Over a thousand professionals at Hi South America Summit

The Hi South America Summit – held on June 15 and 16, 2009 at Sao Paulo’s Novotel Center Norte – received 1012 visitors, fully succeeding in its role of exchange of information and publicizing of new launches of health ingredients.


A total success. That sums up Health ingredients South America, held for the first time on June 15 and 16 at São Paulo's Novotel Center Norte. The event – in the format of an international conference and a tabletop exhibition – hosted 1012 key decision-makers in the food industry.

The Summit’s organizer, UBM Brazil, reports that 323 of the visitors attended the conference program, which consisted of more than 45 presentations on a full range of vitally current subjects for the industry – including Obesity, Micro-encapsulation, Cosmoceutics, Cardiovascular Health, Brain Health, Sporting Nutrition, Diabetes, and the market.

“There was not one word of negative comment on the event, showing that it satisfied both visitors and exhibitors,” says United Business Media Events Manager Vincent Brain, who is responsible for UBM’s health ingredient events (Fi, Hi e Ni) outside Europe. “Hi South America shows that the functional ingredients sector is highly dynamic. This dynamism produces a major continuing challenge for the professionals involved in marketing and research and development for companies. That is why this event was so successful. “It was an open forum for exhibitors to launch their products and innovations, the objective of which is to improve the health of final consumers.”

The South American version has now established itself as the meeting point in Brazil for the functional food ingredient companies – as witnessed by participants’ comments that the results exceeded their expectations.

“Our participation in Hi South America was very beneficial and interesting, since we want to prospect new clients in Brazil, presenting our product PreB-Floranew, which is unprecedented in the country,” said Shigeru Kato, director of Anew.

Cassiana Moniz, Regional Manager of Sales for Bunge, assessed her participation as excellent. “We succeeded in making some very important approaches and getting closer to several clients. The lectures provided a unique chance to show professionals the trends and discoveries of the functional ingredients sector. Bunge’s theme presentation on “Low Trans Low Sat Fats” was an example, and earned us a lot of praise.”

Suzan Mohamad Nessaif, Commercial Manager of CNI, said the Hi South America Summit was a surprise in terms of the level of the professionals who were present at the two days of the event. “All of them were extremely interested in discovering new things and the peculiarities of each ingredient. This is what the Latin American market was needing: something that brings together good content and real business opportunities in a single event.” 

“Visits to our stand throughout the event were continuous, exceeding our expectation. The lectures were of very high quality and the format of the event, uniting technical content and information on exhibitors, worked very well,” said Jane Vieira, of the Marketing area of Döhler.

Guillaume Levade, Events Director of Naturex for Latin America, said he was surprised by the content program, which he said brought a considerable quantity of new information to the market. “I am happy with Naturex’s participation in Hi South America, because I met very important professionals and companies, and was able to present all the products that we have developed for the functional ingredients market,” he said.

Basf Marketing Manager Sandra Berti Biben agreed with this view, and pointed out the high degree of qualification of visitors to the event. “Publicity for the event was excellent and established Hi South America in the position of the most innovative in Latin America. UBM Brazil is to be congratulated. We will certainly be at the next Hi South America,” he said.

“For Nestlé, concern for the health of its products’ users is already part of its DNA. We visited the Hi South America Summit to get to know new developments in this market that is expanding fast, and it was an excellent opportunity to talk to suppliers and learn about many of different ingredients now available. “One product I thought very interesting was the Omega 3 in powder form that does not have the taste of fish, which MasterSense presented on its stand,” said Alexandra Vieira Filgueiras, cooking products development coordinator for Nestlé.

“Schincariol does not yet produce functional ingredients, but we are watching trends and seeking new ingredients – Hi South America 2009 brought us the news in this segment of the market”, said Helana Almeida, of the company’s research and development department.

“At Hi South America I find information on trends which may possibly be the focus of the company in the future”, said Karina Messias, innovation technician of Duas Rodas Industrial.

“The event arrived in Brazil in ideal form, attracting a public of quality. We should not confuse the food industry in general with the functional ingredients industry – we do not need mega-events to present our new developments, but an event like this, focused on the presentation of technologies, and products and, indeed, on doing business,” said Hélvio Colino, Director of Labonathus. “My summary of the event is totally positive.” Mr. Colino is also president of Abiam – the Brazilian Health Additives and Ingredients Industry and Retailing Association – one of the organizations supporting the event.