Unveiled: Final programme for Singapore event

Asian food industry leaders heralded the issues-driven agenda for the event, which has already become established in France and America.

“At a time when the industry is facing greater complexity regarding nutrition and international trade deals, Food Vision Asia will draw our industry together, elevate its position on the world stage and demonstrate that Asia’s food market is very much meeting those challenges head-on​,” said Matt Kovac, executive director of Food Industry Asia, a representative body. 

FIA will hold its annual general meeting on the first day of Food Vision Asia and, on the third day, chair an industry debate that will challenge Asia’s food leaders to tackle the region’s nutritional challenges through innovation and public-private partnership.

Food Vision Asia’s two-day schedule of debates, discussions and presentations will encourage interaction, networking and the exchange of ideas between food and nutrition industry leaders from across Asia and around the world.  

“Our programme will investigate opportunities for collaboration across global geographies​,” says events development director Christina Wood.

Featured among the line-up of speakers and contributors will be:

• Zee Yoong Kang, chief executive of Singapore’s Health Promotion Board, who will address the role of public and private partnership in consumer education to encourage positive nutrition.
• Anirban Mukhopadhyay, professor of marketing at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who will argue that corporate “lean-washing” is contributing to consumer misconceptions about nutrition and driving up levels of obesity.
• Jerome Del Porto, senior director of international operations for convenience retail giant 7-Eleven, who will address the potential for constructive collaboration between food manufacturers and retailers.
• Karen Hocking, head of government relations and industry development at Complementary Medicines Australia, who will reveal a blueprint for success for international businesses looking to enter the Asian nutrition market.
• Sunny Koh, managing director of one of Asia’s leading food exporters, the Chinatown Food Corporation, and deputy president of the Singapore Manufacturing Association, who will address East-West trade opportunities arising from a new partnership between Singapore and the European Enterprise Network.
• Siti Noorbaiyah Abdul Malek, director of the Asian Food and Beverage Alliance, who will consider what the creation of the Asean Economic Community and the recent signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership will mean for Asia’s food industry.
• Jack Sim, food entrepreneur and founder of BoP Hub, will reveal how a new social business model is transforming the diet of Singapore’s migrant worker community and creating sustainable growth for local businesses.
• Dr Ahmed El-Sohemy, Canada research chair in nutrigenomics at the University of Toronto, who will discuss personalised nutrition and its implications for today’s food and nutrition industries. 
• Jane Barnett, Mintel’s head of insight for Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and India, who will reveal key trends impacting Asia’s food and drink market.

Food Vision Asia, which is organised by William Reed, publisher of FoodNavigator-Asia, FoodNavigator and NutraIngedients on three continents, will also be the location for a world-first event with the launch of the Global Halal Alliance. 

Led by the Iskander Regional Development Authority and in collaboration with AsureQuality and Haltex Group, the alliance will create a worldwide standard for the creation, marketing and sale of halal products.  

By doing so it will enable both Muslim and non-Muslim organisations to thrive in the halal economy, confident that their products meet a common standard consumers can embrace. The creation of the alliance will be formalised at Food Vision Asia and witnessed by Mohammed Khaled Bin Nordin, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Johor.

“Our programme addresses regional and global trends affecting Asia’s food industry and its place in the world,​” said Richard Whitehead, editor of FoodNavigator-Asia.  

“We will look at the changing shape of the pan-Asian industry and consider its ability to address the region’s nutrition issues, and to open up and manage global import-export opportunities​.”

The event will be held at the five-star Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore, within an exclusive event suite that combines business, networking and residential facilities. 

The social highlight will be the event reception and dinner held at the prestigious Fullerton Hotel on Singapore’s Marina Bay.  

“Social as well as business networking is an important component of the Food Vision agenda​,” said Christina Wood.

Food Vision Asia is supported by high profile industry partners including platinum partner DSM, as well as Cosucra and the Welsh Government. The latest to join the group is BASF, which in the coming year will be a platinum partner of Food Vision Asia and its sister events in Europe and North America. 

On Food Vision Asia’s final day, DSM will challenge delegates to reflect on the nutritional value of their hotel breakfast and consider how it compares to what Asia’s population typically wakes up to. 

“We’ll demonstrate how easy it can be to redress and rebalance the nutrient intake of any population​,” said James Bauly, DSM’s Asia-Pacific marketing director.

From 2016, Food Vision Asia will be held annually and will complement the Food Vision global forum, held annually in Europe, and Food Vision USA.  

The full Food Vision Asia 2016 programme can be downloaded from www.foodvisionasia.com​.