08 Aug IFT First Annual Event and Expo 2023

Chicago in July is becoming a bit of a tradition here at Kreglinger.

It may be over 4,000 miles from our home in the heart of Antwerp but this trip to the IFT FIRST event has become a key date in our calendar. Yes, one of the worlds biggest B2B food events is the perfect place to discover new and interesting products, suppliers and innovations but it’s also the main event where we meet up with some of our key partners.

As always this years trip involved cramming a lot into a short space of time but with careful planning we managed to achieve our objectives in the great city of Chicago, always exciting and this year the perfect summer weather was a welcome bonus.

So, where do I start..

Home, Grote Markt, Antwerpen and the Kreglinger House.

We love to welcome our partners to our incredible home where visitors gain a real feel for who we are and what we do. Guests have the opportunity to experience our heritage dating back to 1797 and follow incredible evolution through the decades where the business has diversified and grown into a modern and dynamic dependable partner anchored in the historical heart of the city.

It’s not always easy for some of our food ingredient partners located across the globe to visit us but for many IFT FIRST is the place to meet.

So, with our map in hand we charted our route to visit our suppliers, some were pretty easy to spot..

GOLD COAST ingredients inc. have been our flavour partner for several years now and in addition to their manufacturing site in California they now have a state of the art east coast facility ideally located to supply products into Europe. Using Kreglinger Logistics transport expertise we are excited to provide cost effective, EU and UK compliant flavours into our core markets. Flexible, reliable, innovative flavours competitively priced with acceptable minimum order quantities. We believe we can provide flavour solutions for any of your food and beverage applications.

As usual, the BENEO booth looked amazing, and the innovation and product range were as expected—fantastic. Prebiotic fibers, Orafti® Inulin, and Oligofructose have been clinically proven to support a healthy gut microbiota. Chicory root fibers reduce sugar by 30% in cereal bars. Cost-efficient hybrid meat solutions, with the new Meatless® range, allow our customers to reduce costs sustainably while delivering on taste and texture. New, natural, mild-tasting faba bean protein, a brilliant clean label product perfect for many applications, including vegan options. If this wasn’t enough, we had the opportunity to try the new barley beta-glucan in a waffle. Amazing! So much to see and too much to mention here, so why not contact us to learn more?

Outside of the main event, we were able to find a quiet space to catch up with some of our other principals. It was great to meet up with the owner of PEKTOS AG. Swiss-based Pektos produces a comprehensive range of fibers, including beet, carrot, citrus, and apple. In the coming weeks, we’ll have stock conveniently located in Antwerp and Corby.

Stabilised rice bran has always been a popular product for us in Europe and we were very pleased when STABIL NUTRITION confirmed that they would like us to continue working with them in our home markets. We look forward to working with the Stabil team and growing our business in existing and new product categories.

Following the recent EFSA approval for the use of Xia Powder in Europe we were keen to meet with BENEXIA S.A. We have been working with the Santiago based company for several years and with the EFSA approval we are ready to move full steam ahead and bring the advanced seed nutrition of chia to our customers. Sustainable regenerative agricultural practices and natural processing ensure clean and certified gluten-free ingredients.

As you can see it was a busy few days even before we started looking for new trends and products.

We search continuously so you don’t have to..