This weekend Milan celebrates the opening of EXPO 2015 and hosts the Tuttofood trade fair.
EXPO, formerly known as the World Fair takes place every five years and in Milan visitors will experience elements of the industry, culture, education etc. of the 145 participating countries.
The government designated Bord Bia's Origin Green Programme as Ireland's flagship initiative to respond to the Milan EXPO theme "Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life" and will allow the organisation demonstrate to two million visitors over the next six months its programme for sustainable food production.
The Tuttofood international exhibition is a showcase of innovative ideas bringing together the producers and processors of food and drink with Italian and foreign distributors, from deli stores to private label operators.
Exhibitors on the Ireland - Origin Green stand include ABP, Dawn Meats, Slaney Foods, Kepak, Liffey Meats and Traditional Meats. Bord Bia will provide marketing expertise and practical logistical support to the Irish companies in their drive to increase export trade to Italy and internationally.
Overall Irish food and drinks exports to Italy grew in value by 6% to €311m in 2014 with beef accounting for 60% or €184m. It is our third largest destination for beef, after the UK and France, taking approx. 47,000 tonnes, accounting for almost 20% of total exports to Continental Europe . Beef exports increasing by 18% in 2014 while seafood exports were up by 13% to €31m.
According to Aidan Cotter Chief Executive of Bord Bia:
"The alignment of Tuttofood with the opening of EXPO provides us with an ideal platform to demonstrate to the consumer and business worlds the innovative nature of Origin Green, how it responds to the EXPO challenge and how sustainable food production, which is increasingly "top of mind" with food companies and consumers, can become a reality, with Ireland as a leading player.
For this reason Bord Bia has arranged for international food buyers attending Tuttofood to experience Ireland's EXPO initiative where they will see the impact of Origin Green on Irish food production and understand the contribution it can make globally to sustainable food production at a time when the world needs to increase food production by 70% in the next four decades. The Origin Green promise goes to the very heart of the theme for EXPO Milan 2015. The filmic experience will demonstrate Ireland's long established farming tradition and its custody of the land and sea, interlinked with Ireland's tradition of creating high quality food and drink."
EXPO MILAN 2015
Expo, formerly the World Fair takes place every five years and this year is hosted from 1May to 31 October on a dedicated green field site adjacent to Fiere Milano.
Over this six-month period, Milan will host more than 145 participating countries, displaying the best of their technologies to address the theme of EXPO including technology, innovation, culture, tradition and creativity and how they relate to food.
Expo Milan 2015 expects to welcome over 20 million visitors to its 490 acre exhibition site. For more information see: www.expo2015.org
IRELAND AT EXPO MILAN 2015
Ireland has chosen the Bord Bia led sustainability programme "Origin Green" as the leading theme for the Ireland Pavilion.
Origin Green has a natural and intuitive fit with the universal theme. Sustainability is both a global and topical issue and Origin Green is at the forefront of the response to that challenge.
Expo Milan presents a unique opportunity to clearly communicate Ireland's contribution in meeting humanity's challenge of "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life".
Through a series of themed chapters, this filmic experience will also showcase Ireland's key assets in attracting overseas visitors – Ireland's landscape, culture and people.
The main visitor experience at the Origin Green Ireland Pavilion will be from the ground floor. This is an enclosed space amounting to 267 sq. m. The main experience is filmic in its approach with a cloud installation with light and soundscape. This immersive experience will be presented on 5 3x4 metre screens along a 40m path that benefits from an atrium height of 7 metres.
A Central Gallery Area space of 67.5 sq. metres will house a detailed information space on Origin Green.
In addition to targeting over 2 million people in the main visitor experience, and in order to maximise Ireland's presence over the 6 month period of EXPO, Bord Bia has organised priority Business to Business events for Origin Green in the upper level mezzanine, roof garden and plaza spaces.
TUTTOFOOD
TuttoFood is a biennial event which will take place from the 3 to 6 May at Rho-Fiera Milano. It currently ranks third in terms of Europe's largest food fairs after the German 'ANUGA' and the French 'SIAL'. Over 3,000 companies will exhibit this year, this is a 50% increase on the last event in 2013. The expanse of the site has also increased by 50% and will cover 180,000 m2. TuttoFood 2015 will be split into eight food sectors: dairy, meat, baked goods, fruit & veg, frozen foods, wine & beer, seafood and cereals.