DEFRA Secretary hears about food industry careers at Big Bang Fair
14 March 2014
DEFRA Secretary hears about food industry careers at Big Bang Fair
Owen Paterson MP, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food Rural Affairs, met food and drink engineers at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF)'s Taste Success stand at the Big Bang Fair 2014 in Birmingham yesterday. Supporting food and drink manufacturers' efforts to recruit the next generation of food engineers, the minister heard from engineering apprentices and graduates about the career opportunities in the sector.
FDF's Taste Success campaign team was supported by some of the UK's biggest brands at the event: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Mars UK, Mondelez International, Nestlé UK Ireland, PepsiCo UK and Premier Foods.
During his visit the minister saw high-tech industry automation in action and found out more about what the industry is doing to drive innovation and skills. At the event the industry representatives told the minister and other visitors to the stand about the new MEng Food Engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University which will begin in September.
Commenting on his tour of the famous Cadbury chocolate producing Bournville factory earlier in the day where the minister met food engineering apprentices working at Mondelez, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: “Mondelez is doing great work to attract new talent to careers in the food industry. Apprenticeships don't just kick-start a career, they benefit employers and help to grow the economy.”
Terry Jones, Director of Communication at FDF, said: “At this year's Big Bang Fair six of the UK's biggest food and drink brands have come together to tell young people about the great career opportunities on offer in our sector. Skills in engineering are in particular demand in the food and drink industry. By having experienced engineers as well as apprentices and recent graduates on hand to meet would-be recruits to our industry, we hope to attract the next generation of food engineers. We've got a lot of exciting, interactive activities in store for those who visit us at stand 158.”
Note for editors
- Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is the voice of the food and drink manufacturing industry – the UK's largest manufacturing sector.
- Further information on FDF's involvement with Big Bang.
- The Big Bang Fair is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK.
- Food and drink is the UK's largest manufacturing sector employing around 400,000 people in a huge variety of roles. By 2020 the industry anticipates that it will need over 170,300 new recruits to help it meet growing demand and skills shortages in areas such as engineering. The industry is addressing this through its careers campaign Taste Success and through raising food and drink's profile at events such as the Big Bang Fair.
- Taste Success - A Future in Food is an industry-led campaign to engage with young people, parents, teachers and careers advisors to highlight the wide range of exciting job opportunities available in highly skilled and well-paid professions such as engineering. For further information please visit: www.tastesuccess.co.uk.
- Find out more about the activities that visitors can get involved in at the Taste Success stand.
- Find out more about the MEng Food Engineering degree at Sheffield Hallam University via www.foodengineer.co.uk or www.shu.ac.uk/prospectus/course/1247/
- See a selection of photos from the visit our Flickr page.
More information
For FDF's policy positions and background on key issues, go to our Policy section.
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