Cooking is something humans have enjoyed doing for ages. However, the changing lifestyles and long hours at work make it a daunting task for the urban population. In such a scenario, convenience foods like Ready-to-Eat (RTE) and Ready-to-Cook (RTC) act as saviors by reducing cooking time and providing nutrition to the whole family. These foods are bought prepared and packaged and require minimal or no cooking. They may be simply heated and consumed.

Around the world, consumers are getting inclined towards buying convenience foods as they have a longer shelf life and thus can be stored for future use. This is contributing to its rapid market growth. The global RTE market size was valued at USD 99324.79 Million in 2022 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.24% during 2023-2028, reaching USD 134961.52 Million by 2028. Striding along is the RTC market which is projected to reach USD 14.24 Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR Of 6.92% from 2023-2030.

In India, the RTE market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 20.64% between 2022 and 2027 and its size is expected to increase by USD 1,064.32 million. The RTC market is expected to grow by USD 488.97 Million during 2022-2027, accelerating at a CAGR of 7.12% during that period.

Inter FoodTech & Pac MechEx - What is in store?

Inter FoodTech & Pac MechEx is the premier technology supplier fair for the food and beverage industry. A host of companies manufacturing equipment for RTE and RTC foods will make an appearance and interact with visitors to showcase their advanced technology and innovations at the event.

Visitors can explore Shreetech Universal Technologies’ RTE equipment that will be displayed at the event. These include a retort machine, paratha/roti line, noodle/pasta line, frozen vegetable line, samosa machine, cereal bar line, encrusting machine, breading and battering line, and much more.

Katha Food Pharma Solutions has been cooperating with some of the finest equipment manufacturers overseas and will put on display its services like retorts/autoclaves (Steriflow), retort pouches (Logos Packaging Holding), canning lines (Secma Cabon from France), metal detectors (Nikka Densok from Japan) among others.

Standard Machinery Corporation will exhibit its state-of-the-art equipment that offers minimal labor-oriented production, hygiene and safety, and easy storage and transportation.

Kanchan Metals partners with renowned international food processing equipment manufacturers for ready meals and will display various types of food conveying and processing systems that will integrate with imported processing lines to drive down the cost. Also exhibited will be their conveying solutions, forced air coolers, bucket elevators, seasoning drums, and namkeen extruders with capacities ranging from 500 kg/hr to 3000 kg/hr.

Mukhtar Pathan, director-Sales, VA Exhibitions, the organizers of Snack & BakeTec, Inter FoodTech & Pac MechEx said, “With the colossal response from the inaugural edition of Inter FoodTech and its concurrent trade fairs, Snack & BakeTec and Pac MechEx, this year’s edition will have more in store for all the stakeholders of food and beverage processing industry. We invite all the food industry folks to network, learn, and grow their business at this well-attended trade show.”