Leaders of healthy snacks gather in Antalya

ANTALYA

DHA Photo

Leading figures in the world of healthy snack foods came together in Antalya at the 34th World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress on May 22-24. Around 1,000 food professionals from 61 countries, including Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent and Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, discussed the indispensable role of nut products and dried fruits in healthier diets across the world. 

“Every day more and more people are harmed by obesity and it causes an estimated damage of $2 trillion to the world economy. It has been proven with many scientific studies that nuts and dried fruits play a very important role in the battle against obesity. The consumption of nuts and dried fruit is considered to be the healthiest snack and they make a major contribution to the prevention and treatment of disorders such as above all obesity, diabetes, heart attacks and cancer,” said Goretti Guasch, the executive director of the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC). 

He said the tree nuts supply value grew by 25 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year to $33.7 billion and the dry fruit market showed 5 percent growth in 2014 over the previous year, reaching $7.4 billion according to the INC data. 

Guasch also pointed out the fact that the nut and dried fruit supply value reached a total of $40 billion when the companies that were not included in the INC research were taken into account.

Speaking at the meeting held prior to the INC congress, Chairman Giles Hacking said, “Turkey is indispensable for the sector with its production volume and product diversity.”

According to the report released by the INC, Turkey became the world’s second largest producer with 336,000 tons of tree nuts in the 2014-2015 season. The country also became the world’s biggest producer of dried fruit, with 406 million tons of production in the same period. 

“Turkey needs to open to more export markets and increase the efficiency of production with investments...
Turkey has many opportunities both in the domestic and the international markets which need to be evaluated,” said INC Executive Board Member and Congress Chairman Cüneyd Zapsu.

There has been a dramatic rise in the consumption of healthier and organic foods across the world, according to the chiefs of leading food and beverage companies.

“For instance, we launched a new yogurt, including several nut products and dried fruits, last year. This product has become our most rapidly selling Chobani yogurt,” said Chobani’s Ulukaya during a session in the congress.