Czechs buy more powdered semi-products, less ready-made food
The truth that Czechs like to enjoy good food is also proven by the fact that many companies dealing with food and drink production or import were not affected by the global economic crisis. New exhibitors still register to the trade fair, presenting not just the best of their portfolio but they will especially come to boast with their novelties. “The current crisis did not affect us too much. Our products are designed for a wide array of customers and for regular use, they are basically a daily side dish. On the other hand, a growth of sales can indicate that that as a result of the crisis, consumers diverted from the much more costly ready-made foods and returned to the proven preparation of side dishes from powder mixes. The advantage of our products is the minimum use of “chemistry” when devising our recipes,“ says Mgr. Zdeněk Starý, commercial director of Natura, a.s.
The company produces potato starch, dried potato purée and ready-made powder mixes which facilitate food preparation in homes and in public dining services. Novelties in their portfolio are represented by home-baked bread mixes – Whole wheat bread and Potato bread. These mixes are appropriate for the healthy nutrition trends while only water has to be added to the mixture. Another premiered product is the “4 in 1” baking mix which is a universal flour mixture that can be used in four variations to produce four different desserts.

Packaging industry focuses on cost reductions
The current topic for the exhibitors of packaging and packaging industry is not only responsibility to the environment but especially the need to reduce the energy and material demands on production.
“Despite the economic recession we are managing to acquire new customers, especially those who are monitoring the imprinting machinery operational costs on their production lines. The last generation of Markem-Imaje printers is equipped by full operation diagnostics which enables efficient control of operational costs,“ stated Pavel Ondrášek, CEO of ONDRÁŠEK INK-JET SYSTEM spol. s r.o., who are the exclusive importer of Markem-Imaje for the Czech and Slovak market. A curiosity at the exhibition stand will be a new service for the clients, who will be able to calculate the imprinting of their packaging including their printer operation and maintenance costs for the 5000 line. The new inkjet large letter printers of the 5000 line under the designation 5800 and 5600 will have a premiere in Brno. A great advantage of the new model is the possibility of re-using printer heads used in the 5000 line. No other technology used for carton imprinting has this possibility which significantly reflects on the decrease of total operational costs of the Markem-Imaje imprinting machinery.
„ Since September 2008 there has been a general decrease of interest in both new devices as well as imprinting material such as consumption liquids. An unpleasant stagnation and decline period is now also successfully overcome by introducing the new technology which has arrived on the global market just in time. New models not only brought an increased technical niveau but also lower operational costs. When acquiring them, customers positively value also the good price which substantially differs from the previous types of devices,“ stated the JaGa company CEO JUDr. Martin Zavázal. A new model line of INK-JETs CIJ marked 1210, 1510 and 1610 which brings a significant change in the ink system will be presented by this company. It is a result of close cooperation of the development centres at Videojet and WILLETT. There is a new introduction of a core which is actually a high density blender together with a filter. For example the newest model CIJ 1610 has its core exchanged only after 12.000 running hours. Compared with the regular filter exchange period after 1.500 hours this is a significant time saving on both the production lines as well as of the maintenance workers’ time or servicing costs. JaGa are an exclusive representative of the WILLETT and Videojet brands on the Czech and Slovak market.

GASTRO JUNIOR - NOWACO CUP - A traditional culinary meeting
Salima has a long-term tradition of organising a competition of young culinary hopes which has even been attracting participants from abroad in the last few years. This year it is the 16th edition of the three-day finale of the Czech Republic International Championships, GASTRO JUNIOR BRNO 2010 - NOWACO CUP. Czech cooks and confectioners are successfully penetrating abroad and many of today’s masters of the trade acquired their first competition results here in Brno. This year’s top competition of gastronomic experts takes place under the auspices of the Mayor of Brno in Hall G2. The goal of this competition is to acquaint the expert public with the professions of a cook, confectioner and waiter, show the public the beauty and charm of culinary professions and support culinary creativity of young specialists. Visitors will thus have an opportunity to watch work demonstrations in front of guests in an open studio. An important role in the competition is played by its partners, companies who see and think about the future. Thanks to these companies, this competition can compare in its level with any other global competition.

Register at www.salima.cz for a half price entry fee
The first two trade fair days (2 – 3 March) are open only to specialists, on the third day the premises will also be accessible to students of universities and specialised secondary schools who make use of pre-registration. The last day (5 March) opens the gates of Brno Exhibition Grounds to the wide public for CZK 100.-. A full day entrance fee for the first 3 days costs CZK 300.-, visitors who use the pre-registration at www.registrace.bvv.cz will only pay CZK 150.-. The discounted fee of CZK 100.- can be used by individual university students or by groups of more than 15 secondary school students specialising in food processing or packaging on Thursday 4 March.