Second SAVE FOOD Congress Raises Awareness Worldwide
PHOTO GALLERY Save Food proved a particularly attention-grabbing theme at interpack in Düsseldorf this May 7-8, as the congress was attended by over 450 participants and held in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
The initiative of the same name combats food losses and waste and involves such partners as the FAO and UNEP, as well as over 110 members from the industry. The SAVE FOOD Congress started the day before the trade fair and it addressed non-profit organisations, which shed some light on the problems from political and social angles, on the first of its two themed days.
The second half of the event dealt with solutions and Best Practice presented by enterprises. Even more impressively than at the kick-off event three years ago the Congress showed how the problem of global food losses and waste can be fought across the entire value chain.
This two-day event is directed at both non-profit organisations and industry and highlights the topics of global food loss and food waste, exploring the aspects involved and addressing a broad public audience.
Contributions came from prominent guests and participants such as FAO and UNEP representatives, the Senegalese Minister and musician Youssou N’Dour and the former German Federal Minister Renate Künast in addition to the numerous lectures and panel discussions that identified practical approaches.
All parties involved concluded that the objectives of SAVE FOOD can only be achieved with concerted action and pooled expertise as well as the competence of all stakeholders – a fundamental intention of the Initiative. For the entire duration of interpack 2014, Innovationparc Packaging presented solutions and ideas for fighting food losses and waste.
Photo gallery: SAVE FOOD Congress 2014
The presentation of the recent baseline study conducted by the SAVE FOOD Initiative, which lays out the causes of and concrete approaches to solving the food loss problem in Kenya, was central to the event.
“For a leading international trade fair it is not enough just to rent out exhibition space and offer perfect organisation. Trend themes must be identified, anchored in the concept and finally also driven in a consistent manner. This is the only way to secure thematic leadership in an industry. We have succeeded in doing this very well once again this year. The concepts of both Innovationparc Packaging and the METALPACKAGINGPLAZA were right on target with the target groups,” said Bernd Jablonowski, director of interpack & SAVE FOOD, underlining the fair’s importance in showcasing both technical and conceptual innovations.
The motto for experts from throughout the world will once again read “Welcome Home” to Düsseldorf in May, 2017.
European Baker, Asia Pacific Baker, Biscuit World and World Bakers Digital will include special reviews from our team’s visit to interpack.