The combined competition and exhibition IFC (International Food Contest) is part of FoodTech 2026, which therefore offers both new food technologies and outstanding taste experiences. This year’s edition of FoodTech takes place at MCH Messecenter Herning, Danmark, from 27-29 October.
Approximately 1.100 dairy products have been entered for this year’s IFC (International Food Contest), and in addition to Danish dairies, dairies from Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Romania are also participating.
Lars Johannes Nielsen, Senior Consultant at Agriculture & Food and the Danish Dairy Board and responsible for IFC, describes IFC as a “fantastic opportunity to explore an abundance of dairy products” and puts into words what visitors can expect this year:
– There is enormous variety in the exhibition, and at the moment we are seeing, among other things, strong interest in protein-rich products in many different variants. At the same time, the classic products naturally remain an important part of it all – you can never really go wrong with a good cheese.
As was the case with last year’s IFC, which took place at the HI trade fair, visitors will this year have the opportunity to witness the final judging in the competition section of IFC, and there is a very good reason for that.
– It gives the audience a much better insight into the judges’ work. When the category winners are presented, the judges will sit and assess the products more visibly, allowing the audience to follow how they evaluate them. Visitors must not disturb or speak to the judges during the process, but they will have the opportunity to get very close to the expertise behind the assessments, explains Lars Johannes Nielsen.
A unique professional community
IFC, which this year can also showcase a new stage backdrop, looks forward to once again serving as a professional meeting place for the industry.
– Our most important task is to deliver what the industry is asking for: A meeting place where networking, passion and professional pride come together. Here, you meet former, current and perhaps future colleagues, exchange experiences and cultivate personal connections. It is precisely this unique professional community that has been at the heart of IFC for many years, notes Lars Johannes Nielsen, who considers it both natural and forward-looking that the combined competition and exhibition is part of FoodTech:
– IFC and FoodTech complement each other extremely well because visitors get both the finished product and the entire professional and technological world surrounding it gathered in one place. At FoodTech, the dairy industry can meet its existing suppliers while also becoming acquainted with potential new business partners, ideas and technologies. It is through these meetings that the foundations for new innovation within milk and dairy products can be laid.
Taste experiences add an extra dimension
For FoodTech, IFC also helps provide visitors with a different and sensory experience amid the trade fair’s many technologies and solutions. Line Paugan Riis Jensen, Project Manager at MCH A/S, is pleased about this and also looks forward to FoodTech visitors having the opportunity to experience the final judging live.
– IFC is a very good fit for FoodTech because the competition and exhibition complement the trade fair’s other professional content while also giving visitors the opportunity to experience the finished products up close. We look forward to them once again being able to smell and taste their way through the many dairy products, and we look forward to the live final judging now also becoming part of FoodTech. This provides a great opportunity to get even closer to both the products and the extensive expertise behind them, says Line Paugan Riis Jensen.
FoodTech takes place at MCH Messecenter Herning, Denmark, from 27-29 October 2026. Read more at uk.foodtech.dk and request press accreditation here.
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