General: December 2009 Archives

Are you a hospitality student aiming to get ahead in the food and drink industry? If so, then the 'Future Stars of Gastronomy' competition could help you to showcase your talents, pick up some valuable skills, mingle with like-minded people and win some prestigious prizes; all of which could help you as you pursue the food job of your dreams.

The event is organised by The Academy of Food and Wine (AFW), who are inviting people in hospitality and food jobs, as well as student chefs and wine waiters, to take part in a national competition designed to showcase and test their skills.
The competitors must team up and create an original two-course menu accompanied by complementary wines. This menu will be assessed by an AFW judging panel, who will look at:

• The reasoning behind the food and wine choices
• The execution and quality of the meal
• The standard of service

The winner, once chosen, will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to various nations famed for their gastronomical prowess, courtesy of Discover the Origin. Not only this, but winning this prestigious award will also look brilliant on any food job application, which will help aspiring chefs, wine waiters and bar staff to succeed in their chosen careers. So, if you want to enter, you have until January 4th 2010 to submit an application.

No matter what industry you work in, health and safety is an issue which is constantly top of the agenda.

These days, there are health and safety procedures for absolutely everything and that is particularly the case with food jobs. With so much machinery to contend with, there have to be strict health and safety procedures in place to ensure that accidents and injuries are kept to an absolute minimum. But this is no easy task and most food manufacturers will require a health and safety manager to oversee this role.

Of course, there is a huge range of sectors within the food industry, but one specific area in which health and safety is hugely important is in bakeries.

In a bakery, there will always be heavy lifting to be done and there will be hot objects to contend with. As well as this, there will be loud noises created by machines slicing bread and mixing dough.

But one problem which people may not consider is the problem of flour dust. Flour dust can irritate the eyes and the nose and can cause tightness in the chest, particularly for asthma sufferers.

This is why food job websites are always advertising for health and safety managers because with these people in place all of these risks are assessed and minimised,
meaning that the food industry continues to be a safe and healthy industry to be in.

When you are producing consumer goods there must always be some sort of quality control checks in place to make sure that the products you are delivering meet a certain standard every time. And, in the food industry sector it con not be understated how important quality control is.

Quality assurance is one area in the food industry that always needs qualified professionals. This type of role usually has to encompass health and safety procedures and also product quality, testing and sampling of products and of course dealing with any type of customer complaints.

If you have a wide range of knowledge concerning different food groups including canning, chilled and frozen categories and are well versed in HACCP principles (the international system of choice for food safety management), there are many opportunities available. Employees in this area should ideally also have knowledge of good hygiene practices and operational hygiene controls.

If you can work as part of a team and also take responsibility for your actions and are suitably qualified you can apply for this type of food job using specialist websites that cater specifically to food industry professionals.

If you are looking for a job in the food industry sector, one specialist area of career that is always needed involves hygiene standards and systems.

A company that operates a food production business always has to take full responsibility for the safety of its customers. To do this staff that work in production areas have to be trained appropriately in all aspects of food handling and food hygiene. The European Food Hygiene regulations state that businesses that produce food must

"ensure that food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity".

This means that anyone who has not enough experience or feels they are not trained to a high enough standard must be supervised until they are proficient to carry out tasks on their own.

All staff who have food jobs must be aware of personal hygiene requirements and food hygiene issues. The National Qualifications Framework level 2 in food safety (or The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health qualification CIEH) is a highly regarded food industry qualification for anyone who works with or serves food. A level 3 or level 4 qualification is also important if you want to progress to a staff managerial level or higher.