Held under the key theme “Navigate Complexity. Smart. Safe. Sustainable.”, the event will focus on practical approaches for networked, efficient and future-compatible production. The organizers said the program will address the growing complexity facing food and beverage manufacturers, while highlighting solutions designed to support safer, smarter and more sustainable operations.

Two central meeting points for knowledge transfer and professional exchange will be the SMART community hub and the SUSTAINABLE community hub. The SMART hub will focus on digital production solutions, while the SUSTAINABLE hub will address resource-efficient and sustainable production systems.

Both hubs are designed to bring together experts, exhibitors, users and visitors through interactive formats. These will include Deep Dives focused on sustainability solutions and best practices, Fishbowl discussions with audience participation, BarCamp sessions built around themes proposed by participants, and live Showcases presenting technologies, ideas and business models.

The SMART community hub will also feature tech talks offering compact, practical insights into current technologies and applications. Its thematic focus areas will include artificial intelligence for data-based process optimization and production control, robotics and automation for flexible and networked production environments, digitalization and intelligent data integration along the value chain, and cybersecurity for resilient production systems.

The SUSTAINABLE community hub will concentrate on themes including the circular economy, resource-efficient production systems, alternative packaging solutions, alternative protein sources, new raw material concepts, energy and process efficiency, and current industry trends linked to sustainable transformation.

According to the organizers, both community hubs are intended to support inspiration, exchange and cooperation, while giving visibility to innovators, new concepts and emerging ideas in the food and beverage industry. Lounge and food service areas will also provide space for networking and professional exchange within the international food tech community.

Anuga FoodTec 2027 will take place from February 23 to 26, 2027, in Cologne.

The event, which serves as the successor to ProSweets Cologne, has already achieved approximately 12% growth in reserved stand area compared with what organizers describe as a traditionally strong trade fair year. The result reflects continued confidence from suppliers serving the global sweets and snacks industry and reinforces the strategic alignment of ISM Manufacturing with ISM and ISM Ingredients under a unified brand structure.

According to organizers, the positive response from exhibitors highlights the industry’s support for the newly integrated trade fair concept, which brings together finished products, ingredients, processing technologies and packaging solutions within a single event framework.

“The strong level of participation already registered by the end of the early bird phase impressively demonstrates the high standing ISM Manufacturing enjoys within the sector – and also confirms that uniting the three trade fairs under a joint brand umbrella was the right move,” said Guido Hentschke, Director of ISM Manufacturing.

“We are delighted that the key market leaders of the supplier industry for the production of sweets and snacks have signalled their commitment at such an early stage,” he added.

Among the companies already registered for the 2027 edition are major machine and plant manufacturers including Hänsel Processing, SACMI Packaging & Chocolate, Theegarten-Pactec, VEMAG Maschinenbau, ULMA Packaging, IMA, Sollich and Schubert.

The exhibitor list also features a broad range of international suppliers such as Caotech, Stampac, LIVE-TECH, Mehmet Makina, Sopp Industrie, Loesch Verpackungstechnik, Wolf Spezialmaschinen, Maschinenfabrik Seydelmann, SELMI, Tanis Confectionery and MEMAK Plastik.

ISM Manufacturing will continue to focus on four core exhibition segments: packaging materials, packaging technology, production technology, and operating equipment and auxiliary devices. Organizers said the 2027 edition will place particular emphasis on solutions that support more efficient, resilient and sustainable manufacturing operations.

The event’s integration with ISM and ISM Ingredients is expected to provide additional opportunities for collaboration across the sweets and snacks value chain, bringing together ingredient suppliers, equipment manufacturers, packaging providers and finished product companies.

“The ISM trade fair trio combines innovative power, expertise in ingredients and industrial implementation in a format that is unique worldwide. This is the only place where it is possible to experience the entire value chain of the sweets and snacks industry. The event presents practical, current solutions that are of high relevance for the industry and trade, offering genuine added value for all the trade visitors,” Hentschke said.

ISM Manufacturing 2027 will take place alongside ISM and ISM Ingredients in Cologne, Germany, from 31 January to 3 February 2027.

Organized by IFEMA Madrid and FEPEX, the Spanish Federation of Producers and Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Live Plants, the international fruit and vegetable trade fair is expected to bring together more than 2,500 companies and over 121,000 professionals from 150 countries.

According to information presented by Fruit Attraction Director María José Sánchez, the net exhibition space allocated so far amounts to 72,000 square meters, only 2,000 square meters below last year’s total occupancy. Companies from 63 countries have already confirmed their participation.

This year’s edition will occupy 10 halls, covering more than 162,000 square meters, while maintaining last year’s sector distribution to support easier navigation for visitors. The odd-numbered halls 3, 5, 7 and 9 will host the national offer, together with Innova&Tech. The even-numbered halls 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 will host the international offer, including exhibitors from Europe, America, Africa and Asia. Fresh Food Logistics will be located in hall 4.

