Product Development   Sarah Nally BSc (Hon) Food Quality, Bournemouth University Food Technologist with Thursday Cottage Limited           My interest in food began with A’level Home Economics, where real cookery skills were taught and puff pastry, bread and soufflés were produced with abandon. I went onto a BSc Food Quality course, which integrated all aspects of food manufacture, with special emphasis on quality management principles and practices. My interest in New Product Development started in the 2nd year, when a team developed “Petit Beignets”, individual snack doughnuts flavoured with fresh herbs or sun dried tomato and served with fresh dips. In my 3rd year, I had a placement at Leatherhead Food Research Association in Sensory Analysis, an area of the food industry with few trained personnel. I had responsibility for setting up and running sensory panels and trained 3 new panellists. After graduating, I went to America to work on a summer camp as a Baker’s/Chef’s Assistant for 8 weeks. This was extremely hard work but I learnt how to make the best Chocolate Brownies ever. I then spent 8 weeks travelling around Eastern America, getting as far across as Chicago and as far south as Miami. On returning to the UK, I set about finding a job. My first job was as a Teaching Company Scheme (TCS) Associate at Matthews Foods in Leeds, a margarine manufacturer. TCS is difficult to explain but is so beneficial for all concerned. It is a government technology transfer scheme, helping companies work with universities to employ high quality graduates. While there, I implemented a Sensory Analysis system and a flavour database and successfully developed a low fat spread and bakery margarine. My next job was as Product Development Manager at Organix Brands plc, a dynamic, proactive and rapidly growing baby food company. I managed a fast moving development programme, involving baby food jars, cereals, pasta sauces, instant pasta, baby breadsticks and frozen toddler food. Developing products from concept to launch provided me with invaluable experience and one of the baby food jars has been a best seller for over 2 years and is stocked in all the major multiples. After Organix, I was lucky to get another TCS position, with Thursday Cottage Limited in Lyme Regis, a family owned manufacturer of high quality jams, marmalades and curds, which was voted the Best Speciality Food Producer at the Great Taste Awards. I have developed innovative new products and updated their Health and Safety, Quality Control, HACCP and Quality Systems, resulting in more efficient operations and the possibility of new business in the future. The photograph above shows me capping lemon curd mini jars for an American order. I have utilised the TCS training budget well and have achieved the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Advanced Food Hygiene, Advanced Health and Safety and HACCP certificates and a Lead Auditors certificate. I would recommend the TCS to anyone, especially as a first job. I am currently in Australia for 6 months working in a cheese company as a Quality Control Co-ordinator. Obviously this is great experience. When I get home to England, I shall look for another Product Development position, as I love seeing my products on supermarket shelves. Also situations like meeting people who rave about my Banoffee Curd and seeing babies eat my baby food in Little Chef makes the job worthwhile.