More than 2,000 visitors passed through the doors of Free From Food/Ingredients 2015 last week, making this year's edition the most successful yet.
More than 160 exhibitors from 21 countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and America, took part in the third instalment, held in Barcelona, representing a 26-per-cent growth on last year.
With the free-from category booming, visitors including buyers and suppliers were able to source diverse and unique products from thousands on display and keep up to date with trends in this fast-growing market.
Free From Food/Ingredients is a dedicated marketplace for the free-from industry that includes products and ingredients that are gluten-free, dairy-free, lactose-free, sugar-free, nut-free, fat-free and much more. Exhibitors included Warburtons, Nākd, Udi's, Rule of Crumb, Seitz Glutenfrei, Delicious Alchemy, Fishmasters, Oskri, Wellaby's, Glebe Farm Foods and Mrs Crimble's.
The array of products on show included gluten-free snacks, cereals, breads, flours and desserts, as well as dairy-free cheeses and sugar-free jams. A packed conference centre hosted speakers from across the industry, including David Jago from market research company Mintel, free-from expert Hamish Renton and Sarah Sleet from Coeliac UK .
Rule of Crumb, from Northern Ireland, was crowned the winner of the Free From Food/Ingredients Innovation Award 2015. It was the visitors' choice, who voted its gluten-free chicken kievs the most innovative free-from product on show. Colum McLornan launched the business after his brother, who is a coeliac, was unable to find a diverse range of gluten-free products. The company produces individually packaged gluten-free products for foodservice and retail, including breakfast cereals, part-baked breads, muffins, and breaded fish and chicken.
Highly commended were Spanish-based Santiveri for its gluten-free Quinoa Crispy Toasts, Sin Lactosa (also from Spain) for its gluten-free Flan de Huevo from its Dhul dessert range, and German pasta brand Seitz Glutenfrei, for its gluten-free Red Lentil Fusilli, due to be launched in August.
Colum McLornan, owner of Rule of Crumb, said, "I am surprised and overjoyed to scoop this award. We are a small company from Ireland competing against companies from all over Europe, so to win is a great achievement for us."
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Andrew Jennings.
