FRANKFURT, Germany – For six days, IFFA organizers and exhibitors hosted more than 67,000 visitors from 149 countries at the triennial trade show at the Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2016, 62,440 visitors from 142 countries attended the show. This year’s show featured 120,000 sq. m. (1.29 million sq. ft.) of exhibition space, which was up 9 percent over the 2016 show.

“IFFA has once again shown that it is not only one of our longest-established trade fairs but also, above all, the global meeting place for the sector. Seven out of 10 visitors came from outside Germany. The mood in the halls, on the exhibition stands and in the aisles was fantastic,” said Wolfgang Marzin, president and CEO of Messe Frankfurt. “At the same time, IFFA is the family meeting place of the meat-processing sector — the meat industry, the machine manufacturers, the packaging companies, the spice suppliers, the trade and butchers. Many of these companies have been in the hands of the same family for generations and IFFA is where they meet to shape the future every three years.”

This year’s IFFA introduced the Exhibition Hall 12 which provided 33,600 sq. m. (362,000 sq. ft.) of exhibition space over two levels.

Alongside the exhibitors’ trade show of innovations, IFFA offered a complementary program featuring lectures, dedicated exhibitions, panel discussions and competitions. The German Butchers’ Association held a number of international quality competitions in Hall 12 May 4-5. The International Competition for Young Butchers featured six, two-person teams from England, France, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany competing. The International Quality Competition for Sausage and Ham was also held on May 6 and May 9. A number of member companies from the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) from the US were honored with awards while attending the show.  

Every day throughout the six-day show, the IFFA Forum featured an industry trend. Expert lecturers gave presentations about the topic or trend in the morning and practical examples were highlighted by exhibitors each afternoon. In addition, the IFFA Kitchen was in operation throughout the show, which featured sausage making, packaging and labeling.

IFFA was first held 70 years ago as an exhibition alongside the conference of the Butchers' Association of the US Zone in Frankfurt. It is now the world’s leading trade show for the international meat sector. In 2019, 70 percent of trade visitors came from outside Germany. The Top 10 international visiting nations were the Russian Federation, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Poland, China, the Ukraine, the US, Austria and Australia. Registration from Latin America was up 31 percent.

The next IFFA will be held in Frankfurt, May 14-19, 2022.