Aussie Gourmet Food in Show in San Francisco

Largest ever display of Australian food and beverages in the US underway

Australian speciality foods will again take centre stage at one of the largest and most influential specialty food industry trade shows in the United States, the 31st Winter Fancy Food Show has held in San Francisco during January 21-23.

Building on the success of last year, the Australia Pavilion in 2007 has grown to 30 booths, with 50 companies in attendance offering 100 speciality and gourmet products - the largest ever gathering of Australian foods in the United States.

Australian specialty foods being featured at this years event include special products such as indigenous spices, extra virgin olive oils, chocolates, fruit preserves, honeys, nuts, and wines.

Australian companies exhibiting at the event include Outback Spirit native herbs and sauces (VIC), Arrowfield Estate wines (NSW), G'Day Gourmet canned tuna and salmon (SA), Dandaragan Estate extra virgin olive oil (WA), Pure Mountain Natural Spring Water (QLD).

The annual Winter Fancy Food Show, organised by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT), attracts up to 32,000 people from specialty food, wine, gift and department stores, supermarkets, restaurants, mail-order and other related businesses.

Beth Goslin, Austrades Business Development Manager (Food) based in New York, said, "The Winter Fancy Food Show is proving to be one of the best events for our speciality food companies looking to enter the large and segmented US food market and capitalise on the growing interest in Australian gourmet foods and beverages. Australian companies attending the event will be promoting their high-quality products to potential importing, distributing and retailing partners in the US market."

"The specialty food segment has attracted growing consumer demand and retailer support as gourmet food is increasingly being chosen by mainstream consumers in the US. In the past 10 years, specialty food sales have grown by 7% annually proving that American consumers are willing to pay top dollar for quality foods."

"The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) continues to add value to imported Australian food with numerous tariff reductions and quota increases on specialty food items, making them even more competitive and appealing to American buyers." Ms Goslin said.