News on Food Trends from Belgium

The potato cannot be burned from the news. This week it turned out that Belgian growers are settling in northern France because the Belgian area is almost exhausted.

Based upon a provisional estimation of the NEPG (North-Western European Potato Growers) the area in the 5 largest potato countries increased to 609.000 ha of consumption potatoes, a 2.4% increase.

Since the humble precursor to modern potato first domesticated in Peru 10,000 years ago, the tuber has branched off into thousands of different varieties.

Supermarkets of the near-future will have their business models radically re-shaped by innovations instore, online, and in the food industry supply chain.

Three Belgian organisations, Boerenbond, Belgapom and VITO are teaming up to strengthen the future of the Belgian potato chain by jointly investing in the online data platform WatchITgrow.

Last Friday, the European Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, mostly referred to as ScoPAFF voted an a proposal to ban Chlorpropham (or CIPC), widely used in the potato industry as sprout inhibitor during potato storage.

El curso es organizado por el Instituto de Divulgación de Biotecnología Vegetal (IPBO). Va dirigido a estudiantes, investigadores y profesionales del sector público e privado, que estén involucrados en programas locales de mejoramiento de cultivos (papa)

The European Commission has set an EU-wide objective for all packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2030. However there is no easy packaging solution (yet) for manufacturers of potato chips.

RMA Techniek has combined their capabilities in robotics, smart engineering and experience in the potato processing industry in a unique way: the company has specialized in the automated quality assessment of potatoes and shows its progress at Interpom.

Food businesses will have to change to stay competitive – online, in-store, and at sorting and processing plants too. Bjorn Thumas, Director Business Development Food at TOMRA Food, looks at what we can expect.

At Interpom | Primeurs 2018, held in Kortrijk Xpo from November 25 -27, Kiremko will launch its latest innovation in the field of frying oil filtering: the Kiremko Primary Oil Filter.

ENGIE Refrigeration has developed a storage system based entirely on mechanical refrigeration, which allows maintaining the same storage conditions throughout the year.

Key Technology, a member of the Duravant family of operating companies, introduces the newest automatic defect removal system for potato strips – ADR EXOS™ – at Interpom booth #257.

Insort presents its first end-of-line sorter for frozen french fries at Interpom 2018 – the SHERLOCK HYBRID.

El país suramericano quiere aplicar impuestos contra las papas fritas de Bélgica, Países Bajos y Alemania.

The total potato harvest in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France in 2018 will be at least 20 percent lower than last year, according to the latest estimates of the North-western European Potato Growers (NEPG).

In this interview, Marc Van Herreweghe, the new Chairman of Belgapom and CEO of Mydibel, discusses the challenges this Belgian Potato Association faces going forward, as well as sustainability issues and problems related to recent weather conditions.

INTERPOM | PRIMEURS, the indoor trade fair for the whole potato & vegetable sector in Europe, will take place from Sunday 25 to Tuesday 27 November 2018 at Kortrijk Xpo (Belgium)