Food processing trade show Foodex: key highlights
Running from 5–7 July at the NEC Birmingham, Foodex will be the first UK in-person trade show for members of the food and drink industry post COVID-19 lockdown. It is part of William Reed’s UK Food & Drink Shows, including the Food and Drink Expo, The Ingredients Show, the National Convenience Show and The Forecourt Show.
Exhibitors this year represent the gamut of food and drink industry innovation and technical expertise – from suppliers of the latest processing equipment and packaging machinery, to the latest experts in robotics and quality control.
Air Products will be exhibiting a range of innovations. It will showcase new cryogenic freezing technology incorporated into its new Freshline High performance batch freezer.
Its Freshline Aroma Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) system, which vaporises natural aromas – such as essential oils – into packaging with the MAP gas, involving no additional production steps will also be on show.
New developments
Complementing these developments is a new online calculator from the industrial gas company. The tool enables manufacturers to assess which packaging provides the best solution to minimising food waste and reducing a product’s carbon footprint.
Fortress Technology will be on hand at the show to talk about its new High Performance Raptor Combi System, its first modular, high performance, affordable combination metal detector and checkweighing system.
The system features a single swipe touch screen HMI, plus paperless audit software with what Fortress described as ‘unlimited’ pre-programmed Codes of Practice. It claimed the software could capture all the data required to ‘guarantee absolute traceability’.
Jenton Group has launched a new automatic food pack stacker for end-of-line high-speed collation, which is designed with reliability and minimal operator intervention in mind and features in our April packaging trends roundup.
150 packs per minute
Capable of operating at speeds up to 150 packs per minute, Jenton’s new collating system features multiple stacking finger modules to drop packs into the stack incrementally in a controlled manner. In addition, stepper-driven infeed and outfeed belts control the entry and exit of trays.
IFM Electronic will be promoting its digitally enabled sensors, with its new IO-Link sensors taking pride of place on its stand.
Billed as an ‘easy-to-use’ plug and play data acquisition system, the IO-Link Sensors send process values to the cloud, even from locations where no network connection is available.
Users can visualise and analyse the data acquired by the system with a web-based dashboard that offering options for setting limit values.
This year’s Foodex once again plays host to live events on centre stage during all three days of the show. These include panel debates with industry experts and vital insights from across all food and drink sectors.
Experts on stage
Previous thought leaders that have taken the stage include Alan Ellis, engineering director, GB, at Coca-Cola European Partners and Siemens head of food and beverage Keith Thornhill.
Commenting on the event, William Reed managing director, events and exhibitions Andrew Reed said: “No one is better placed or more experienced to deliver safe and inspiring live events, and no other event in 2021 will have the laser guided sector focus, breadth of exhibitors, content and innovation.
“We look forward to the summer as a time of great celebration, of new ways of thinking, new products, new attitudes and a new start for our industry. We can’t wait to once again welcome exhibitors and visitors to the NEC in Birmingham.”
To find out about these exhibitors and more, visit the Foodex website. To register your interest in exhibiting or attending this year’s event, please contact Julie Adlington.