Potato has been named the featured product for the 2026 edition, reflecting its strategic importance for food security and healthy eating. The designation gives the potato category added visibility within one of Europe’s major fresh produce trade platforms.

The fair will also again promote the Organic Tour, a signposted route designed to increase visibility for companies offering certified organic products.

Fruit Attraction will continue to support international business development through its International Buyers Programme, organized in collaboration with Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ICEX and FEPEX. The programme will invite 700 major buyers, retail purchasing managers, importers and wholesalers from more than 50 countries. China and the United Arab Emirates will be featured under the Guest Importing Countries programme.

The event will also include the Best Stand Awards, sponsored by WAH Show, and the Innovation Hubs Awards, which recognize projects, products and services based on innovation, sustainability, applied technology and knowledge.

A programme of technical seminars will run alongside the exhibition, including the Avocado Congress and the Biofruit Congress.

Fruit Attraction 2026 will be open from 9:30 am to 7 pm on 6 and 7 October, and until 5 pm on 8 October.

The programme will take place during SNACKEX 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 17-18, offering visitors two days of free seminars focused on technical and operational issues across the snacks industry.

According to Rosenqvists, this year’s Snack Science Hub will focus on topics including sustainability, efficiency and product development. The programme includes sessions on reducing salt and sugar while maintaining flavour, glue-free case packing, smart flour ingredients for snacks, pulsed electric field technology combined with AI, optical sorting trends, frying performance, natural colours, acrylamide regulations, frying oil management in nut production and water reduction in potato chips production.

Rosenqvists Managing Director Stefan Björk will also present a session on rethinking energy use in potato chips production.

“Snack Science Hub is an excellent forum for sharing knowledge and gaining inspiration. We are pleased to support a programme that delivers real value to the snacks industry,” said Stefan Björk, Rosenqvists Food Technologies.

Rosenqvists Food Technologies develops, manufactures and sells processing lines for potato chips, French fries, savoury snacks and potato specialties. The company is based in southern Sweden and has more than 50 years of experience.

Held from May 7 to 13 on the fully booked Messe Düsseldorf exhibition grounds, the trade fair brought together 2,804 exhibitors from 65 countries and trade visitors from 161 countries. According to Messe Düsseldorf, 75% of visitors came from outside Germany, including 28% from outside Europe. Around 100 additional companies were represented at components, the supplier trade fair held in parallel.

The organiser said the 2026 edition underlined interpack’s role as a central platform for the industry, with high visitor traffic, intensive discussions and strong international participation across the halls.

“That was a top interpack. Busy halls, intensive exchange and concrete projects showed the strength of this global community. interpack is the most important meeting place for the industry worldwide, and this edition impressively confirmed that,” said Thomas Dohse, Director of interpack, at the close of the trade fair.

The event took place as packaging and processing companies face rising demand for packaged products while adapting to changing requirements for materials, production systems and supply structures. Messe Düsseldorf said the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation was one of the key topics at the show, reflecting its impact on packaging design, material selection and operational planning.

A central theme across the exhibition was the growing connection between materials, machinery and processes. Exhibitors presented solutions in which equipment, packaging formats and production systems are increasingly developed as integrated systems rather than isolated technologies.

Automation, data-based applications and flexible plant concepts were prominent throughout the halls, reflecting the industry’s shift toward smart manufacturing in practical industrial settings. Material innovation was also a major focus, with exhibitors presenting solutions designed to meet regulatory requirements and operate under real production conditions.

Beyond the exhibition stands, interpack 2026 included several specialist formats addressing wider industry themes. These included the interpack Spotlight Forum, SAVE FOOD Expert Talks, Women in Packaging, the Start-up Zone and Young Talents Day. The organiser said these formats reflected the breadth of the industry’s transformation, covering sustainability, technology, diversity, start-up culture, qualification and future skills.

Messe Düsseldorf said many discussions during the seven-day event focused on concrete projects, partnerships and investment decisions, reinforcing the fair’s commercial role for the global packaging and processing sector.

The next interpack will take place in 2029, with the date to be announced.

The event will cover the potato value chain from breeding to processing, with trial fields, live machinery demonstrations, DLG Spotlights and expert presentations forming the core of the technical programme. Running alongside the exhibition will be SugarBeet Expo, a specialist trade fair dedicated to field technology and current trends in sugar beet cultivation.

Organizers said the event will provide an international meeting place for potato professionals from Germany and abroad, with companies active in breeding, crop protection, digitalization, agricultural machinery and processing expected to present new developments and production-oriented solutions. Demonstration plots will showcase new varieties as well as the effects of crop protection products and fertilizers.

Live machinery demonstrations will be staged under field conditions, covering planting, harvesting, loading and crop protection technologies. Case IH has been named as technology partner for the live demonstrations.

