Tel: 01270 613191 | Email: julieb@reaseheath.ac.uk

Food Skills & Training Event 2014

Festive fun had by all

What a fantastic end to 2014 and already its looking to be a successful start to 2015!

In December Reaseheath Food Centre opened its doors to a selection of food manufacturers and producers. The event was designed to educate and showcase what fantastic facitilites and services we provide. However, instead of blowing our own trumpet, we had guest speakers to do that for us.

Tetra-Pak wowed all with their equipment demonstration of making processed cheese which tasted delicious. Chris Edwards, Senior HR Consultant, from Arla told our guests about funding and the service Reaseheath have provided for the global dairy processors over the past few years. The afternoon was nicely round off with a talk from Bill Jermey from FDQ and our fantastic EDEN students talking about the EDEN programme.

A great afternoon was had by all and the feedback has been fantastic. Another successful day at Reaseheath Food Centre.

Food lecturers’ international trade mission to India

Last month James Blakemore and myself (Martin Anderson) attended the International Food Tec India trade show in Mumbai, India, as part of a UK Trade and Investment delegation, organised by Hull and Humberside Chamber of Commerce.

The purpose of our visit was to explore the potential for collaboration with one of the world’s biggest dairy sectors. As it emerges as an economic superpower, India still finds itself with a very localised dairy market with 85% ‘free milk’ carried in open vessels to be used immediately or boiled at home rather than travelling through a vertically integrated supply chain to a retailer as we might see in the UK.

The exhibition had international pavilions from China, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey and the UK. A total of 466 exhibitors from over 30 countries presented their products and technologies with 12,007 visitors attending the show over the three days.

The Reaseheath stand received a lot of interest from food and drink businesses from across the Indian sub-continent. There was particular interest in the new Dairy Industry Skills course (DISC) and the EDEN Foundation degree in Dairy Technology with over 30 new international contacts made, including new and existing dairy businesses, potential students and academic partnerships with Indian educational institutions.

James Blakemore chats to a potential customer at the trade show

We were made to feel incredibly welcome by all of the people we interacted with and it is apparent that the opportunities for sharing knowledge, developing and delivering consultancy, training and education in both India and the UK is immense.

The trade show seminars were also a great source for knowledge sharing. ‘Future of Milk Based Nutraceuticals’, organised by Indian Dairy Association (West Zone), welcomed as its Guests of Honour Prof. Dr. G. D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor and Dr. Mrs. Smita Lele, AG Registrar, ICT (Institute of Chemical Technology) and Mr. M. D. Deore, Director – Toxicology, Johnson & Johnson. Eminent speakers included Mr. A. K. Bayati, GCMMF and Mr. Allan Brunn, Alfa Laval.

‘Packaging Innovations in Pharmaceutical industry’ organised by India Pharma Machinery Manufacturers Association (IPMMA) witnessed delegates like Ms. Neelam Lalwani, General Manager – Packaging, Sun Pharma Industries Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Sanjeev Khandelwal, Director Renewable Packaging, Stora Enso India and Mr. Chander Mohan Negi, Asst. General Manager, Akumentis Healthcare Ltd., among others.

We attended a business meeting the day after the trade show with a company that is setting up a

Martin Anderson and James Blakemore on the Reaseheath stand

brand new dairy in the Mumbai region. They were really interested in looking at how they might involve training and education for India’s dairy technologists within their new build project and how we might work in partnership to grow programmes like EDEN and DISC to meet the needs of the changing Indian dairy market.

We had an amazing time in one of the world’s busiest cities (21 million people!), sampled some amazing cuisine and travelled in

some of the scariest traffic known to man. I somehow managed to contract Dengue fever and Salmonella at the end of the trip, but it didn’t detract from the success of this international trade mission and now I’m feeling better I’m happy to be a walking case study for my own food safety lectures!

We hope to return soon and to accept visitors from India to Reaseheath in the near future.

Martin Anderson

Lecturer in Food Science

University Open Day

5 Universities from across the country arrived for the food centre’s first ever University Open Day. The afternoon started with a welcome from Head of Department, Toni-Anne Harrison and this was seamlessly followed with a presentation from Lecturer, Martin Anderson. Martin showcased what Reaseheath College can offer other educational providers from the team of industry experts to state of the art facilities and assistance in research projects. The visitors received a personalised tour of the processing halls to show them the range of equipment and potential use for their students.

All Universities were positive and engaged throughout the event. Lillie Pragnell, Business Co-ordinator for the Food Centre said ‘the afternoon ran smoothly and the feedback received was fantastic. I hope the event has been worthwhile and would like to see potential growth in this direction moving forward’.