Earlier this month, we attended the Vitafoods Europe 2021, one of the main and most awaited events connecting the nutraceutical, supplement, and functional food industries. After nearly 2 years living with the Covid-19 pandemic, the “In-Person” trade show felt a bit like coming home. Someone even said, “so fantastic to hug you after such a long time” to one of our colleagues.
It was an immense pleasure and a big success for a&r to meet again the leaders in the consumer healthcare industry!
We are delighted to say, that for a&r Vitafoods in Geneva was as intense and successful as in the years before the pandemic.
Some specifics:
We got the impression that there were noticeably more exhibitors showcasing substance-based medical devices. This is quite understandable since the implementation of MDR (EU) 2017/745 on May 26, 2021 requires numerous adaptations and drives innovations and new product development. For instance, live microorganisms are no longer accepted under MDR. As a consequence, many companies that in the past relied on live microorganisms in medical devices have started to replace them with post-biotics.
In the New Product Zone, a few interesting delivery formats caught our attention, like multivitamin sprays for oral application to children, effervescent tables to maintain a constant level of vitamins and minerals, or nutritional yeast in crisp form that is well-suited to the application in low-moisture foods. Ingredients and finished products for immune support for adults and children were quite prominent, possibly triggered by the pandemic.
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