Meat Attraction 2022, the meat industry's great face-to-face reunion

IFEMA MADRID is celebrating the reunion of the meat industry at a new edition of Meat Attraction, the event featuring the best meat in the world, which will take place in Hall 4 of the fairground. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, will preside over the opening ceremony tomorrow, 9 March, at 12.30 p.m., in Hall 4 of the IFEMA MADRID exhibition centre.

In just four years, the show has established itself as the largest business platform and the only trade fair dedicated to Spain's fourth largest industrial sector, which generates a turnover of more than 31,000 million euros. A figure that places the meat sector in first place in the entire Spanish food industry.

On this occasion, the Fair will include the Product area: meats, meat derivatives, IbéricoLand -a monographic exhibition space for the Iberian meat products industry-; meats and derivatives with quality marks -PDO, PGI, TSG, MG-; Ecorganic Market -companies specialising in organic meat products-; Halal and Kosher, in addition to the Auxiliary Industry Area.

As a novelty, Meat Attraction, with the collaboration of Educarne, incorporates The Butcher's Shop, the exhibition area of solutions and novelties at the service of the specialisation of butchers and charcutiers, which also brings together innovation and activities to raise awareness, give prestige to the profession and contribute to the evolution of professionals.

This space will host different initiatives such as The Butcher's Shop of the Future, as a reflection of the establishment of the near future, in terms of design, management, control and digitalisation.  As part of The Butcher's Shop programme, Renzo Garibaldi, considered by many to be the best butcher in Latin America and one of the best in the world, will perform live with Spanish chef Íñigo Urrechu. In addition, prizes will be awarded to the best butchers, charcutiers, poulterers and specialised cooks, who will be able to demonstrate everything they are capable of in the three competitions that will take place at The Butcher's Shop: Young Butchers Competition, Best Artisan Burger Competition and Digitisation Awards. In addition, for the third consecutive year, the III Meeting of Women in the Meat Sector will be held.

B2Meat and 'Guest Importing Country: Japan and Canada'.

Meat Attraction offers participants a platform for international promotion and expansion.  In this sense, IFEMA MADRID is investing heavily in the International Guest Programme, which attracts buyers from all over the world to the fair, suggested by exhibiting companies.

Similarly, Meat Attraction will be attended by more than 100 major buyers from priority countries for the B2Meat workshops. With the collaboration of ICEX Spain Export and Investment trade offices around the world, the 20 countries with the best import performance for Spanish meat products have been identified. These meetings between exhibitors and this selection of major buyers will take place in Hall 4, which hosts the Fair, and will be held on days 8 and 9, with monographic B2B meetings by product category.

The 'Guest Importing Countries' have been added to this programme, which on this occasion are Japan and Canada. These are extraordinary markets for absorbing large volumes of imports, which makes them strategic for a meat industry such as Spain's, already positioned among the main international suppliers, but with the capacity and will to expand its sales in these destinations.

For this reason, Meat Attraction is making a special effort with different actions to promote trade relations between the two countries.

Innovation and sectoral innovations

Innovation is one of the fundamental axes at Meat Attraction to highlight all the sectoral innovations as one of the pillars of a modern industry adapted to new consumer profiles. In this sense, the Innovation Hub area is once again the space that brings together the best products and services of the exhibitors participating in the International Meat Sector Trade Fair. The Innovation Hub is a great opportunity to promote and give maximum visibility to the star products of Meat Attraction 2022.

Along the same lines, a total of 10 products and services have been selected by the jury of the Innovation Hub Awards, an award organised by Meat Attraction, to defend their candidacy next Thursday 10 March, at 13.30h., at the Fair. These finalists will compete for recognition for the best project in the two categories proposed, Product Area and Auxiliary Industry Area. The jury will take into consideration the criteria of innovation, sustainability, and applied technology.

On this occasion, the finalists for the award are Coren (Ind. Frigorificas Del Louro), Embutidos del Centro; Grupo Uvesa; Moralejo Selección and Tabladillo, in the Product Area, and CSB-System; Idus Hpp Systems; Inspectra; Multiscan Technologies, and Packline Spain System (Packspain), in the Auxiliary Industry category.

Technical Conference Programme (access the full programme)

Meat Attraction offers visitors an intense and powerful programme of technical conferences with the participation of renowned professionals from the sector. From topical content to the analysis of the challenges, trends and opportunities of the meat industry, as well as different success stories and round tables, among other topics.

Foro Innova and Foro Meat Attraction will host technical conferences on innovation, sustainability, technology, digitalisation and product demonstrations, as well as tackling issues such as the future of meat and the circular economy in the meat industry, among others.

The MeaTIC conference, promoted by Meat Attraction and Eurocarne, will address the latest developments in sustainability, digitisation and automation. These sessions will discuss the environmental improvement of meat production, as well as the digitisation of industries.

Factoría Chef, the gastronomic space at Meat Attraction

As has become traditional, Meat Attraction presents Factoría Chef, a unique scenario for promoting producers to highlight the quality and excellence of meat products, as well as the consumption possibilities they offer within the Horeca channel.

Factoría Chef will be the setting for different showcookings and demonstrations prepared with different products such as Aliste veal, Burgos black pudding, Iberian prey, cabbage and pork crackling from Tierra de Sabor, poultry, Avianza, Manchego lamb, Asturian veal or colt meat, from Go Cavale. Meat from Ávila. Visitors will also be able to familiarise themselves with the art of cutting Iberian ham and learn about the characteristics of Pujante certified chicken and its gastronomic qualities as a nutritious, healthy, top-quality product.

Renowned chefs such as Roberto Santalla, Goyo Moreno, Roberto da Silva, Óscar Calleja, Julius Bienert, Higinio Gómez, Quique Pérez, Sergio Serrano, Rubén García, Mar González, Nacho Vaquero, Sergio Rama and Juan Regis will be in attendance.

Meat Week

Coinciding with Meat Attraction is Meat Week, organised in collaboration with the Meat and Health Platform between 7 and 13 March. Under the slogan #LaEnergiaDeCadaDia (the everyday energy), it hosts different activities whose aim is to highlight the nutritional properties of meat products.

During Meat Week, which has the support of the sectoral organisations and associations CARNIMAD, EDUCARNE, ANICE, ASICI, AVIANZA, INTERCUN, INTEROVIC, INTERPORC and PROVACUNO, different informative, educational and solidarity initiatives will take place. From a recipe book for 10 km runners, coordinated by Dr. Nieves Palacios Gil de Antuñano, a specialist in endocrinology and sports nutrition from the Spanish Agency for Health Protection in Sport to two sessions of "Meat Detectives", a fun and educational activity for schoolchildren at MercaMadrid, and collaboration with the Mensajeros de la Paz Foundation in the preparation and distribution of food at its solidarity facilities for disadvantaged people.

Meat Attraction LIVE Connect

In parallel to this fair, all the professionals who take part in it will have access to the LIVEConnect platform. This digital platform, designed as a networking space, will offer the possibility of complementing the on-site event with new functionalities, generating new business opportunities for the meat industry.

Among the topics that will be available in this virtual space, the Masterclass spaces with specialists, professional technical consultancies, technical elaborations and demonstrations, forums and debates with experts from the sector and congresses and conferences on new products and market trends are some of the highlights.

Meat Attraction 2022, organised by IFEMA and ANICE, is holding its fourth edition from 8 to 10 March in Hall 4 of the IFEMA MADRID fairground, from 9.30am to 7pm.