Organisers of the International Food and Drink Exhibition (IFE), held earlier this month at London's Excel Centre, have reported more than 24,000 visitors from 102 countries attended the event.

The 1,400 exhibitors included a smattering of fresh produce representatives and one new feature of IFE which may be worth future attention was Fresh Ideas @ IFE, which highlighted 12 of the best new product innovations and attracted a lot of interest.

Demonstrations in the Innovation Zone were particular crowd-pullers and included sessions with some of the UK's top chefs.

IFE also offered a Retail Trends Forum, lead by industry experts and analysts, and was visited by high profile figures including Defra minister Lord Whitty and Sainsbury's chief executive Sir Peter Davis.

Exhibition director Lisa Tompkins said: 'We are absolutely delighted with the success of IFE 2003. The fantastic number of visitors from all over the world, plus the amount of business done and the popularity of the new features at the exhibition all confirm IFE-s position as the UK's leading food and drink exhibition.'