Anuga 2025 wrapped up on October 8 in Cologne after five days that drew roughly 8,000 exhibitors from more than 110 countries across some 290,000 square meters of fairground. With Korea as partner country, a new Anuga Alternatives showcase for plant-based and cell-cultivated products, and an International Frozen Food Conference marking 70 years of frozen food in Germany, the edition doubled as a snapshot of where the global food trade is heading.
Frozen food takes the stage
The International Frozen Food Conference, organized together with the IFFN and the GCCA, used the anniversary to look forward rather than back: cold-chain resilience, energy efficiency in freezing and storage, and the category’s role in cutting food waste all featured on the agenda. Seventy years after frozen food entered German retail, the category is posting record consumption — a trajectory the conference framed as proof that frozen has moved from convenience fallback to deliberate consumer choice. For exporters of IQF vegetables, frozen fruit, and value-added lines, the signal from Cologne is that European buyers are planning growth, not maintenance, in the freezer aisle.
Alternatives go mainstream
The debut of Anuga Alternatives, dedicated to plant-based and cell-cultivated products, confirmed that alternative proteins have earned permanent floor space at the world’s largest food fair rather than a side-hall experiment. The placement matters: buyers walking the main halls now encounter plant-based offerings as a matter of course, which accelerates listing decisions and normalizes the category for mainstream retail. Ingredient suppliers should note the direction of travel — the alternative-protein buyers of 2025 are sourcing like conventional food manufacturers, with specifications, audits, and volume commitments.
Dehydrated onion and garlic in the spotlight
India’s APEDA pavilion, fielding 40 companies, put dehydrated onion and garlic front and center — a reminder that the global seasoning-ingredient trade remains fiercely competitive. For buyers, the pavilion format offered efficient comparison shopping across origins and granulations in a single visit. For competing origins, the message was equally clear: dehydrated alliums are a scale game now, and visibility at flagship shows is part of how that game is played.
Korea’s turn as partner country added a further dimension, giving Korean food exporters heightened visibility across the fair’s 290,000 square meters. Partner-country status at Anuga has historically translated into expanded pavilions, cultural programming, and buyer matchmaking — a reminder that national export promotion remains a powerful force in food trade, and that the most effective exhibitors pair product with story.
Buyer and supplier takeaway: the themes of Anuga 2025 — frozen growth, alternative proteins, and ingredient competition — are the agenda for 2026 sourcing. Buyers should lock in freezer-aisle programs early; suppliers who skipped Cologne should be planning their next flagship appearance now.
