Gulfood Manufacturing Opens in Dubai With Automation and AI Pitched for Food Security

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, opened the show, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM). The 12th edition runs from 3 to 5 November at Dubai World Trade Centre under the theme "Powering Food Security Through Manufacturing Innovation". It is held alongside ISM Middle East, GulfHost and Private Label Middle East. WAM said the four shows together fill 21 halls and bring 2,500 exhibitors from 79 countries, with Argentina, Mauritania, the Philippines, San Marino and Slovakia taking part for the first time.

Exhibitors include ADM International, Bühler Group, Bunge, Cargill, GEA, Givaudan, Krones, SIG Group, Tetra Pak and others.

Machines That Use Less

Several launches focused on efficiency. Ishida Middle East is showing its QX-500 tray sealer. WAM said it has a 46 per cent smaller footprint and uses 50 per cent less energy than earlier models. SACMI is showing a compression moulding system that it says produces up to 240,000 caps per hour, and a preform platform that combines integrated vision systems with automated robotic quality inspection. Bunge is presenting a chocolate alternative it says cuts costs by up to 70 per cent, and a butter substitute it says emits 82 per cent less CO2 than dairy butter.

Executives who spoke to WAM's Arabic service said AI is starting to change how food factories run. Rabie Rawand, regional sales manager for the Middle East and Africa at food processing equipment maker JBT Marel, said AI is improving research and development, automating production lines, reducing the need for labour in some operations and cutting waste. He said the company's global business is worth about $4 billion and that the Middle East and Africa account for a significant share. Its customers in the UAE include Emirates and Etihad.

Mayed Al Muaini, human resources director at UAE-based IFFCO Group, said the company is using AI to make manufacturing and resource use more efficient. He tied this to localising food production in support of the UAE's National Food Security Strategy 2051. IFFCO was founded in the UAE in 1975, has more than 80 brands and sells in more than 100 markets, he said.

Capital for the Intelligent Factory

One of the opening-day sessions was a roundtable titled "The Food Sovereignty Agenda: Capital and the Intelligent Factory", organised by Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism. The panel included former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman, Volans executive chairman John Elkington and Ken Goldberg, a UC Berkeley professor and chief scientist at Ambi Robotics. It looked at who will pay for the next generation of factories and how countries can build domestic production capacity, WAM reported.

A FoodTech Summit, featuring Emirates Growth Fund chief executive Khalifa Al Hajeri, looked at localising the UAE's food supply chain. Representatives of Maersk, DHL Global Forwarding and DP World discussed how regional disruption has affected cross-border logistics and why sourcing needs to be diversified.

Why It Matters

For Gulf food producers and investors, the exhibition shows how the region's food security goals are becoming orders for manufacturing technology. Equipment makers now sell automation and AI on energy savings, smaller footprints and less dependence on labour. Speakers also linked localisation to recent disruption to trade routes.