00:04This is Elizabeth Green reporting for Food Ingredients First.
00:07I’m at the IFE manufacturing event in London today.
00:10I’m here with Wilda Haddad, who is the director of Dina Foods.
00:14So Wilda, thank you for meeting with me today.
00:16Now, why is it important to showcase Dina Foods’ Mediterranean food range at this year’s IFE?
00:23Hi, good afternoon.
00:24It’s important for us to be at the forefront of the food and drink community that IFE has to offer.
00:30To meet with retailers, hold service and food service providers and professionals.
00:37It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet with potential customers and showcase the vast range of Mediterranean foods that we have to offer, as as meeting with existing customers in order to grow their product range.
00:49Also, sampling for us is a really important part of our business model.
00:53This gives us the opportunity to meet with customers and get their feedback.
00:59Given we’re a family run business, we really, really value customer feedback, so it’s good for us to meet with them, take on board their comments, and move forward with any.
01:11Fantastic.
01:12Now, obviously this is an international food event, but is there a UK interest in Mediterranean food, particularly Lebanese food?
01:20Absolutely, and I can say that with confidence because it was the Haddad brothers that introduced Lebanese food to the UK market back in the early 1980s when they opened their very first Lebanese restaurant in London, London Mayfair, and that was in the early 1980s.
01:34It was called Fakhdin, and it was a very important establishment because they produced food that was authentic and they took great pride in the ingredients that was going into the food.
01:46And since then we’ve seen a huge Interest in Mediterranean and Lebanese products especially, and it’s with that in mind that the brothers then established Gina Foods in 1992 to bring Lebanese food directly to consumers.
02:00Fantastic.
02:01Now I know you’ve come to the show today with a couple of new launches.
02:04Can you share with us what it is?
02:06Here.
02:06Absolutely.
02:07So people may be familiar with the pani net range, which is a traditional Lebanese bread, which is a two-ply versatile flatbread.
02:15And what we did last year was we introduced two new products to that range.
02:20The first is the panty net oregano.
02:23And the second is the panning net sourdough.
02:26Now these two products both come with health claims, and the idea was generated sort of during COVID when the government was recommending we have more vitamin D in order to protect us against different strains and bugs.
02:41So they’re rich in vitamin D, low in fat, low in sugar, they’ve got no artificial colors or flavors, and they’re a source of protein as.
02:51You’ve obviously got a mixture of sweet and savory food items here.
02:54Which are your best sellers and which have been most popular today at the show?
02:58I would say that our best sellers are most definitely the confectionery range, the baklava.
03:03We stock in various retailers, so Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s, and followed very closely with that would be the bakery products.
03:12It’s the flatbreads and especially the hubbas and the pitta bread.
03:17Do you have products that sort of answer to vegan trends?
03:21Yes, we do.
03:22One of our factories specializes in savory products, Lebanese savory products, and the Mediterranean diet is renowned for having a variety of vegan products.
03:31We produce 9 different kinds of falafel.
03:34As as an array of other other products, and we’ve got about 9 products that are registered with the Vegan Society.
03:41Fantastic.
03:42It’s obviously very important to have in the whole range.
03:44Absolutely, yes.
03:46And any further developments in the pipeline for 2023?
03:49Yes, we’ve just trademarked a new savory product which is vegan as.
03:54It’s the falafel.
03:55Sausage and it’s very unique because those that know falafel know that it’s a product that’s fried.
04:00So we’ve innovated, we’ve produced this sausage, the first of its kind, and it’s ideal for grilling, baking in the oven, using on the barbecue.
04:09You can, you can cook it in multiple different ways.
04:12Fantastic.
04:13Thank you very much, Wild.
04:14Thank you.
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