No More Worldwide Food Expo

Despite the dwindling attendance at most trade shows, the International Dairy Foods Assn. (www.idfa.org) announced it will stage its own show, the International Dairy Show, in 2010 as the first of what should be an annual event. The announcement surprised many when it was made Oct. 28 at Worldwide Food Expo, the biennial show IDFA shared for the past 10 years with the American Meat Institute. Meaning no more Worldwide Food Expo.Worldwide Food Expo really was two distinct shows. In going off on its own, the new IDFA show will be held Sept. 13-15, 2010, in Dallas. The dairy association said it was looking at a number of other venues for future shows.AMI will continue the other half of Worldwide Food Expo -- its International Meat, Poultry & Seafood Industry Convention and Exposition -- on a biennial schedule at least for its 2011 show, which will be April 13-16, 2011, in Chicago. That’s six months earlier than it has been. Executives at the association hinted they are considering an annual show after 2011 and are looking at venues other than Chicago.IDFA reported 21,600 people attended this year’s combined Worldwide Food Expo; that’s up from 20,891 attendees at the 2007 expo. However, the association also reported there were 6,500 “qualified buyers.” Ten percent of all attendees traveled from outside the U.S., and more than 100 countries were represented.