The exercise, spearheaded by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, followed the announcement of Food Manufacture’s Young Talent of the Year Award winner Jodie Adcock last month.
Cargill, Mars UK, Nestlé UK & Ireland, and PepsiCo UK & Ireland opened their factory doors to the 70 females, who were aged between 15 and 18, to give women a first-hand taste of the food and drink industry.
Exclusive site visits
Students were given exclusive site visits in a bid to encourage them to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects and follow a career in the food and drink industry.
“The skills agenda is a top priority for our industry and we are proud that our members continue to support careers initiatives such as the MyKindaCrowd engineering visits to ensure a solid succession plan for employment in our sector and give these students real insight into the industry,” said Angela Colesill, director of employment and skills at the FDF.
More than 70% of young people were not aware of the career opportunities available to them in the food and drink industry, according to William Akerman, founder and md of the social enterprise MyKindaCrowd.
‘Extremely inspiring’
“So these site visits are vital,” he added. “All of the visits have been extremely inspiring for the students and it is very encouraging that businesses are proactively looking to support more females into STEM roles.
The winner of the Young Talent of the Year Award was revealed at the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards, which were held at the Hilton hotel on Park Lane last month.
Subscribe to the December issue of Food Manufacture to read what all six of the award’s finalists believe the industry needs to do to attract and retain young talent.