SIAL Paris Trade Event Returns in October

SIAL Paris, the world's biggest agri-food trade fair, will return Oct. 18-22 to Paris Nord Villepinte. The 2020 edition of the trade fair launches with what it called a new dynamic and unifying theme: #OwnTheChange, which organizers say is aimed at uniting food professionals amid major transformations taking place throughout the industry.

This year, SIAL said it is hosting 7,200 exhibitors and that it expects more than 300,000 visiting professionals from 200 countries to attend the four-day trade event. There will also be nearly 2,400 different products presented.

"Food is changing, and we have to make new choices," said SIAL's general director, Nicolas Trentesaux. "There is now an urgent need to rethink our relationship with agriculture, with the transformation and distribution of products, to deliver a meaningful experience to consumers."

Trentesaux added: "At the SIAL, we believe that business performance only makes sense if it leads to improvements in health, the environment and society as a whole. Our role is to understand, analyze and develop the trends at work in our ecosystem by giving our exhibitors and visitors the keys to create the solutions of the future.”

A series of conferences, debates and roundtable talks led by high-profile international speakers will highlight the show, SIAL said. Key issues facing the food and food retail industries such as packaging (specifically bulk packaging), recycling, zero waste and zero plastic strategies will be a major part of the discussion, as will topics in health and technology. Urbanization and food sourcing, food tech, traceability and blockchain are also scheduled to be part of the discussion series.

One of SIAL's featured 2020 speakers is chef Dominique Crenn, who in 2018 became the first woman to earn three Michelin stars in the U.S. Born and raised in France, Crenn moved to San Francisco in 1990, and opened her eatery, L’Atelier Crenn, as an ode to her mother’s garden in Brittany and a homage to her artist father, whose paintings adorn L’Atelier Crenn's walls.

SIAL is put on and promoted by Comexposium, one of the world’s leading event organizers. Globally, Comexposium hosts more than 135 business-to-business and business-to-consumer events across different sectors, including agriculture, food, construction, fashion, health, tourism and leisure, real estate, retail and more.