Gold medals in the nominations "Innovative Product", "Products for Healthy Lifestyle" and "Best Product". The oil and fat division sums up the results of participation in the international exhibition of food products "PRODEXPO - 2023".
More than 2 thousand participants from 70 countries of the world. 68 thousand visitors. Dozens of meetings, non-stop negotiations, rich business program and presentations of new products. The international exhibition of food products "PRODEXPO - 2023" has ended in Moscow.
Managers and technologists of the EFKO Group of Companies worked at the booth of the oil and fat division all five days - they helped representatives of confectionery, bakery and dairy enterprises to select ingredients from our assortment.
The main intrigue of PRODEXPO is what products will receive the highest awards in competitions within the framework of the insert. These awards are among the most honorable for food manufacturers, the quality mark is a serious competitive advantage in the market. Each nominee of the PRODEXPO competitions knows that it is possible to receive an award only if the product meets the selection criteria one hundred percent.
Quality, safety.
Taste, aroma, consistency.
Packaging and labeling.
All this and more is assessed by a commission of experts. These are leading specialists of scientific institutes, industry unions, and government bodies.
Tasting, checking, protocols… and a long-awaited victory!
11 products of EFKO Group received the highest awards, one of them - in two competitions at once!
"Gold" in the competition "Best Product"
For the confectionery industry, the victory was decisive - three medals at once in the "Best Product" competition. For the equivalent of Equilade cocoa butter and premium confectionery fats: Econat and Econd. It's not just a badge that we put on our labels. It is a recognition that we have risen to the challenge and are on a par with the leading multinational companies - the fats for the confectionery industry that we have developed have helped to completely replace imports.
“We produce all these products using high-tech dry and liquid fractionation methods - our company is the only one in all of Russia that has mastered them and uses them at its production sites,” said Alena Surkova, director of the confectionery industry of the oil and fat division. - The equivalent completely repeats the composition of cocoa butter and can replace it in chocolate glazes. "Ekonat" and "Ekond" are tempered fats, optimal for fillings of Assorted sweets. "Econat" - for more delicate, and "Ekond" - for harder - such as pralines.
In 2022, almost all large fast food chains switched their production to our Oilmix frying oil, the quality of this product was also confirmed by the gold medal at PRODEXPO-2023.
Oilmix» has significant advantages over conventional vegetable oils, - says Yulia Grigorova, Deputy Director of the Fat and Oil Division for Margarine Products. - Thanks to the optimally selected composition, it helps to avoid foam, as well as foreign tastes and odors that occur when frying in ordinary sunflower oil.
Gold medals in the competition "Best Product" were given to our milk fat substitutes OilBlend and Ecolact. Until 2023, our HMLs were issued according to technical specifications in compliance with the mandatory requirements of the EAEU - they contain general criteria product safety. But the detailed requirements for raw materials and organoleptics were already prescribed in production. GOST, which came into force in January, formalized them, and we voluntarily decided to comply with it. The first products produced according to the new GOST immediately received gold medals!
Gold in the Innovative Product Competition
One of the most difficult competitions is the “Innovative Product”, because in addition to the entire list of requirements, experts must check whether there is an innovation here at all? Is it really new and unique?
Experts awarded gold medals to our products for the dairy industry: Ecolact for healthy nutrition, Crystallizer for the production of spreads and Umkalakt vegetable oil mixture for baby food.
"Ecolact" for a healthy diet is a new product in our ZMZH line - for those who are attentive to the issue of organizing a diet. Received a medal for innovation due to a balanced composition - a combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are known to improve heart health and protect against heart attacks and strokes. For "Ecolact" this medal has already become the second gold after the "Best Product"!
Kristallizator analogues were produced abroad, but they were not produced in Russia, our company quickly responded to the need that arose on the market due to sanctions. Crystallization is one of the key processes in the production of spreads; the quality of the finished product largely depends on it. Oil migration, "fat bloom" - these are all manufacturing flaws that every technologist is well aware of, the crystallizer helps to completely solve these problems.
"Umkalakt" is not a continuation of the cartoon about a polar bear cub, but a mixture of vegetable oils that helped the production of baby food to "survive" during the crisis. Previously, such mixtures were completely imported - they are used for the production of dry milk formulas, as well as fermented milk products. It was important not only to release a quality product, but also to achieve European safety requirements, including the reduction of glycidyl ethers, which we succeeded.
“Each time we see results like this, we are proud of everyone who creates and manufactures our products. “This is a common victory! - says Alexander Alekseenko, director of the dairy industry of the oil and fat division of EFKO Group of Companies. - We have many ambitious plans for 2023 as well, such awards are no reason to relax, we are already developing emulsifiers and other products that will be used by the largest domestic and foreign enterprises in the future."
