A stall at the Foodex Qatar at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.
From baby vegetables to beverages and varieties of cheese to powders of organic vegetables, dozens of food products were on show at Foodex Qatar which concluded yesterday.
Foodex Qatar – the first International Exhibition for Food, Beverage & Process Technology which started on April 2, ended yesterday at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.
A number of foreign food companies which participated in the expo found new local partners to enter Qatar's market while some left with hopes attached to the next edition of exhibition.
“We participated in the expo to explore Qatar market for baby vegetables and fresh fruits from Swaziland,” said Siphephiso Dlamini told The Peninsula. He said that the Qatari market had great potential for his company Encabeni Fresh Produce.
“We are in the business of producing and distributing baby vegetables, fresh fruits as well as processed fruits and vegetables. Our export basket comprises a wide range of fresh produce including baby vegetables like patty pans (yellow and green), baby marrow, baby cabbage etc.,” Dlamini, Chief Executive Officer of Encabeni, added.
He said that currently, citrus was exported to Qatar and other GCC countries from Swaziland. “Swaziland has an impressive foot print in the various SADC region countries (mainly, South Africa) as well as international markets particularly in Europe – mainly France, Switzerland and Germany. We also supply to a series of supermarkets, wholesalers and distributors in country.”
On quality standards, he said that their fresh produce facilities were Global Gap and HACCP certified. “Encabeni Fresh Produce seeks to gain a reasonable market share of the GCC food market demand which is in excess of $25bn and we are ready to work with distributors, retail stores and marketing agents to satisfy any demand,” said Siphephiso Dlamini.
Freeze-dried organic vegetable powder was another attraction for visitors at expo. CAI Bao, General Manager of Shen Jia Nong, a Chinese company which markets these powdered organic vegetables told The Peninsula that the ‘freeze-drying technology has a lot of advantages in the colour, flavour of the food ingredients and the preservation of nutrient components, compared with the traditional thermal-drying technology’.
“It concentrates all the nutrient components of the organic vegetables with the characteristic of the high protein, high fiber, high calcium, high potassium etc.,” he added, further saying that the use of freeze-dried organic vegetable powder was very easy as one bag of powder was dissolved in one glass of water to be served.
Among others, a 100% Qatari-owned livestock farm – Baladna – had its stand in the expo to brand its dairy products. The farm was established three years ago, while it started branding its products in January last year.
The farm produces purebred Awassi sheep, the highest meat and milk-producing breed in the Middle East. They are the “first and only farm with the largest sheep livestock available in GCC and the Middle East”.
