ifia JAPAN 2026

ifia JAPAN (International Food Ingredients & Additives Exhibition) is a specialist trade show focused on the raw materials, ingredients and additives that make up what is inside food. Because it is a place to buy and sell what creates taste, color and texture rather than finished products, visitors are mainly product development, procurement and quality assurance staff at food manufacturers. It is held at Tokyo Big Sight around May every year, and together with the co-located HFE JAPAN (Health Food Expo), it lets you look for new raw materials from both the ingredient and functionality angles. This article covers the dates, venue, exhibit categories and how to register as a visitor, as well as how ingredient manufacturers can prepare to get responses at their booths and how to think about distributing samples that lead to raw material adoption.

ifia JAPAN: Basic Information

The next upcoming show runs for three days, May 19–21, 2027. The venue is the South Halls and Conference Tower at Tokyo Big Sight, open 10:00 to 17:00. The organizer is Shokuhin Kagaku Shimbun. The May 2026 show has already ended, so if you are considering exhibiting or visiting next, the 2027 show is the one to target. Dates for the following years had not been announced when this article was written, so check the official website for confirmed dates.

Item	2027 (next show)	2028
Dates	May 19 (Wed) – 21 (Fri), 2027	Not yet announced
Venue	Tokyo Big Sight, South Halls & Conference Tower	Not yet announced
Opening hours	10:00〜17:00	Not yet announced
Admission	Advance visitor registration required (check fees on the official website)	Not yet announced
Organizer	Shokuhin Kagaku Shimbun	Shokuhin Kagaku Shimbun

ifia JAPAN is not a show that displays finished foods but a business meeting venue for the step before that: raw materials and ingredients. Because ingredients that create taste, color, aroma, texture and shelf stability gather in one place, visitors come looking for the next move to build into their own products. From the supplier's side, whether visitors can try the ingredient on the spot and check its taste and color is what decides adoption.

What companies and products does it attract?

Ingredient and Raw Material Categories Covered by Exhibitors

Exhibits center on ingredients, raw materials and additives used in food. A wide range of raw materials that make up what is inside food is on display, from naturally derived colors and flavors, sweeteners, protein ingredients and fats and oils, to texture-building ingredients such as emulsifiers and thickeners, and ingredients that support shelf stability. Items in line with the natural and clean-label trend, such as ingredients made by processing agricultural products and powdered raw materials derived from fruit and vegetables, are also eligible.

The dried vegetables and vegetable powders Agriture handles also fall within this ingredient and raw material category. Vegetable-derived powders that can be used for coloring and flavoring, and processed ingredients that upcycle off-spec vegetables, are areas where many manufacturers who want naturally derived ingredients and simpler labels come to consult. Being seen as an ingredient rather than a finished product is a position unique to this show.

The Development and Procurement Staff Who Attend

Visitors are mainly staff from food manufacturers' product development and R&D departments, procurement and purchasing, and quality assurance. What they look at varies by role: developers want to find new ingredients and work them into prototypes, while procurement staff want to compare suppliers on cost and supply stability. If your booth can make proposals while asking which product the visitor wants to use an ingredient in and for what purpose, the samples you hand out on the spot are more likely to lead to adoption discussions.

Developers tend to care about reproducibility of taste and color, while procurement staff care about minimum lots and stable supply. Since both stop by the same booth, business moves forward if you are ready to answer at each stage, from small lots for prototyping to supply at mass-production scale. Anticipating who will come looking for what lets you avoid wasting the limited time of the show.

The Co-Located HFE JAPAN (Health Food Expo)

ifia JAPAN is held at the same time and in the same venue as HFE JAPAN (Health Food Expo), which covers health foods and functional ingredients. With ifia for food ingredients and additives and HFE for health and functionality laid out side by side, visitors can look at both the ingredients themselves and health-focused selling points in one visit. Those searching for raw materials can also more easily consider applications of an ingredient not only for flavor but also for health-conscious product development.

This article focuses on ifia JAPAN, covering food ingredients and additives. If you want to design your booth around health foods or function claims, also check the exhibit categories on the HFE JAPAN side, which makes it easier to decide which context to present your products in.

Highlights for visitors and exhibitors

Ingredient Samples You Can Try on the Spot

The biggest highlight is being able to handle actual ingredients and check their taste and color, rather than relying only on documents and verbal explanations. For powdered ingredients, you can show on the spot what developers want to know before prototyping, such as the color when dissolved in water or milk and how much color remains after heating. Handing out small take-home sample bags gives visitors a starting point for testing in their own formulations back at the office.

Searching for Naturally Derived and Clean-Label Ingredients

Requests to switch from synthetic colors and flavors to naturally derived ingredients such as vegetables and fruit are increasing in development departments. At the venue, you can visit booths handling natural colors and upcycled ingredients and compare ingredients that deliver the desired color or flavor while keeping labels simple. For ingredient suppliers, it is a valuable chance to demonstrate the naturally derived angle with the real thing.

Gathering Information at Specialist Seminars

During the show, seminars are held on technical trends in food ingredients and on health and functionality topics. It is a place to quickly grasp ingredient trends and regulatory developments before setting your development direction. Seminars on popular topics can fill up, so it is best to check the schedule and book in advance.

For companies considering exhibiting

Exhibitors include manufacturers of food ingredients, raw materials and additives, as well as producers and processors that want to propose processed agricultural ingredients. Details on exhibit formats and booth fees can be confirmed with the organizer, Shokuhin Kagaku Shimbun, or through the inquiry contact on the official website. At an ingredients show the real thing is more convincing than words, so meetings move faster if you prepare samples that let visitors check taste and color, along with a one-page sheet summarizing uses, minimum lot and supply terms.

