4 November 2013

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The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is pleased to support Tomorrow's Engineers Week, an initiative from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), taking place from 4–8 November. The initiative aims to challenge traditional views of engineering and help young people discover that modern engineering is exciting, challenging and forward-thinking, operating at the cutting edge of technology.

Tomorrow's Engineers Week follows on from See Inside Manufacturing, a month-long programme of activity geared to improving the image of manufacturing. Coordinated by BIS, industry bodies such as FDF and manufacturers from different sectors, the programme saw 1,600 students and teachers visit food and drink factories across the UK.

Food and drink is the UK's largest manufacturing sector, employing about 400,000 people. A wide range of skills is essential to the industry's continued growth and success however there are long-standing shortages, especially of engineers, and the sector is estimated to need 170,300 new recruits between 2010 and 2020. To address this skills gap, FDF, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University and the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink, has launched the UK's first ever MEng Food Engineering.

The MEng Food Engineering is now open for applications through UCAS for a September 2014 start, with a generous £2,500 bursary available to all students in their first year. The degree has been developed in close partnership with some of the UK's top food and drink brands including the makers of Kit Kat, Jaffa Cakes, Aunt Bessie's, Cadbury's Dairy Milk and Twinings Tea, to name just a few. Also on offer are guaranteed competitively-paid industry placements at these and other companies, to provide tomorrow's food engineers with the knowledge, expertise and experience to maximise their learning and employment potential.

Angela Coleshill, Director of Employment and Skills at the Food and Drink Federation said:

“Engineering is hugely important to the UK economy and is a vital specialist subject necessary to drive automation and improve plant reliability in food and drink manufacturing . However, our industry has an ageing workforce and is facing an engineering skills gap.

This is why FDF is launching the UK's first-ever MEng Food Engineering, aimed at creating a network of specialist engineers equipped to meet the specific needs of our sector. Developing new talent will safeguard the UK's position as a global leader in food engineering, enabling our industry to be at the cutting edge of new and emerging technologies. We are very pleased to support Tomorrow's Engineers Week and all of the BIS initiatives to promote engineering in the UK.”

Notes for editors:

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
2. For information on See Inside Manufacturing.
3. More information on the UK's first ever MEng Food Engineering can be found at: www.foodengineer.co.uk

More information

For media enquiries, please contact:

Anna Taylor on 0207 420 7118 Email: Anna.Taylor@fdf.org.uk

Avni Raval on 020 7420 7131 Email: Avni.Raval@fdf.org.uk

Helena O'Neill on 020 7420 7120 Email: Helena.ONeill@fdf.org.uk

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