Solid Interest at Thaifex - World of Food Asia

Solid Interest at Thaifex – World of Food Asia

18 June 2013

The benefits of Kosher certification for food, beverages and ingredients were shared with Asian food industry participants at Thaifex – World of Food Asia, an annual major industry exhibition held in Thailand during May 2013.

David Busse, Technical Sales Manager of KLBD, was impressed with the show, saying: “The organisers have done a great job in making Thaifex bigger and better than previous years. They are planning to expand the show for 2014 with 20,000 square meters of extra space, boosting the total floor space to 80,000 square meters.”

The Kosher flag was held aloft by KLBD, one of the largest Kosher certification agencies in Europe and Asia, and a leading authority on Kosher food and Jewish Law. Thai and Asian food producers were eager to learn more about kosher certification, to boost their export drive to the USA and Europe, where significant numbers of consumers are looking for the Kosher logo on the products they buy.

The Thaifex trade show was held near Bangkok, where KLBD got the Kosher certification message across to many of the record-breaking number of attendees both from Asian countries and across the globe.

There was a particularly large turn-out of Italian food industry firms, 67 in all, because for the first time the Thaifex organisers arranged a special ‘country alliance’ and chose Italy as the first nation for this new initiative.

Coffee was brought into focus at Thaifex with the staging of a Roasters Choice award for coffee preparation. The aim of this award, sponsored by the Barista Association of Thailand, was to create a platform for greater understanding of coffee, since tea tends to be the preferred drink in Asia.

KLBD was able to explain to coffee producers that although coffee beans are kosher, the production process is what needs to be inspected, as the roasting and flavour enhancement involved in the production of coffee must follow Jewish dietary laws. Any other food additives or processing aids involved, particularly in the production of decaffeinated coffee, must also meet kosher standards.

Among the 1,300 exhibitors there were several of KLBD’s clients exhibiting. One of them, Toumi Intertrade Company (TIC) – Thailand’s fifth largest rice manufacturer, was showing the Kosher certification logo. TIC produces and exports a range of rice products under its Star and Toumi brands. These include Thai jasmine rice, Thai long grain white rice, and Thai glutinous rice.

Having kosher certification enables TIC to reach new markets in the West, where many people, including of course Jewish consumers, look for kosher certification on food products as a badge of quality and traceability.

Through its presence at Thaifex, KLBD was able to demonstrate that it provides a key service helping food industry firms prosper by partnering with them as their Kosher certification expert.
KLBD also met with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) Thailand’s Trade and Investment Manager Chamapan Rangaratna for discussions about how they could assist in increasing Kosher certification in Thailand, and additionally about providing links with British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) also based in Bangkok.

KLBD demonstrated how it can assist with Kosher certification, whether a firm manufactures finished foods, beverages, food ingredients, or food chemicals. The larger turn-out resulted with more requests about obtaining KLBD Kosher certification. David Busse says: “It was pleasing to receive so many certification enquiries from South East Asian companies where there is growing interest among firms in wishing to know how to get Kosher certified. This is mainly because exporters realise that a ‘Kosher certified’ emblem on their products creates greater acceptance in global markets.”