Anuga FoodTec

28/04/2026

Most producers think that's a decade away. Handtmann is showing it in 2027.

Harald Suchanka, CEO of Handtmann Processing, doesn't mince words: the future of food processing is integrated line solutions — complete automation from raw material handling through processing, product handling, and into packaging.

Not as a concept. As a live demonstration. At Anuga FoodTec 2027.

For Handtmann, Cologne is a mandatory appointment — because the event mirrors exactly what they stand for: the full breadth of food processing, with innovation and forward-thinking at its core.

If you want to see where automation in food production is actually heading this is your moment.

Anuga FoodTec 2027 | February 23–26 | Cologne

27/04/2026

Fresh products don't wait. Your warehouse does.

"Logistic processes can only be coordinated effectively if machines, systems and data are seamlessly interconnected." — Heinz Ennen, Kardex Mlog

That's the gap most cold storage operations are still closing. Manual processes, fragmented software, and reactive decision-making slow down exactly the moments that matter most — stock-in, stock-out, and getting the right pallet to the right place before shelf life runs out.

Kardex Mlog built a 44-metre automated high-bay warehouse for Moers Frischeprodukte — a joint venture between Dr. Oetker and Molkerei Gropper — with more than 17,000 pallet spaces and six stacker cranes integrated directly into the existing material flow. The result: expanded logistics capacity built to meet growing demand for fresh products without compromising speed or accuracy.

🏭 The full expert talk with Heinz Ennen is in the Anuga FoodTec Magazine — covering integration challenges, scalability, and what a future-proof storage strategy actually looks like.

📰 Featured in the Anuga FoodTec Magazine by DLG e.V.

Read the full interview at: https://bit.ly/4euumrx

24/04/2026

The final 2 hours.

Anuga FoodTec India Dairy closes tonight at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi — the floor is still active.

🔬 Three days. 150+ exhibitors. Over 5,000 dairy professionals across 7,000 sqm. The conference programme, curated by DLG, structured the week around smarter, safer, more circular dairy infrastructure.

Day 1 centered on processing technology: automation for paneer, cheese, khoya production; value-added dairy development; quality assurance frameworks; sustainable resource optimisation. Days 2 and 3 moved into farm management and supply chain — Smart Cattle Management, TMR feeding systems, Advanced Homogenisation Technologies, Sanitary Sensor Technology for compliance and shelf life.

The exhibition hosted a CEO Roundtable, curated B2B meetings, the NDDB Knowledge Hub — formats built for technology sourcing, strategic partnerships, business decisions.

🌍 Exhibitors from India, Germany, Australia, France, Italy. One of the world's fastest-growing dairy markets, in the middle of a technology transition at scale.

The conversations on this floor were worth capturing. We did. Video follows. 🎥

📅 The conversation continues in Cologne. Anuga FoodTec 2027 opens Day 1 of its Innovation Stage with Processing of Dairy and Alternatives — February 23, 2027.

23/04/2026

95% of visitors at Anuga FoodTec 2024 said they would recommend the fair to a colleague.

Not 95% of a survey panel. 95% of the people who actually showed up — production managers, C-suite, quality leads — from across the global food and beverage industry.

74% are already planning to return in 2027.

8 of the world's top 10 dairy companies were there.
10 of Germany's top 10 meat producers. All of them.
3,933 participants across 3.5 days of programming.

One fair. Every technology segment. Every major player.

That's what ONE FOR ALL. ALL IN ONE. actually means.

Anuga FoodTec 2027 — February 23–26, Cologne.

21/04/2026

The machinery supplier of 2027 is not a supplier anymore.

Machine builders are evolving into data partners — integration partners, technology enablers, optimization drivers across the entire value chain.

🔄 At the center of this shift: data.

Modern sensor systems go far beyond basic measurements. They monitor machine conditions, enable self-diagnostics, and communicate seamlessly via standards like IO-Link and OPC UA.

The result?
👉 Fully transparent, continuously analyzable production processes.

And then comes AI.
Predictive maintenance reduces unplanned downtime. Digital twins simulate process steps before they happen. And at Fraunhofer IVV, adaptive cleaning is already replacing worst-case-scenario protocols with demand-based procedures — using real-time optical sensing to clean only where and when it's needed.

