PETALING JAYA: Malaysian products continued to shine at the renowned food and beverage (F&B) trade fair, the Salon International de I’Alimentation (Sial) Paris 2022, in France.
At the event, held from Oct 15 to 19, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) was the driving force promoting local F&B products, representing 45 Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SME) at the world’s largest food fair.
During the pre-pandemic, the bi-annual fair on average was visited by 310,000 people from 200 countries.
The last event was held in 2018, before being postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Matrade Frankfurt trade commissioner Zuhaila Sedek, who oversaw Malaysia’s participation at the event, said the ongoing European energy crisis and the rising cost of travel contributed to lower visitor turnout at the trade fair.
However, on the bright side, there was a significant improvement in terms of visitor quality.
“Only those serious enough and know exactly what they want come to the event. In turn, Malaysian companies received a lot of high-quality enquiries.
“Apart from selling their products, we also noticed that many Malaysian companies were involved in different types of engagements, such as the opportunity to discuss research and development and partnerships in the F&B sector,” she told theSun.
She highlighted that visitors to the trade fair were impressed with Malaysian products, especially the packaging, manufacturing technology and advanced product innovation that distinguished them from similar items produced by other Southeast Asian countries.
Zuhaila said the involvement of Malaysian companies in the trade fair was not only to showcase the uniqueness of products to global buyers but also was a platform to expose local SME to the market trends in Europe and other advanced markets.
“Demand for healthy and vegan food is on the rise in Europe, and to penetrate the European Union (EU) market, we have to follow and comply with their requirements and certification.
“Malaysia still does not have many products in these two categories. Hopefully, by the next trade fair, more healthy and vegan local products would be brought to the Sial trade fair.”
Zuhaila said a wellness product by a Malaysian company that gained traction among the Europeans was healthy granola bars produced by Dr Aishah Solution Sdn Bhd. It is high in fibre and protein, low in sugar and calories, and free from cholesterol and trans-fat.
She also pointed out that halal products from Malaysia are perceived as value-added, mainly due to the worldwide recognition of the country’s halal certification as well as its position as the pioneer of halal product governance.
“At Matrade, we position halal products as a value proposition, linking halal certification to good supply chain management, which in turn indicates that the products are of the highest quality.”
Zuhaila said Malaysia has huge potential in supplying halal products to European countries that have large Muslim population, such as Germany, which has 5.3 million Muslims.
However, the halal certificate would not suffice as any product entering the EU market has to be compliant with EU certification. This can pose a challenge as the composite food (foodstuff containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin) used in the F&B industry have to be sourced from countries that are recognised by the EU.
