36th Edition of the World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress provides global insights to shape the future of the Indian Nut and Dried Fruit Industry

The International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC) celebrated the 36th Edition of the World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress for the first time in India between May 19 and 21 at the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai. The INC Congress witnessed the largest international gathering of food professionals, suppliers, traders and buyers from the nut and dried fruit business with nearly 1000 attendees from across 60 countries.

The three-day conference was a global platform to exchange knowledge and ideas in market development, supply chain, consumption, product innovation, food safety, nutrition and research through a variety of monographic round tables, seminars, working group meetings, stand-alone sessions and keynote speakers.

Chennai 2017 is the 36th edition of the INC’s annual Congress, that in 2018 will take place in Sevilla (Spain), whereas the site for 2019 it will be hosted in Boca Raton, Florida which was announced during the Annual Report session in Chennai today.

The highlight for the final day of the INC Congress was the annual INC awards for recognizing the contribution of individuals and organizations to the progress of the nuts and dried fruits industry. Dr. Richard D. Mattes, who has been an active researcher in the area of nuts and health for over 20 years was presented with the Award for Excellence in Research. The Award for Excellence in Gastronomy was presented to Bukhara Restaurant, overseen by Chef JP Singh, for its contribution to the preservation, improvement and dissemination of Indian cuisine worldwide. The Innovation Award, whose winner was decided through a vote among the Congress participants, went to Mr. Bert Peelaers and Mr. Taf Peeters, founders of Qcify, Inc. a world leader in the field of automated quality control for the best solutions in the food industry. Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Bert said that “I am glad that there is a recognition in world for our product today. We see this as a thank you for all the nuts and dried fruits processing companies. We believe in the philosophy of developing an application that caters to the need of the industry and we are happy we started early in this process.”

The Golden Nut Award will be delivered tonight during the traditional Gala dinner to Mr. K. Ravindranathan Nair for his indefatigable dedication to the cashew business.

During the session, INC also announced the Congress venue for the 2019 edition: it will take place in Boca Raton, Florida. Before that, next year’s edition will be in Sevilla from May 21 to 23 2018, as it had already been announced one year ago.