The DLG Spotlight “Agricultural Logistics” will address the role of transport in potato and sugar beet production. The feature will include tractors, specialized trailers, scraper floor systems, conveyor belts, potato boxes, cover systems and logistics software, alongside information on legal and economic aspects. Martin Vaupel of the Chamber of Agriculture Lower Saxony will be available to answer visitor questions.

A second DLG Spotlight, FarmRobotix, will focus on robotics, automation and artificial intelligence in crop production. Presented by DKE Data and DLG, the feature will include live demonstrations, practical guidance and expert discussions on autonomous machinery and digital systems in agriculture.

The DLG Expert Stage, located at stand VG15 in the trial field, will host presentations and discussions on potato and sugar beet topics between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The programme will address both crop-specific and cross-crop issues.

Exhibitor registration remains open for PotatoEurope and SugarBeet Expo, with participation options available in the trial fields, machinery demonstrations, open-air exhibition area and exhibition tents.

PotatoEurope 2026 is initiated by the Union of the German Potato Industry, UNIKA. The regional partner is Golden Geest Kartoffeln Erzeugergesellschaft mbH, together with the State of Lower Saxony.

The strategy reflects a targeted move toward a customer base increasingly under pressure to improve back-of-house productivity while managing labor shortages, menu complexity, and preparation consistency. By presenting multiple cutting, slicing, and drying technologies within a foodservice context, Urschel is aligning itself with operators seeking integrated preparation systems rather than standalone equipment.

At the center of the exhibit is the Little Gem Aspire Dicer, a new Urschel cutting concept designed for fruit and vegetable processing. Engineered with a small footprint and low total cost of ownership, the machine produces slices from 2 mm to 20 mm, along with strips and dices up to 20 mm. Its compact design and space efficiency indicate clear relevance for foodservice operations where production capacity must often coexist with tighter kitchen or prep-area constraints.

The Sprint 2 Dicer adds a continuous production element, offering uninterrupted 2- or 3-dimensional cutting with configurable outputs including dices, strips, and granulations. Urschel’s decision to demonstrate the machine with a crinkle cut setup also suggests an emphasis on menu versatility and presentation, factors particularly relevant for restaurant and prepared-food operators.

Through KRONEN’s GS 10-2 Slicer and KS-100 PLUS Centrifuge / Dryer, Urschel broadens the proposition from cutting alone to a more complete prep workflow. The GS 10-2’s multifunctionality across slicing, dicing, shredding, and grating, combined with sanitary design and compact footprint, supports foodservice businesses balancing throughput with hygiene and space constraints. Meanwhile, the KS-100 PLUS addresses post-wash efficiency by reducing draining times and supporting integration into larger prep lines, an operational advantage for businesses processing fresh produce at scale.

This broader exhibit strategy suggests Urschel is not simply marketing machinery, but targeting a larger share of foodservice capital investment by framing its portfolio around productivity, process control, and operational standardization.

For a company historically associated with high-capacity industrial food cutting, the National Restaurant Association Show provides access to a wider ecosystem of restaurant chains, institutional foodservice providers, and hospitality operators. That positioning may prove increasingly important as suppliers seek growth in sectors where automation, labor substitution, and prep consistency are becoming strategic purchasing drivers.

By tailoring its message around “improv[ing] restaurant operations with efficient, precision cutting at high-capacity production,” Urschel is effectively using the event as a business development channel to diversify market exposure and strengthen its relevance in the evolving foodservice equipment landscape.

At Booth C34 in Hall 1 during the May 7–13 trade fair in Düsseldorf, the company will feature a combination of new and established systems designed to address production demands ranging from high-capacity vegetable cutting to difficult protein applications and nut processing.

While the newly introduced Little Gem Aspire Dicer will be part of the display, Urschel’s exhibition strategy also places significant emphasis on established platforms including the E TranSlicer Cutter with built-in discharge conveyor, the Affinity Integra Dicer, and the Comitrol Disc Mill 380 (DM 380).

The E TranSlicer Cutter is positioned for continuous processing of both firm and leafy, compressible products through interchangeable stainless steel cutting options. Urschel says the integrated discharge conveyor supports batch processing into totes or onto platforms while helping maintain floor-level servicing access and improving discharge control to minimize waste.

For processors handling products that present more difficult cutting conditions, Urschel will also showcase the Affinity Integra Dicer. The system is designed for applications including cheese, soft meats, high-fat meats, sticky bakery ingredients, cold-temperature products, and brined pickles. According to the company, the machine focuses on maintaining clean-cutting performance and targeted cut-size precision in applications where yield loss or deformation can be operational challenges.

Rounding out the booth’s featured equipment, the Comitrol Disc Mill 380 will demonstrate Urschel’s capabilities beyond conventional slicing and dicing. Designed for nut processing, the machine uses a disc plate design and adjustable gap settings to process nuts into butter or paste textures, serving both small-batch and continuous production environments.

