I'll have a gluten-free cactus burger and fries

Mex-Al El Sombrero is a family-owned food importer and distributor, based in Germany.

Since 1995 it has been manufacturing frozen convenience food such as Burritos, Tacos, Quesadillas, Tamales, Chili con Carne and Salsas for the foodservice sector to meet the demand for Tex-Mex food.

The firm's latest innovations are two new vegetarian gluten-free frozen food convenience products that are made from the leaves or paddles of the Mexican cactus, Nopales. Nopalbites are finger food appetisers, while Nopalburgers are vegetarian burgers.

In Mexico varieties of agave and cactus plants were used in the daily diet and were often the only medicinal food source. Both products contain 40% nopal, plus onions, corn kernels, grated carrots, Mexican chiles and herbs.

The products are sold deep frozen and are ready to serve after just two minutes frying. The firm says the use of cactus makes fat absorption low.

"At Anuga we had a lot of interest and requests for samples from just about every European country in and outside the EU including Russia and the Middle East," said Erwin Wolharn, head of marketing at MEX-AL.