Bord Bia event showcases new food products

The family meal is dying and cooking from scratch is "a disappearing skill", food producers were told yesterday at an industry "speed dating" event at Croke Park.

Some 2,600 quick-fire meetings were estimated to have taken place between 50 Irish food producers and 220 international buyers at Bord Bia's Marketplace Ireland event, with 88 new products showcased in a special "innovation zone".

Gourmet jelly beans, seaweed sausages, smoothie bars and something called "the breakfast box" were among the food products on display at the event, while probiotic cheddar and ham with added omega 3 were there to represent the Republic's growing functional foods sector.

Bord Bia's aim is to try to drum up overseas business for the food industry.

Exports by Irish food producers grew 10 per cent to exceed the €8 billion mark for the first time last year, but the industry body hopes to increase that amount this year as many food companies face margin squeezes in the domestic market.

The international buyers, from countries like Bahrain and Thailand, have a combined purchasing power of €135 billion, according to Bord Bia chairwoman Angela Kennedy.

Bord Bia has identified six trends that it believes will drive food sales, including "food on the go" for time-pressed consumers.

Health and wellness; the quest for authentic, natural ingredients, or "the real thing"; living life to the full, where consumers reward or treat themselves with food, smart shopping and buying ethically are the other emerging trends.

Bord Bia chief executive Aidan Cotter said the event, which continues today, was "a very intense business environment".

Bord Bia will be measuring the value of business won as a result of the event after six months, 12 months and in 18 months.

One of the keynote speakers, Larry Light, McDonald's former global chief marketing officer, said that consumers' "huge need for speed" meant that they didn't want to waste minutes trying to decipher food service menus, never mind taking time to cook a meal.

"Eating as a family together is disappearing. It is now a special occasion. When I was young, we weren't allowed to eat until my father came home. In my family, that would be a rare event," he said.

Food businesses have thrived as a result of population growth, but now face fresh challenges, Mr Light added.

"We grew because the number of stomachs grew, not because we were great marketers. Now birth rates are below replacement levels in some western countries and for the first time, food companies have to compete for share of stomachs," he said.

The food industry has reacted defensively on the issue of nutrition when it should be taking leadership, said Mr Light, who is now a brand management consultant with clients like Mars and Kelloggs.

Also speaking at the event, former Marks & Spencer and Carrefour chairman Luc Vandevelde said that food companies could no longer afford to ignore the "unstoppable force" of globalisation.

Mr Vandevelde said he had learned "the hard way" that the fastest way to turn around a business was to close down non-profitable operations, citing grocery chain Carrefour's decision to exit Japan, Korea and other markets in 2005.

Mr Vandevelde did have some encouraging words for Irish exporters, however.

Irish beef was the only non-branded commodity product stocked in each of the 32 countries in which Carrefour had a presence.