The combined line-up underscores Urschel’s strategy of presenting Interpack visitors with a wider view of its processing technology ecosystem rather than focusing solely on a single machine launch. By covering multiple product types and production requirements—from vegetables and leafy products to proteins, bakery ingredients, and nut applications—the company is positioning itself around operational flexibility and category breadth.

For food manufacturers attending Interpack, Urschel’s booth will offer a concentrated look at how equipment configuration, precision cutting, and adaptable processing systems can support throughput, yield optimization, and production versatility across diverse processing lines.

Structured around “7 Days – 7 Topics,” the programme will address several themes with direct relevance for potato processors, frozen food manufacturers and snack producers navigating regulatory, operational and packaging shifts.

Opening day will focus on the Opportunities & Risks of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), with exhibitors including REA Elektronik alongside companies such as Mondi, Wipak and SIT Group examining regulatory implications that could affect packaging design, compliance and material strategies across food sectors.

Resource efficiency on Day 2 is expected to address raw material and energy savings—an increasingly important issue for potato processors facing ongoing production cost pressures—while Day 3’s Smart Packaging agenda will feature exhibitors including TNA, alongside Domino, Braskem, Fraunhofer and Amazon, highlighting digital packaging, connectivity and future-proof packaging solutions.

Day 4’s Smart Systems and AI theme may be particularly relevant for potato manufacturers exploring automation, labor efficiency and intelligent processing systems, with Syntegon among the featured participants.

Circular economy and recyclability will dominate Day 5, while Day 6 will focus on innovative packaging materials and technologies from suppliers including Henkel and ProAmpac.

For potato industry stakeholders attending interpack, the SPOTLIGHT Forum offers a concentrated overview of the regulatory, packaging and automation trends likely to influence both fresh and processed potato markets in the coming years.

The daily programme and site plan are available through interpack’s official visitor resources.

The programme reflects the growing emphasis on workforce development within the packaging and processing industries, particularly as companies face increasing demands for digital competencies, interdisciplinary knowledge and sustainability expertise. Organisers position the initiative as a response to evolving skill requirements, aligning it with interpack’s broader “future skills” theme.

Industry Access And Career Orientation

Young Talents Day is designed as a central platform for early-career professionals to connect directly with employers and industry representatives. Participants will have access to information on degree programmes, apprenticeships, dual education models, internships and trainee schemes, offering a broad overview of entry routes into the sector.

The packaging industry’s scope—from engineering and production to food technology and management—is reflected in the structure of the programme. Organisers state that the format aims to demonstrate how career paths are evolving under the influence of digitalisation and sustainability, while highlighting the increasing importance of cross-disciplinary skill sets.

Guided Exposure Through Industry Tours

A central component of the programme is the Young Talents Tour, which introduces participants to the trade fair through guided visits led by early-career professionals already working in the sector. The tour will include stops at companies such as KOCH Pac-Systeme, FAWEMA, Loeschpack, Theegarten-Pactec and Gerhard Schubert.

The format is structured to provide direct exposure to production technologies, processes and job roles across the packaging value chain, while also facilitating informal dialogue between participants and industry professionals.

Apprenticeship Focus Through Career Tour

Complementing the broader orientation programme, the Career Tour is specifically targeted at school pupils interested in vocational training. The initiative connects participants with companies offering apprenticeships, allowing them to explore entry-level opportunities and engage directly with potential employers.

Organisers indicate that the format is intended to provide immediate, on-site insights into career prospects and hiring pathways within the industry.

Forum Sessions And Research Engagement

The Young Talents Day programme will also integrate content from the SPOTLIGHT Forum. On the morning of 13 May, the session “NextGen Plastics powered by IK” will address talent development within the plastics sector. In addition, a Science Slam format will feature young researchers presenting packaging-related projects in an accessible and interactive format.

These sessions aim to link academic research with industrial application, while providing visibility for emerging talent and innovation.

Technology And Sustainability Demonstrations

The VDMA Technology Lounge in Hall 4 will form another pillar of the programme, focusing on the intersection of sustainability and technology. Through the CirQmind project, participants will be introduced to circular economy concepts, including waste sorting, recycling processes and the production of new materials.

Interactive elements, including workshops and AI-based demonstrations, are intended to provide hands-on experience and illustrate the technological frameworks shaping the industry’s future.

Registration And Participation

Access to Young Talents Day requires prior registration as a “Young Talent”, with proof of student or school status. While general entry is free for this group, participation in guided formats such as the Young Talents Tour and Career Tour is subject to separate registration due to limited capacity.

By consolidating career guidance, industry exposure and technology demonstrations into a single-day format, interpack 2026 is positioning the initiative as a structured entry point for the next generation of professionals entering the packaging sector.