University has big plans for food education

The University of Lincoln has ambitious plans to establish itself as a leading education centre for the food industry, having recently unveiled a new multi-million pound National Centre for Food Manufacturing.

The £3.5M centre was opened last Friday at the university’s Holbeach campus by Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Marks & Spencer (M&S). It includes a food processing training factory, packaging lines, as well as conference and seminar rooms.

The training factory houses a fully automated ready meal line, which includes ink jet coding equipment and IPS lightweight fast-moving robotic packing technology. The line is capable of producing 200 trays a minute, according to the university’s principal lecturer in food manufacturing, Mike Dudbridge, who designed the training factory.

“We have a good relationship with Ishida Europe equipment supplier. They supplied the ready meal line for free, which would have cost us around £1M. In return, we offer Ishida a demo facility where they can bring their customers and showcase the machinery - so far we’ve had visitors from Japan and the USA. For this reason we always get the most up-to-date equipment, the line has already had three software updates,” said Dudbridge.

“But as you can see, half of the factory is empty. I am having talks with our equipment supplier at the end of the week about the possibility of installing a new bagging line, for example, for frozen peas.

“In the future, we would also like to see a complete bakery line at the university, as we have a leading chilled pizza manufacturer just a few miles away, or maybe a sausage roll line as Kerry Foods is also close by,” added Dudbridge, who has worked as a factory manager for companies such as Bakkavör, Allied Bakeries and Northern Foods.

The £3.5M investment was partly funded by Lincolnshire County Council. It marks phase two of a three-phase ambition to turn the university into a leading food processing education and training centre. Phase one saw the addition of microbiology and analytical labs, a test kitchen and sensory suite completed four years ago, and phase three will see a major expansion of these facilities.

The university works with leading manufacturers in the area, and trains students on day-release from Bakkavör, Uniq, Tulip International, Premier Foods and Moy Park.

“This is a fantastic facility,” added Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of M&S. “It’s so important - especially as there is a shortage of skilled workers in the industry - that there continues to be a good level of investment in innovation and technology at university level. I wish the students every success.”