Cairo conference will offer food for thought
SCI’s Oils and Fats Group has teamed up
with Oils and Fats International magazine to
run parallel technical and commercial
events to be held in Cairo, Egypt, in March
2007.
The conference and exhibition
will focus on the key global market for edible
oils and fats and the importance of Middle
Eastern countries to this growing industry
 Edible oils and fats play an important
part in human nutrition, although per capita consumption
varies widely from country to country. As the wealth
of a country increases, the consumption of oils and fats
also grows. With the increasing wealth of Middle Eastern
countries, this geographical area is gaining considerable
importance to the edible oils industry. This interest is
heightened by the fact that the region is not a large
producer of vegetable oils and thus is a target for the
major producing companies and areas of the world.
Following the success of the SCI Oils and Fats Group’s
major European congress — EuroFedLipid — in Edinburgh
in 2004, the group was approached by Oil and Fats
International (OFI) magazine and invited to develop and
run the technical conference to run in tandem with OFI
Middle East 2007, an exhibition and conference to be held
in March 2007 in Cairo, Egypt. SCI’s Edible Oils and fats - trends
in raw materials, processing and applications becomes the
first technical conference to run simultaneously with
an OFI commercial event. The commercial conference
will highlight key global market and trade trends in the
oil, oilseeds and meals complex, as well as important
regional trends.
This is a new venture for both the Oils and Fats
Group and the SCI conference department, neither of
which has previously supported a conference in the
Middle East. With the development of a database of
contacts and marketing in the region, this project
supports and strengthens the strategy of increasing
SCI’s global presence. The conference is based at the
Intercontinental Citystars Hotel in Cairo and will be
held on 20 - 21 March 2007 in this excellent meeting
venue.
| Organisers hope to
attract delegates from
Africa, South Asia and
Mediterranean countries
as well as the Middle East |
The first day will focus on the raw materials and
their processing. These materials include soft oil sources,
such as soya beans and cottonseeds, as well as
tropical oils, such as palm and palm kernel oils
and their fractions. The processes discussed will range
from the basics of deodorisation and hydrogenation
to the latest developments in fractionation and
interesterification.
The second day will focus on the use and formulation
of consumer products and ingredients for the food
industry. Fat-based consumer products are currently
under the spotlight due to their trans-fatty acid content.
With respect to this, the conference will end with
a plenary lecture from Tom Sanders of King’s College,
London, on health and nutritional trends.
The organising team has endeavoured to enlist local
speakers where possible, but since the traditional development
base for much of the processing equipment
is Europe and the US, this has proved to be a challenge.
However, organisers hope to attract delegates from
Africa, South Asia and Mediterranean countries as well
as the Middle East.
For further information or to register for this important
event, contact Jan Poole at:
E-mail: conference.producer@soci.org
John Hancock
Oils and Fats Group
|
