of the Berlin exhibition grounds, which is where FRUIT LOGISTICA takes place. Indeed, visitor tickets to FRUIT LOGISTICA are also valid for FRESHCONEX.

Eurofruit Magazine and United Fresh Produce Association have lined up top level speakers and expert panelists from the fresh-cut convenience sector in Europe and the United States to discuss the latest industry trends. The congress falls into two halves: the two morning session focus on fresh-cut at food retail, the two afternoon sessions assess its position at food service. Fresh-cut convenience trends at food retail in Europe and the US opens the FRESHCONEX Congress, with the key numbers analysed in detail by Edward Garner of TNS Worldpanel and Bruce Axtman of The Perishables Group, the US consulting firm which specialises in marketing strategies for perishable food items.

Session Two goes into more detail, looking at the new opportunities to add more value at all points in the supply chain. Fresh-cut packaging expert Jeff Brandenburg of The JSB Group introduces the key themes and then takes part in a panel discussion where he will be joined by Graham Alexander of the Dutch fresh-cut business FTNON, Yves Clement of Bakkavr Fresh Produce in France. Patrick Larmon of US-based fresh-cut supply chain management specialists Bunzl and Bill Davies of Marks and Spencer, the UKbased food retailer that pioneered the development of fresh-cut convenience products complete the line-up.

Food service trends are the focus of the afternoon sessions. Key facts and figures about the food service market are presented by Planet Retail’s food service analyst Jon Wright while Dean McKenna, who heads up McDonalds’ supply chain and quality assurance team in the UK and Northern Europe, will explain what the leading restaurant chain expects from its fresh-cut fruit and vegetable suppliers.

Mr McKenna joins in on the final session which concludes the day-long conference. Its focus is on the big issues that face the food service sector in future. Introduced by food service industry expert Peter Backman of Horizons, he also takes part in the panel discussion of experts that follows and includes Klaus Klische of German fresh-cut suppliers Freshfactory, Denis Punter of the UK food service supply division of Total Produce and Emanuel Lazopoulos of Del Monte Fresh Produce. Mr Lazopoulos heads up Del Monte’s operations in the US, where food service is a key business sector, as is also the current president of United Fresh Produce Association, which represents major fresh-cut convenience companies and has developed the conference programme in cooperation with Eurofruit Magazine.