Gulfood 2022 to supercharge global food agenda

E-commerce, technology, sustainability, and plant-based produce drivers to headline year’s first global F&B sector gathering

The 27th edition of Gulfood is all set to power considerable trends and techniques currently disrupting the international food industry agenda with its stated mandate of connecting, creating, and changing the future for the better, when it opens its doors next month.

Gulfood 2022 will span 21 Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) halls, and will underscore the UAE’s status at the forefront of sector change. The event will also highlight the UAE's leading role in tackling global issues with the launch of Gulfood Zero Waste, a global campaign in partnership with restaurants and hotels driving the zero waste initiative globally.

Running from February 13–17, 2022, the landmark show will be the global sector’s undisputed transformation powerbroker, where major global challenges, trends and change drivers will be examined, including e-commerce; technology, sustainability and disruptive cellular agriculture bio-innovation – the production of animal sourced foods from cell culture methods; emerging slow and plant-based food trends.

The show will also be a precursor to the much-anticipated Food For Future Summit and Global Agtech Innovation Expo taking place from February 23-24 at Expo 2020’s Dubai Exhibitions Center - part of the Expo 2020 Food, Agriculture and Livelihoods Week.

The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN-FAO) indicates that one third of the world’s food is wasted, equating to 1.3 billion tonnes annually at a cost of $1 trillion. Beyond the detrimental environmental impact, wastage also translates to the loss of nutrients and resources such as water, land, labour, energy, and the cost invested in food production.

Gulfood Zero Waste will light the way in addressing this major global issue, with chefs from 30 UAE restaurants, cafes, and dark kitchens focusing on sustainable practices using local produce via off-site workshops and masterclasses.

The initiative also provides a platform for impact-driven, homegrown companies, including a partnership with The Waste Lab, which is implementing solutions to repurpose food, such as compost, with societal and economic benefits. The Gulfood 2022 onsite Zero Waste Mega Impact will aim to collect 1,000kg of food wastage to produce 400kg of compost, equating to a CO2e emissions saving of 1,000kg.

The innovative campaign will culminate in an award ceremony recognising zero waste-leading restaurants.

“Gulfood 2022 will underscore UAE’s pivotal role in driving global F&B sector change for the better with a deep-dive into the trends and techniques set to transform the industry for good. The Gulfood Zero Waste is a global initiative with the goal of sparking dialogue and movement among policy-makers, industry leaders and communities to take a pro-active approach to adopting zero-waste initiatives, which can help end the discrepancies between food waste and hunger while playing a part in addressing climate change,” said Trixie LohMirmand, executive vice president of Exhibitions & Events at DWTC.

“Gulfood 2022 will build on the event’s unequivocal reputation as an industry trend springboard and a global sourcing powerhouse to inspire industry-wide transformation for the good of the entire eco-system, from raw material producers to policy-makers and consumers,” explained LohMirmand.

“This is a time when Dubai is, via Expo 2020, presenting to the world, a whole new future with the grandstanding of epoch-making transformations. Gulfood 2022 takes its cue from this inspiring vision with a more profound concept to provoke a stronger collective impact on the industry’s future,” she added.

Driving creativity and change, Gulfood 2022 will shape the future of food. In another industry first, this year’s event will feature the Gulfood E-commerce Platform, an exclusive networking and conference agenda powering the increasingly growing role of the digital marketplace in the food supply chain. SMEs will pitch to leading e-commerce and food delivery partners on ways retailers can boost their digital presence and hear from sector leaders.

rohma@khaleejtimes.com