Alimentaria FoodTech, the leading trade fair for innovation, technology and ingredients for the food industry, will once again be at the centre of the foodtech ecosystem from 6 to 8 October 2026 at Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue. The event will bring together nearly 400 exhibiting companies and brands, as well as some thirty startups specialized in disruptive solutions for the industry. Morocco, one of the main destination markets for Spanish food, will be the guest country of the next edition.
With a clear professional and international orientation, Alimentaria FoodTech will present a transversal proposal that covers all phases of the food production process, from production and processing to conservation and commercial distribution. The show is thus presented as a strategic platform to promote the modernisation of the food technology industry, promote the exchange of knowledge and generate new business opportunities in a context of profound technological and market transformation.
Among the nearly 400 companies represented at the event are leading firms such as MIMASA, Dordal, Handtmann, Weber, Vaessen Schoemaker, Hiperbaric, ULMA, Frontmatec, Tetra Pak, Roser Group, Haratek, CSB System, Brenntag, Impag Iberia and Bizerba, among others, which will present their latest technological solutions and equipment for the sector.
For Albert Puxan, president of Alimentaria FoodTech, "this new edition confirms the show as a strategic meeting point and reinforces its positioning as the business and innovation fair that covers the entire food industry chain".
Trends and entrepreneurship
The event will be consolidated as a showcase for the trends that are redefining food production, with special prominence for advances in machinery, automation and digitalisation, which are essential to promote more efficient, sustainable and safer processes.
Alimentaria FoodTech will also show solutions based on collaborative robotics, with systems designed to interact safely and directly with people in the same production environment, improving both productivity and working conditions.
The show will reinforce its commitment to foodtech entrepreneurship with a specific space in which nearly 30 startups, mostly Spanish, will present their developments specialising in disruptive solutions. These initiatives will have the support of entities such as ICEX Spain Export and Investment, the Generalitat de Catalunya, KM ZERO and the winners of the FoodTech Emprende Award of the last edition, with the aim of accelerating innovation and technology transfer.
At the same time, and with about forty companies, the ingredients area will be one of the most innovative spaces of the event. The area dedicated to exhibitors of ingredients, additives and intermediate solutions will present products and services aligned with new market demands and with increasingly demanding standards in terms of quality, sustainability and food safety.
Foreign market
Likewise, international projection will be one of the great purposes of the show. In this next edition, it is expected that 20% of the exhibiting companies will come from about 15 countries, mainly European, which are in great demand for equipment for the production and processing of food and beverages. In this sense, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Turkey are among the markets with the greatest representation at the show, reinforcing its global nature and its role as an internationalisation tool for Spanish companies in the sector.
In addition, through the Hosted Buyers programme and with the collaboration of strategic partners such as ICEX, FIAB and amec alimentec, business opportunities in international markets will be increased. Alimentaria FoodTech will bring together a hundred strategic buyers from more than 25 countries and expects to generate around 900 business meetings between these buyers and the exhibiting companies of their interest.
Morocco, country of honour
Alimentaria FoodTech 2026 will have Morocco as its country of honour, in collaboration with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Casablanca. This initiative seeks to strengthen commercial and technological relations between the two markets. More than 20 buyers from the country, one of the most important in the Maghreb, are expected to participate. Its choice responds both to its growing presence at the show, it was the second non-European country with the most visitors in the last edition, and to its strategic relevance for the Spanish industry. Spain is Morocco's leading trading partner, with a bilateral trade volume of more than 22,500 million euros per year, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise.
Finally, as a novelty and within the framework of its already consolidated FoodTech Innova and FoodTech Emprende Awards, the show incorporates the new FoodTech Award for Scientific Merit 2026, which will distinguish initiatives and experts who develop advanced technologies or ingredients for food production, transformation or preservation.