From 17 to 21 October, Paris was the place to be for food innovation, and EXCEL4MED was right there
Every year, SIAL Paris turns into a meeting point for the global food industry.
Producers, distributors, restaurateurs, importers and exporters come together to discover new products, trade ideas and find new partners.
It is one of the world’s leading international food exhibitions, and on this occasion EXCEL4MED was part of it.
Why SIAL?
EXCEL4MED is developing novel foods from citrus and pomegranate side streams, the peels and seeds that usually end up as waste once the juice is made.
Ideas like these only make a difference when they reach the people who can bring them to the table: the ones who make, sell and serve food every day. SIAL gathers exactly those people in one place, which made it a natural stage for our project.
Two EXCEL4MED partners took the project to the exhibition halls: our coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Vasilis Valdramidis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) and Eirini Xaxiri (SEVT – Federation of Hellenic Food Industries).
Armed with project leaflets, they talked directly with visitors, answered questions and introduced EXCEL4MED to professionals from many parts of the food world.
Face-to-face conversations like these are hard to replace, because they turn a project description into a real story that people remember.
ECOTROPHELIA Europe: a spotlight on food innovation
During SIAL Paris, the ECOTROPHELIA Europe competition took place, celebrating new and innovative food products from across the continent.
It offered an additional opportunity to present EXCEL4MED, explain what we are working towards and talk about the benefits we hope the project will bring to the food sector and to consumers.
Our partner Aspis Hellenic Juice Industry was also at SIAL Paris with a stand of its own. Although ASPIS was not part of our dissemination activity, it was great that the EXCEL4MED team was present in more than one corner of the exhibition.
SIAL Paris was one more step in taking EXCEL4MED beyond the project team and into the wider food community. We will keep sharing the journey, from the first ideas to the foods themselves.
