The food and beverage trade fair is widely considered as a bellwether for global food and food technology trends.  

COLOGNE, Germany, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Around 600 Chinese food and beverage producers are present at the world's leading food and beverage trade fair Anuga that kicked off here on Saturday.

Among the 7,800-odd exhibitors from 118 countries, around 600 of them came from China, second to Italy which has the largest number of exhibitors at the trade fair.

Foreign exhibitors make up around 94 percent of the total. The scale this year is bigger than in the past and it has more international elements, said Gerald Boese, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Koelnmesse GmbH, the organizer of the fair.

People visit the food and beverage trade fair Anuga in Cologne, Germany, Oct. 7, 2023.(Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

The theme of Anuga is sustainable growth and the trade fair is focused on topics such as food raw materials growth, climate-friendly production, food waste, cyclic food system development, climate change, resource scarcity and population growth.

Vegan products can be trendy at Anuga and products with tags of Alt-Protein, clean label and extra health benefits will draw wide attention, according to Bastian Mingers, Head of the Nutrition Business Unit at the Koelnmesse GmbH.

People visit the food and beverage trade fair Anuga in Cologne, Germany, Oct. 7, 2023.(Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

This year's Anuga will last till Oct. 11. The food and beverage trade fair was initiated in 1951 and is currently held biennially. It is widely considered as a bellwether for global food and food technology trends.