LOS ANGELES – The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched the Premium Food Philippines on Friday, January 24, at the Colombard Room inside Crowne Plaza Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), to promote premium food products to be exported the US market.
Premium Food Philippines is a program created by Philippine Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo and Undersecretary Ponciano Manalo.
Branded as Food Philippines: Taste by Design, the business matching event presented natural and organic food products from the Philippines (such as Filipino desserts, herbal teas, fruit juices, dried banana chips- to name a few) that bring good health benefits.
Six companies participated in the business-matching event, namely Philippine International Trading Corporation, Prime Fruits International, JNRM Corporation, Malagos Agri-Venture Corporation, Herbanext Laboratories and Raw Brown Sugar Milling Corporation.
Prior to the business-matching event, Premium Food Philippines was first launched in a food exhibition at the 2014 Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco on January 19-21, followed by a press conference on January 22 at the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, to educate Filipino premium products to potential buyers.
“This program (Premium Food Philippines) promotes high quality food products to penetrate the US market and find several buyers,” Los Angeles-based Philippine Trade and Industry representative Jose Dinsay said in the press conference.
Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) Deputy Executive Director Maria Lourdes Mediran highlighted the premium food products.
“Under the program, our goal is to expand and increase the sales of premium food products to the mainstream,” Mediran said.
In an exclusive interview with Asian Journal, Dinsay revealed the future plans for Premium Food Philippines program.
“We want to develop and finalize our program in the next two to three years by continuing to engage with different retailers, partner with Filipino-American chefs to promote Filipino cuisine in the mainstream, and have more food exhibitions and business matching events,” Dinsay said.
The Premium Food Philippines business-matching event in Los Angeles was organized by the DTI Project Team from Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) officials and the Philippine Trade & Investment Centers (PTICs) officials.