News on Food Trends from Belgium

Europatat welcomes the Farm to Fork Strategy published today by the European Commission. There is a need to secure a fair, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food system, a message that the potato sector fully endorses.

The foodservice demand for potato products has dropped with 50 – 60 % and the export markets have lost their potential, so the world-wide potato-processing industry has reduced their capacity and need for raw material. More than 2 million tons will probably not been processed in the NEPG mainland potato countries only.

Belgians are being called upon to eat fries at least twice a week as more than 750,000 tons of potatoes are at risk of being thrown away.

The Covid-19 global pandemic is having a dramatic impact on day-to-day life, both on a personal level and in the way businesses operate. To enable live demonstrations of its sorting solutions, TOMRA Food is leveraging digital technology.

Last year, despite the difficult growing conditions as a result of the extreme heat and drought during both the 2018-2019 and the 2019-2020 seasons, the Belgian potato-processing industry once again improved the record for processed potatoes.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has dealt a blow to a, particularly Belgian market, as the country begins to see declining sales of the humble fries.

Due to a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the 21st EAPR Triennial Conference has been moved to fall. The new Conference date is November 2-6, 2020. Therefore, all key dates have also changed.

Europatat, the European Potato Trade Association, regrets to inform that the Europatat
Congress 2020, scheduled to take place on 11 and 12 June in Brussels, will be cancelled following
the escalation of COVID-19 crisis in Europe.

Due to COVID-19 the free market of potatoes has completely collapsed. The PCA/Fiwap and the Belgapom price quotation has been suspended because of a lack of transactions on the free market of potatoes.

Following the Council’s green light to the opening of negotiations for a new partnership with the UK, Europatat has sent a position paper to the EU-UK negotiation team, as well as to the relevant officials in DG AGRI and DG SANTE.

CNIPT, Bord Bia, Europatat and VLAM have launched an inspiring campaign under the title “Potatoes, prepare to be surprised – Europe’s favourite since 1536”.

On January 20, the foundation deed of Belpotato.be was officially signed in Huldenberg. The composition of the Executive Board ensures that there are balances between growers, traders and processors, and between Dutch and French speakers.

Entering a new era in potato storage: Belgapom has formulated its position on how to handle chlorpropham as of the 2020 harvest.

The scale of the global food waste problem is staggering. According to reports, 1.6 billion tons of food are lost or wasted every year, equating to a total value of $1.2 trillion being wiped from the supply chain.

Nicolai Prytz, sustainability and strategy director at TOMRA, has looked at how businesses, consumers and policymakers can help make the future of food sustainable.

Investment in Vilvoorde will give customers the opportunity to create new recipes and ingredients with Cargill’s R&D experts in Vilvoorde, Belgium.

AVR is introducing its new Puma 4.0 at the upcoming Agritechnica fair. The four-row potato harvester is the successor of the popular Puma 3 and is now fully cloud connected.

TOMRA exhibits the TOMRA 5A, its avant-garde model for potato sorting. Compac’s new UltraView inspection module maximizes Spectrim’s grading performance.