Tourism & Hospitality | Wednesday 1 November, 2017 1:42 pm |

The world’s leading food ingredients, manufacturing, production, processing, packaging and supply chain pioneers have been recognised at the inaugural Gulfood Manufacturing Industry Excellence Awards, held at the Armani Hotel Dubai.

 

Held on the fringes of Gulfood Manufacturing, the Middle East’s biggest food and beverage ingredients, processing and packaging and supply chain solutions exhibition, the awards recognised best practices and innovation across the food manufacturing industry value chain.

 

With Gulfood Manufacturing split into five distinct components – automation, ingredients, manufacturing, processing and packaging, and supply chain - 12 core awards were split across the show’s quintet of sectors.

 

The ingredients awards comprised ‘Most Innovative Food Ingredient’ – won by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) for Fruit Up Fiber, a low-glycemic and non-GMO ingredient for clean-label food, drink and snack developers; and ‘Most Innovative Health Food Ingredient’ – won by Novozymes for Spahera, a lactose-free, fermented dairy product.

 

“Fruit Up Fiber is a next generation product designed to improve peoples’ health,” said Ramesh Sambamoorthy, Managing Director, WILD Flavours & Speciality Ingredients. “Innovation is at the core of ADM and this award recognises the scientific approach of our research and development team to create products for consumers’ wellbeing.”

 

European firms dominated the manufacturing industry awards, with ‘Major Plant Sustainability Initiative’ going to Barcelona-based Liven for its Green Energy Snacks line; Italy’s Elettric 80 scooping ‘Greenfield Facility’ for its fully-integrated and automated system; and Italy’s A Due Si Squeri Donato & Co. winning ‘Cost Waste Reduction’ for Niagara, a revolutionary water-saving technology.

 

“This award brings industry-wide recognition for the company and the work we do to preserve our environment,” said Gian Luca Catellani, Commercial Director, A Due Di Squeri Donato & Co. “This is a milestone achievement that recognises our efforts in saving water – our planet’s most valuable resource - for a sustainable future.”

 

Awards in the processing and packaging accolades went to Tetra Pak, which won ‘Distributor and/or Integrator’ for its customised automation solution, Plant Master; ‘Packaging Design’ was claimed by Germany’s VF Verpackungen; the hotly-contested ‘Processing Innovation’ gong went to Dutch firm Log5 for a new-to-market dry food pasteuriser. The category’s big winner, however, was industry heavyweight Ishida, which took home the ‘Product Protection’ and ‘Robotics Industrial Vision’ awards for AirScan, a leak detection system, and Robotgrader’, which allows for fixed-weight packing for fresh poultry, meat and fish, respectively.

 

“Winning these prestigious awards at the inaugural Gulfood Manufacturing Industry Excellence Awards are a testament to the hard work and commitment of our team who relentlessly work to protect our customers brands and help them succeed in their businesses. We look forward to continued success and extend our winning streak next year,” said Jeff Say, General Manager, Ishida MEA.

 

The supply chain categories included two awards: ‘Best Commercial Vehicle – Light Heavy’ went to Ford Motor Company for its refrigerated Transit Custom vehicle, while Transveritas Foodstuff Trading scooped ‘Supply Chain Innovation’ for its intermediate bulk containers, Goodpack.

 

“Gulfood Manufacturing is the most sought-after trade event in the region, so winning this award equates to true industry recognition amongst our peers,” said Pankaj Jaiswal, Head of Sales-Foods & Liquid Business Indian Subcontinent, Goodpack. “Going forward we aim to provide the best of supply chain systems to our customers and help businesses maximise bottom line through our world leading end-to-end supply chain solutions.”

 

Three additional awards were handed out to companies with the best stands at the exhibition. ‘Best Stand up to 50 metres’ went to Golden Falcon; Best Stand from 51-200 metres’ went to Multivac; and ‘Best Stand greater than 200 metres’ went to Tetra Pak.

 

Gulfood Manufacturing 2007 will open from 10 am – 6 pm on 31 October and 1 November, and 10 am – 5 pm on 2 November 2017. The show is only open to F&B trade professionals and visitor attendance is free of charge. For more information, please visit gulfoodmanufacturing.com