THIRTEEN food companies from the Philippines are set to exhibit from January 13 to 15, in the 44th Winter Fancy Food Show (WFFS) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California.

Led by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (DTI-CITEM), the Philippine participation will exhibit and sample the country’s range of healthy, organic and premium food products.

“The FoodPhilippines pavilion in San Francisco will have a grand showcase of the Philippines’s specialty food products targeted for export in the North American region, as well as other neighboring regions,” DTI-Citem Executive Director Pauline Suaco-Juan said.

The WFFS is the US West Coast’s largest specialty food and beverage event with an estimated 20,000 annual visitors and 1,500 exhibitors from across the US and 28 other countries.  “Specialty food” refers to products of the highest grade, style or quality, derived from their uniqueness, origin, processing method and design.

Exhibiting in WFFS for the first time are CJ Uniworld Corp. with their variety of banana chips; Filipinas Oro de Cacao with their single-origin “Auro Chocolate” from Davao; Grand Asia Integrated Natural Coco Products Corp. with their processed coconut products under the Gaincoco brand; Innovative Packaging Industry Corp. with their Oh So Healthy! fruit crisps.

Meanwhile, Philippine companies that are making a comeback in WFFS are Bethany Sales Inc.; Century Pacific Food Inc./Century Pacific North America; Islamic Da’Wah Council of the Philippines Inc.; Magic Melt Foods Inc., Pasciolco Agri Ventures; Prime Fruits International Inc.; Profood International Corp.; SL Agritech Corp.; and San Miguel Corp.

“Backed with these firms, we are confident the Philippine delegation will significantly boost the government’s high-impact export strategy to widen our export reach in Western countries,” Suaco-Juan said.

Almay See, general manager of Innovative Packaging Industry Corp. said the US market is a lucrative export market for the Philippines since it “has many Filipinos looking for products from their home country.”

See said Americans have been more health-conscious over the years with their fast-paced lifestyle which opens up a big opportunity for their fun and nutritious line of new guilt-free snacking treats made from 100 percent real fruits.

For this participation, Innovative Packaging Industry Corp. will be launching two new flavors on their snack line to showcase in WFFS 2019. “We are excited to showcase our two new products in San Francisco along with our three other flavors, namely Guava Purple Yam Banana, Mango Sweet Potato Banana and Purple Yam Banana Coconut,” See said.

As of August 2018, the US is the Philippines’s second top export destination next to China and followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

In 2017 the Philippines’s total food and agricultural exports to the US totaled $1.2 billion, the office of the United States Trade Representative said. Leading categories include tropical oils ($555 million), processed fruits and vegetables ($199 million), tree nuts ($109 million), raw beet and cane sugar ($105 million), and fruit and vegetable juices ($79 million).

This participation under FoodPhilippines is led by DTI-Citem as part of the government’s unified effort to promote the Philippines as a source of quality food products in the global market.