Food & Drink Expo 2006 was hailed as "a superb event for British food" of "amazing variety" by Lord Bach, minister for sustainable farming and food.
The minister spent one hour at the show, focusing on local food at regional pavilions.
He said: "The UK has always been brilliant at producing food and there's now a huge public interest at both regional and local levels - we want to encourage that."
More than 60,000 people had visited the show by its fourth day on Wednesday.
Andrew Reed, MD of organiser William Reed Events & Exhibitions. "We've been overwhelmed with the industry's response. Expo has proved to be the biggest show in the UK for food and drink, catering for everyone from the processors through to the finished products.A huge amount of business has been done across the whole industry, from the multiples and independents to restaurateurs." Food & Drink Expo ran alongside the Convenience Retailing Show, the International Forecourt & Fuel Equipment show and Foodex Meatex.
Reed said many exhibitors at Foodex Meatex had described it as their best-ever show.
As well as regional food, a key theme was health. The focus was not only traditional products, but also improving the nutritional content of snacking brands.
Walkers was promoting its new Sunseed crisps, while Unilever revealed a healthier Pot Noodle, with less fat and salt, to be supported with a multimillion-pound campaign.
Sun Valley unveiled its smaller 40g bags of You Are What You Eat seeds, fruits and nuts.
It hopes to take advantage of the government's pledge to remove unhealthy snacks from schools, and has signed a vending listing with Nestlé for the 40g bags to be rolled out to 4,000 schools this year.
By Rachel Barnes