"Against this backdrop, data-based technologies in production are becoming increasingly important for the SME-driven companies of the food industry." — Roland Thiemann, Director, Anuga FoodTec

"Data-driven production goes far beyond capturing machine data. What matters is the intelligent linking, interpretation, and use of that data along the entire value chain." — Carola K. Herbst, Deputy Director, DLG Competence Center Food

One prerequisite ties it all together: cybersecurity. Networked production systems only deliver on their promise if they're protected against manipulation, data loss, and unauthorized access.

🏭 This is the transformation Anuga FoodTec 2027:
From sensor → to system
From data → to decision
From machine → to intelligence

Cologne | February 23–26, 2027

20/04/2026

If you're building something that changes how food is processed, packaged, or monitored — this is the window. 📍

The German Agricultural Society (DLG) is already distinguishing pioneering technologies for the 13th time in 2027 with the renowned International FoodTec Award.

Here's what winning looked like in 2024:

One innovation extracted polyphenols from brewer's grains using only water and cavitation — no ethanol, 30% less energy. Another sealed recyclable mono-material packaging with pixel-level temperature control, cutting consumption by up to 50%. A third dissolved packaging entirely. Made from algae.

14 projects. 5 countries. Gold and Silver medals awarded by a 17-member international jury.

Winners are presented at Anuga FoodTec 2027 in Cologne — in front of 38,000+ industry professionals. 🎤

Apply at 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/4dDFGRA

20/04/2026

🏆 Applications for the International FoodTec Award close May 4, 2026.

If you're building something that changes how food is processed, packaged, or monitored — this is the window. 📍

Here's what winning looked like in 2024:

One innovation extracted polyphenols from brewer's grains using only water and cavitation — no ethanol, 30% less energy. Another sealed recyclable mono-material packaging with pixel-level temperature control, cutting consumption by up to 50%. A third dissolved packaging entirely. Made from algae.

14 projects. 5 countries. Gold and Silver medals awarded by a 17-member international jury.

Winners are presented at Anuga FoodTec 2027 in Cologne — in front of 38,000+ industry professionals. 🎤

Apply at 👉🏼

Der International FoodTec Award 2027 zeichnet wegweisende Technologien aus. Bewerben Sie sich bis 4. Mai 2026 und feiern Sie die Preisverleihung auf der Anuga FoodTec in Köln.

14/04/2026

One country. 25% of the world’s milk. What powers that growth?

The technology infrastructure behind that growth? That's where things get interesting.

This April, the inaugural Anuga FoodTec India Dairy brings the entire dairy technology value chain together in New Delhi — from cooperatives and private processors to automation specialists and cold chain providers.

📍 22–24 April 2026 | Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi

Supported by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the focus is on what India's dairy transformation actually requires: value-added dairy products, efficiency gains through automation, and digitalization across the value chain.

Roland Thiemann, Director Anuga FoodTec: "In combination with data-based analysis processes, a foundation for predictive energy management is laid that makes efficiency potential visible and designs production processes to conserve resources."

Carola K. Herbst, Deputy Managing Director, DLG e.V. - German Agricultural Society: "Under the guiding theme 'Navigate Complexity', we address current developments in the dairy segment and demonstrate how technological innovations can help successfully manage and further develop increasingly complex production processes."

It's the first dedicated vertical edition under the Anuga FoodTec India brand — and it won't be the last.

🔗 Explore Anuga FoodTec India Diary here: 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/4stT2DMs

The drivers of transformation in dairy are similar worldwide — even if they're addressed in different ways. From New Delhi in April to Cologne in February 2027, where the Innovation Stage opens Day 1 with Processing of Dairy and Alternatives.

📅 Anuga FoodTec 2027 | February 23–26, Cologne

10/04/2026

One country. 25% of the world’s milk. What powers that growth?

The technology infrastructure behind that growth? That's where things get interesting.

This April, the inaugural Anuga FoodTec India Dairy brings the entire dairy technology value chain together in New Delhi — from cooperatives and private processors to automation specialists and cold chain providers.

