Although they may not have realised, the organisers of Britain's biennial orgy of food and drink have a formidable talent for timing. For when the International Food and Drink Exhibition (IFE97) opens at Earls Court tomorrow it will offer a massive opportunity for the trade to exorcise the ghosts that have haunted it since the BSE crisis hit world headlines last March. Mad cow disease and, latterly, the E.coli tragedies have not only devastated the country's beef sector but have also sent a worrying ripple effect across many other areas of the food industry. Perceptions overseas about British quality, while occasionally politically inspired and often inflamed by emotive headlines, have meant 11 difficult months for many of our exporters and would-be overseas sellers. IFE offers them the chance to rid international buyers of some of those wrong impressions. The exhibition has long since matured as an international venue, while at the same time creating an important opportunity for Britain's many medium to small companies to attract the interest ­ and the chequebooks ­ of foreign buyers. Thus it is no exaggeration to suggest that this, the tenth IFE, is one of the most important ever staged as far as the home industry is concerned ­ a point which should not be lost on the Food Minister when he eats his way around the exhibits on Monday. The hapless Douglas Hogg has faced fierce criticism since the BSE crisis began and he still has the task of helping to rebuild confidence in British beef ­ especially on the other side of the Channel. But, on a wider front, as Food From Britain has so effectively proclaimed in its campaigns around the globe, the quality of our traditional products has been steadily improved in recent years, allowing exporters to seek new customers. Encouragingly, pre-show reports suggest that the DTI and FFB have attracted more international visitors to IFE97. Thus this is the first home occasion since BSE cast its sinister shadow for Great Britain Foods plc to present its diversified portfolio to a mass gathering of world buyers. The opportunity must not be wasted.{{NEWS}}