Fira Gran Via in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat these days becomes the venue for 10,000 flavors or more. It means entering the pavilions and starting to smell and taste whoever wants the products and innovations offered by the Alimentaria fair, which started yesterday and continues until Thursday waiting for 100,000 visitors – a figure similar to that of the Mobile World Congress – with 3,200 exhibiting companies. “Do you want to taste this ham?” is heard from the companies. “Can you try it” is one of the most frequently asked questions from the public when faced with food trays on the counters. And among the wide range of offerings there is a common denominator that is increasingly present: the sector’s commitment to selling healthier products.
This trend goes beyond the classic products marketed under the organic or similar label and food supplements. It affects all sectors, even the most classic ones. “Concern about consumer health has been going on for a long time. “We started by reducing fat, salt and additives,” recalls Jaume Planella, corporate director of I D I de Noel.
The head of innovation at this Catalan meat company says that they have managed to “attract or create emerging companies” because the next step was to bet on “diversification” in an area that “has been increasing investment.” They sell sausages, like they always do, but now they are also dedicated to juices, for example.
According to Planella, in addition to concern about health in general, there is now a public concerned about specific aspects of nutrition. At Alimentaria they present a line of super-protein charcuterie, with more proteins. For Planella there are several keys to the development of new products. One of them is the price. In this sense, it is worth remembering that with 24.7% of Catalans at risk of poverty, there are those who simply eat what they can.
In the Valls Companys group they agree on the existence of a “consolidated target audience” for increasingly healthier products and that the “trend is increasing”, in the words of its communications director, Jordi Montaña.
One of their most valued foods is fresh “100% acorn-fed” Iberian pork. “It’s all natural. It has a market in haute cuisine and also in countries like Japan and South Korea,” comments the head of communications for this large business group, which also sells cooked ham and lacon with a “meat percentage greater than 90%” and “healthy chickens.” ”.
This search is multisectoral. Maheso launches at Alimentaria a line of croquettes specially designed to be cooked in an air fryer. “We are committed to offering solutions that adapt to a more practical and healthy way of making meals in line with the current moment, just as the market asks of us,” says Maheso’s Innovation Director, Pilar Rubio.
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And what is more healthy, ecological and sustainable than the vegetables from the Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat, grown just a stone’s throw from Barcelona? The Prat Agricultural Cooperative is also present in Alimentaria. “Yes, this demand for healthy foods benefits us. Also that large distribution chains are interested in our products,” says its administrative manager, Montse Lozano. In 2019 they invoiced 900,000 euros and in 2023 they reached 3 million; And that in the middle there was a pandemic. At this year’s fair they present a marinated artichoke, similar to pickles, made from seasonal surpluses in collaboration with the Espigoladors social entity.