📍 22–24 April 2026 | Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi

Supported by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the focus is on what India's dairy transformation actually requires: value-added dairy products, efficiency gains through automation, and digitalization across the value chain.

Roland Thiemann, Director Anuga FoodTec: "In combination with data-based analysis processes, a foundation for predictive energy management is laid that makes efficiency potential visible and designs production processes to conserve resources."

Carola K. Herbst, Deputy Managing Director, DLG Center for Agriculture and Food: "Under the guiding theme 'Navigate Complexity', we address current developments in the dairy segment and demonstrate how technological innovations can help successfully manage and further develop increasingly complex production processes."

It's the first dedicated vertical edition under the Anuga FoodTec India brand — and it won't be the last.

🔗 Explore Anuga FoodTec India Dairy 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/4stT2DM

The drivers of transformation in dairy are similar worldwide — even if they're addressed in different ways. From New Delhi in April to Cologne in February 2027, where the Innovation Stage opens Day 1 with Processing of Dairy and Alternatives.

📅 Anuga FoodTec 2027 | February 23–26, Cologne

09/04/2026

Two Hubs. One mission.
Start the conversations today that will define food and beverage production tomorrow.

Anuga FoodTec 2027 is introducing Community Hubs.

Two dedicated spaces at the fair — the Sustainability Hub and the Smart Hub — built for the kind of exchange that does not happen on a standard trade show floor.

🌱 The Sustainability Hub addresses circular economy, water management, sustainable packaging, and alternative proteins.

⚙️ The Smart Hub covers AI-supported systems, process automation, digital twins, and data-driven production.

Both Hubs run across all four days of Anuga FoodTec 2027 through formats designed for depth and direct participation: Deep Dives, Fishbowl discussions, BarCamps, and live Showcases.

Sponsors, program details, and speakers will be announced over the coming months.

📍 Anuga FoodTec 2027 | February 23–26 | Cologne
Navigate Complexity. Smart. Safe. Sustainable.

07/04/2026

Yeast out. Oxygen in. That's what a misconfigured centrifuge cycle does to your beer.

Most separation problems aren't mechanical failures. They're invisible process gaps — and they show up in the product long before they show up in the machine data.

Ingo Schmitt, Senior Sales Manager Separation at GEA, puts it directly:

"The question used to be: how many hectolitres per hour? Today it's: how many kWh and how much water per hectolitre?"

The centrifuge hasn't changed. The standard it's being held to has.

Read the full interview on https://bit.ly/3Qn2ifk

📰 Featured in the Anuga FoodTec Magazine by e.V.

31/03/2026

When production stops, the real story starts with your architecture.

On November 14, 2024, the Black Basta ransomware group encrypted the internal systems and databases of VOSSKO, a German frozen food manufacturer based in Westphalia. Production ground to a halt. Police, the State Criminal Police Office, IT forensics specialists — all called in within days. 800 GB of data reportedly exfiltrated: financial records, employee data, project files.

What made VOSSKO a target was not negligence. It was architecture.

Legacy OT environments were built for isolation. Today they run connected — to enterprise systems, cloud services, remote maintenance access. And the threat has evolved to match: as the AFT press team documented ahead of Anuga FoodTec 2027, attackers are now deploying AI-supported methods specifically against these older production environments.

The response toolkit is defined. Network Traffic Analysis and Deep Packet Inspection make communication flows inside production networks visible. Intrusion Detection Systems flag anomalies before they become incidents — an unexpected device appearing on the network, a machine initiating a connection it has never made before. These are not future technologies. They are increasingly integrated into the automation platforms already running in food manufacturing today.

🔒 The sequencing matters: asset visibility first. Then network segmentation — isolating production zones so an incident in one area cannot propagate across the entire system. Then Zero Trust access, where no device and no user is automatically trusted, and every connection is continuously verified.

NIS-2 sets the floor. IEC 62443 defines the technical standard. Anuga FoodTec 2027 is where implementation gets practical.

Navigate Complexity. Smart. Safe. Sustainable.
📌 Cologne, February 23–26, 2027.