FDBusiness.com

The Food and Drink Federation has warned that the UK food industry’s future sustainability is highly dependent on the skills of its workforce and that the industry needs to improve its image if it wants to attract talent to the sector.

FDF has launched a new careers campaign ‘Taste Success – A Future in Food’, which aims to show potential entrants that the UK food and drink manufacturing sector is a ‘career of first choice’ providing real opportunities for individuals to build their own skills and experience as well as a long-term rewarding career.

As part of its campaign FDF is exhibiting at careers conferences to better inform young people about the exciting career opportunities on offer to them, as well as producing careers materials for schools and further education establishments.

The future sustainability of the food industry is highly dependent on the skills of its workforce and their ability to innovate. With over a third of the work force due to retire in the next 20 years, and the current shortage of qualified food scientists and technologists, support for promotion of careers is vital to attract talent to the sector and enable future growth.

“Like many other manufacturing sectors, the food and drink industry suffers from a poor image against other career choices. Figures show that one in five food scientist and food technologist vacancies remain hard to fill which is a threat to our future ability to innovate,” explains Angela Coleshill, FDF’s director of competitiveness. “FDF is committed to addressing these issues by working with our members and key stakeholders to raise our sector’s profile as a career destination of choice for school leavers and graduates.”