Potato News from Belgium

INTERPOM | PRIMEURS, the leading indoor trade fair for the potato, vegetable and fruit sector in Europe, shows strong growth in 2016, featuring 310 exhibitors and all stand space fully booked.

Key Technology introduces its VERYX® belt-fed digital sorters to the European food processing industry at Interpom | Primeurs, stand #257.

Starting from the 2016 – 2017 season, the Belgapom quotation will be made up of three parts, each supplemented by their own market sentiment: Bintje, Challenger and Fontane.

The global population has been expanding rapidly for many years, standing at around 7.3 billion in 2016. This brings with it a number of challenges around global sustainability, including the need for more food.

Agricultural machinery manufacturer AVR presents its new option on the Puma 3 during Potato Europe and the Aardappeldemodag: the All Conditions Control or in short the ACC.

Potatoes are the second largest cultivated crop in Belgium and a key ingredient in Belgian cuisine. It's the base of the world-famous French fries, and is considered by Belgians as part of their national pride.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million people – almost 10 per cent of the global population – fall ill after eating contaminated food.

Aunque normalmente se combina con una hamburguesa, las patatas fritas son uno de los alimentos más queridos en el mundo. Nosotros comemos unos 2 millones de toneladas cada año! En Gran Bretaña, las patatas se han convertido parte del plato nacional conocido como pescado y patatas fritas.

Interpom | Primeurs 2016 promises to be the biggest edition of this potato event ever and the 2016 theme is: 'Growing through precision technology'.

Stories about large losses in harvest in the Belgian sector due to the heavy rainfall are circulating in various media. But Romain Cools of Belgapom says it is too early to come up with a percentage.

In early June, AVR bvba - manufacturer of agricultural machinery for a.o. the potato sector - officially opened its new production facility in the presence of Governor Carl Decaluwé, Mayor Kris Declercq and Roeselare Aldermen Marc Van Walleghem, Nathalie Muylle and Griet Coppé.

Belgium loves to be in the news for their great french fries - but this is probably not what they had in mind.

The first common event of Freshfel Europe & Europatat took place this week: “Doing something good to yourself and to others will be the driver for the purchasing decision of fresh-produce customers”, concluded the associations.

Europatat appoints a new board, including Jos Muyshondt as President, Domenico Citterio as vice-president and Gilles Fontaine as treasurer.

Dutch Potato Processing Equipment manufacturer Kiremko installs an innovative production line in Belgium with a capacity of 16-20 ton/hr of French fries

Almost a third of all food produced worldwide is never eaten, leading to 1.3 billion tons of food waste each year. This includes around 45 per cent of all fruit and vegetables and 20 per cent of meat.

Europatat and Freshfel Europe will jointly celebrate their first common annual meeting on 2 June 2016 in Brussels.

The remarkable growth of the Belgian potato-processing sector in the past few decades has continued in 2015.