Especially for powders and dried ingredients, showing how they look dissolved or after heating helps developers picture the result after prototyping. Adding example uses and contact details to small take-home sample bags helps people remember your company during internal discussions back at the office. Rather than ending with a card exchange, recording which product each visitor wants to use the ingredient in makes follow-up easier later.

Visitor registration and how to participate

Admission requires advance registration on the official website. Registering lets you avoid the reception crowds on the day and review the exhibitor list before the show to choose the booths you want to meet with. Tokyo Big Sight is about a 7-minute walk from Kokusai-Tenjijo Station on the Rinkai Line and right by Tokyo Big Sight Station on the Yurikamome. The 2027 show uses the South Halls and Conference Tower, so checking the location of the entrance and halls beforehand makes getting around on the day smoother. If you are coming from afar for several days, nearby hotels get busy, so booking early is safest.

Tips for Businesses Proposing Ingredients

At an ingredients show, how the raw material itself comes across decides adoption. Fresh vegetables vary in color and moisture, but drying or powdering them stabilizes color and flavor so they can be proposed as easy-to-handle ingredients. Agriture produces dried vegetables, vegetable powders and processed ingredients that upcycle off-spec vegetables, and can consult with you from the raw material selection stage on ingredient design for uses such as coloring and flavoring.

Developer reactions gathered at the show become material for your next ingredient. If you take home requests such as "I'd like this color a little deeper" or "I want a stronger flavor from this vegetable," make small-lot prototypes and then go into the next meeting, the evaluation leading to adoption moves faster. When it comes across that you are a partner who keeps prototyping and improving rather than just handing over ingredients, it is easier to lead to raw material adoption or OEM discussions.

Make the Vegetable Powders You Hand Out at Your Booth a Natural Color Swatch

What troubles developers at an ingredients show most is that, although they want to switch from synthetic colors and flavors to naturally derived ones, the color when dissolved in water or milk and how much color remains after heating cannot be read from catalog figures alone. Verbal explanations exchanged at the venue also fade in detail once they are back at the office. If you hand over small bags of vegetable powder here, developers can mix and dissolve them into their own formulations and check at their desk whether the color they want comes through.

Hand Over a Set of Different Shades and Vegetables

Vegetable powder is a naturally derived ingredient that can be used for coloring and flavoring. Even the same vegetable varies in color intensity depending on how it is dried, so handing over a set with different shades, or vegetables with different colors such as red, green and yellow, lets developers take them home and compare the colors. Agriture can prepare powders that upcycle off-spec vegetables from 50 bags, and the items you hand out are themselves candidate raw materials for adoption. They are compact at room temperature and easy for visitors to slip into a bag and take home.

Feed Color Requests Heard at the Venue Back into Ingredient Design

When booth visitors say things like "make this color a bit deeper" or "I want something that doesn't fade when heated," note them down together with which of the color swatches they responded to. If you use that record to adjust the shade and particle size of the powder you bring next and make a prototype, it becomes easier to move discussions toward raw material adoption or drying and powdering OEM where ingredient design is also entrusted to you. A strength of handouts at an ingredients show is that the conversation continues from the item you gave.

FAQ: ifia JAPAN

What kind of trade show is ifia JAPAN?

It is a specialist trade show focused on the raw materials, ingredients and additives that make up what is inside food. Because it deals with ingredients that create taste, color, aroma, texture and shelf stability rather than finished products, visitors are mainly development, procurement and quality assurance staff at food manufacturers.

When and where will the next edition be held?

The next show will be held from May 19 (Wed) to 21 (Fri), 2027, in the South Halls and Conference Tower at Tokyo Big Sight, from 10:00 to 17:00. Dates for the following years had not been announced when this article was written, so check the official website.

How is it different from HFE JAPAN?

ifia JAPAN is a show for food ingredients and additives, while HFE JAPAN (Health Food Expo) is a show for health foods and functional ingredients. Because they are held at the same time in the same venue, you can look at ingredients and health-focused selling points together in one visit.

What uses of vegetable powder can we discuss?

You can consult with us about it as a naturally derived ingredient for uses such as coloring, flavoring and boosting nutritional content. We can prototype ingredients that upcycle off-spec vegetables and powders with stabilized color and flavor in small lots, leading to raw material adoption or OEM discussions.

From what quantity can prototype samples be made?

They can be prepared from small lots (from 50 bags). We can also make several variations with different color intensities or types of vegetables for you to hand out at your booth and gauge reactions.

Summary: Turning Ingredients into Adoption at ifia JAPAN

ifia JAPAN is a specialist trade show focused on food ingredients and additives, with the next edition, the 32nd, held from May 19 to 21, 2027, in the South Halls & Conference Tower at Tokyo Big Sight. Because development and procurement staff come looking for new raw materials, whether suppliers can let them check taste and color with the real thing is what decides adoption.

If you want to respond to requests to switch to naturally derived ingredients, the shortcut is to hand out vegetable powders in a range of shades and vegetables as small sample bags that double as color swatches. If visitors take them home to check the color and you feed color requests heard at the venue into your next prototype, discussions grow toward raw material adoption or drying and powdering OEM.

Official information: ifia JAPAN official website

Official information: ifia JAPAN official website

Recommended reading

Commercial dried vegetables and vegetable powders / Original vegetable novelties / FOODEX JAPAN / JFEX Winter

Last updated: August 12, 2026