Expo West Approaching, Brands Weigh Coronavirus Fears

As food companies gear up for next week’s Natural Products Expo West conference, some of their conversation has moved from how many samples to bring to potential health and safety risks from the fast moving virus, COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus.

Expo West 2019 welcomed 86,000 attendees from 136 countries to Anaheim, Calif., and with as many people expected this year, some industry members are concerned about the potential to contract COVID-19 and are evaluating their involvement; at least two of the largest food companies in the world have pulled out under Coronavirus-driven policies that restrict travel. Retailer H-E-B has also pulled its employees back from attending, according to an internal email, and as of this afternoon some smaller companies have also notified their employees that they would not be attending.

Despite those cancellations, Expo West producer New Hope currently plans to move forward with the event, albeit with extra precautionary measures.

“Our decision not to cancel this year’s event was made in conjunction with the City of Anaheim based on the current situation and information available, and we are taking steps to ensure the health and well-being of everyone who plans to attend, as this is our top priority,” noted Carlotta Mast, New Hope Network’s Market Leader and SVP of Content & Insights, in an email this afternoon.

“The majority of cancellations thus far are from international clients in heavily impacted areas, such as China,” Mast added in the email. “At present time, we estimate that less than 8% of exhibiting companies have cancelled and current cancellations are primarily due to corporate travel policies.”

Yesterday in an email to employees, Nestle announced it would no longer attend the conference and instructed employees to cancel their travel plans. The international company had brands such as Sweet Earth Foods, Nestle Waters, Lean Cuisine and Gerber listed as exhibiting.

“In light of increasing concerns related to coronavirus (COVID-19) we have made the decision to cancel our involvement in Natural Products Expo West,” a Nestle spokesperson told NOSH via email. “The health and safety of our people is our top priority.”

Unilever, a multinational corporation based in London and the Netherlands, will also no longer attend the event as part of a new policy to restrict travel and participation at larger conferences. Unilever brands listed as exhibiting at the conference included Sir Kensington’s, Tazo, Schmidt’s Naturals, Seventh Generation and Olly Nutrition.

As of publication today, representatives from Danone, Conagra and Kellogg have confirmed that they would still attend the conference.

Smaller brands, taking note of these cancellations, have also begun to evaluate their own attendance. Sparkling water brand Spindrift has decided not to attend, according to their PR agency, as have coffee companies La Colombe and Rise.

Grant Gyesky, co-founder and CEO of RISE Brewing Co. said that his company has decided not to attend out of concern for his team and their families. RISE originally considered making attendance optional, but Gyesky worried that choice would leave employees feeling like they still had to attend. He added that although he doesn’t begrudge any brand for attending, RISE wanted to make this choice early in order to provide encouragement to other brands who may not want to attend and help them feel “comfortable” making this choice.

“The Expos are super meaningful, a lot of business relationships develop from them, ours included, but they’re not everything and there’s other opportunities,” Gyesky said. “I wanted other brands, especially younger brands to know it is an option and I think it’s a reasonable thing to think about.”

Around the globe, industries and governments are responding to the potential risk, cancelling events that result in large gatherings of people. In Italy the city of Venice ended its carnival season early, while fashion designer Armani chose to livestream its fall/winter collection rather then present it to a live audience. Meanwhile, Saudia Arabia has halted pilgrimages to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina while Japan shuttered schools for a week. Additionally, the Mobile World Congress, which was expected to be this week in Barcelona with roughly 100,000 attendees, was cancelled, as was the Geneva car show.

Closer to home, other business conferences in California have already been impacted. Over the past week Microsoft, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Sony, Facebook Epic Games announced their departure from the March 16-18 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which last year had 29,000 attendees. Yesterday Facebook announced it would cancel its F8 developer conference, which in 2019 had a reported 5,000 attendees.

The virus, which was declared an outbreak by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month, originated in Hubei Province, China but has quickly infected individuals around the globe. Similar to the flu, COVID-19 is spread via droplets of fluid expelled by infected individuals who cough or sneeze. People then catch COVID-19 by touching contaminated surfaces or potentially by being within one meter of a person infected with the virus. The FDA noted in a statement yesterday that it was “not aware of any reports at this time of human illnesses that suggest COVID-19 can be transmitted by food or food packaging.”

While most people infected with COVID-19 go on to recover after a period of mild illness, The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that “some go on to experience more serious illness and may require hospital care.” Outside of Wuhan, China, the fatality rate is 0.7% the WHO has reported.

In California, Orange County and San Francisco have recently declared states of emergency due to COVID-19, although neither community has experienced a virus outbreak. In a briefing yesterday, California officials said there have been 33 confirmed coronavirus cases in California and that the state is currently monitoring another 8,400 people for the virus. Among the infected individuals, Northern California also currently has the first patient in the U.S. to contract the disease via “community spread” versus via contact with an individual who has traveled to China.

At a briefing yesterday Dr. Sonia Y. Angell, California Department of Public Health Director and State Health Officer noted that the risk to the public “remains low” but was “a fluid situation.”

Nevertheless, for some companies, even a low risk has proven to be too much.

“We are a people first company, and while there might not be an immediate threat with the Coronavirus, we can’t be certain that it will stay that way,” wrote La Colombe CEO Todd Carmichael to his employees this afternoon. “With that in mind, we have made the difficult decision that we will not attend Expo West this year. If something were to happen, we would never be the same.”

BevNET’s Brad Avery and Jeff Klineman contributed to this story.