13th World Processing Tomato Congress
VSN HUB participated as a speaker with Vicky Evangeliou and Panos Assiotis, in the 13th World Processing Tomato Congress, on 11-15 June 2018. All the decision makers of the tomato world gathered together at the 13th World Tomato Congress & 15th ISHS Symposium on the Processing Tomato.
The biannual event, which is established as one of the top events in the world for the companies in the tomato processing and associated industries, will be held for the first time in its history on a cruise ship, in Greece. Over the four days cruise around the Greek Islands and Ephesus the participants will have the opportunity to attend many interesting topics related to the tomato industry, production and consumption, current market trends, technological developments and how they relate and shape the future of tomato industry.
Parallel to the main event, the attendees will also participate at the 15th ISHS Symposium on the Processing Tomato where the most recent research in all branches of horticultural science will be presented.
Additionally, there will be a post-congress tour which will give the opportunity to the delegates, to visit Greek tomato fields and factories. This optional tour is organized in a way that combines visits to major archeological sites along with tomato facilities.
Dates: June 11th – 15th, 2018, Greece
Organizers
D. Nomikos Company is the oldest tomato processing company in the world still in operation and the biggest tomato processor in Greece. The company was established in 1915 by Dimitrios Nomikos, who set up the first tomato processing facility in South-Eastern Europe, on the island of Santorini at Monolithos village. The company has three processing plants in Greece and one in Turkey, processing over 500.000 tons of fresh fruit per year. Those 4 factories produce the full range of tomato products in packages suitable for industrial, food service and retail use. It is still family owned and managed by the third generation of the Nomikos family.
The World Processing Tomato Council (WPTC) is an international non-profit organization representing the tomato processing industry worldwide. Currently, its members represent more than 95% of the volume of tomatoes processed worldwide. The organization, created in 1998, is constituted of professional tomato growers and/or processors organizations representing their production area. It is headquartered in Avignon (France) and is currently chaired by Roger Scriven from California. Roger Scriven (California) was elected President of WPTC on 6 March 2016 in Santiago. The two vice-presidents are Juan Manuel Mira (Chile) and Dimitris Nomikos (Greece).
The aim of the ISHS is “…to promote and encourage research and education in all branches of horticultural science and to facilitate cooperation and knowledge transfer on a global scale through its symposia and congresses, publications and scientific structure.” Membership is open to all interested researchers, educators, students and horticultural industry professionals.
The International Society for Horticultural Science – in short ISHS – is a truly global network comprising over 53,000 individuals, universities, governments, institutions, libraries and commercial companies, in addition to a substantial number of Institutional Members and some 50 Member Countries/Regions. It is a major source of up-to-date information on global horticultural research.
ISHS aims to promote research in all branches of horticulture. It encourages the development of international co-operation, bringing together scientific and technical professionals to stimulate, facilitate and co-ordinate research and scientific activities on a global scale.
Supporters
In 1989, the members of the International Mediterranean Association of the Processing Tomato (AMITOM) recognized the need to share accurate and timely information about the tomato processing industry with other operators around the world. AMITOM set up a commercial subsidiary the World Information Centre for the Processing Tomato Industry (CMITI) to publish the newsletter Tomato News and provide information to the industry.
The magazine quickly expanded its readership and established itself as the best source of information on and for the tomato processing industry around the world, read by decision-makers involved at all level of the Tomato Processing Industry: from seed breeders to users of tomato products, through growers, processors, re-manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, professional organisations, …
Between 2005 and 2017, the publication of the magazine was subcontracted to Tomatoland Information Services.
In 2017, after a long period of consultation, AMITOM and its partner WPTC decided to make the information available free of charge to everyone in the industry and move to an all-digital service with the launch of a new website www.tomatonews.com. The service is managed by a new limited company TOMATO NEWS SAS in which AMITOM and WPTC remain majority shareholders, with the additional investment from private investors.
François-Xavier Branthôme who has been writing for the magazine since the year 2000 remains the main News Editor. Madeleine Royère-Koonings is acting as Community Manager and Sophie Colvine (AMITOM & WPTC General Secretary) as the Project Coordinator.
Mediterranean International Association of the Processing Tomato
AMITOM is a non-profit making association grouping professional organizations of tomato processors in the Mediterranean region. For more than 30 years since its creation in 1979, this international organization has been collecting and storing technical and economic data and information on the processing tomato field, from research to final sale.
AMITOM is based in Avignon (France). Its current President is Mr. Manuel Vazquez (Spain) and its Vice-President is Mr. Dimitris Nomikos (Greece).
