The Food Career Podcast: Recent Episodes
Simon Dawson
Simon Dawson, Senior Lecturer from Cardiff Met University, talks with a wide range of food industry professionals about what they do, how they got into their industry and how to make yourself stand out from the crowd when applying for a career in food.
Steve Osborne has led an exciting career in the food industry, working for manufacturers, and research groups. He is now the joint owner and Commercial Director for Aurora Ceres Partnership. A company dedicating to helping and supporting the growth of food businesses around the world.
Steve talks about making you stand out from the crowd in order to land your first job and kickstart your career.
In this interview, Simon talks with Tee Sandhu, the Operations Director for Samosa Co. Tee talks about working in a fast paced ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook Indian snack food company that his parents started.
Tee has looked at a lot of CV's and offers some great advice to get your career going.
In this episode, Simon interviews Peter Littleton, Technical Director for Klenzan, an international cleaning chemical company. Peter talks about how he got into the industry, from being an Environmental Health inspector to advising companies on cleaning chemicals, methods and use to ensure companies are producing foods in a safe, hygienic area.
In today's episode I get to talk to Mehdi Adjiri, a Senior Technologist from Marks and Spencer. Mehdi has extensive knowledge of working in a retail environment and is sharing his experiences in this podcast.
In this episode, I interview Dale Jones, a recent graduate of Cardiff Met who is now a food safety auditor for NSF International. Dale is back at Cardiff Met studying a part time MSc degree.
In this episode, I get to talk to Suresh Chander, a food scientist from an Indian based start up company called Aboreal. This company make stevia based sweeteners.
Suresh discusses his role, working for a start up company and how to succeed in a similar role.
To change things around a bit, instead of interviewing a food professional, today I thought I would talk to an employability Officer. Listen to Naeem Amir discuss his role and how he supports students into their career. This session doesn’t just cover food, but all types of careers and it ain’t just for students either!
Please listen and let me know what you think?
In this interview, I get to talk to Martin Sutherland, the Commercial and Marketing Director for the Zero2Five Food Industry Centre. Martin has a wealth of senior management experience having come from senior management within retail. A great podcast to listen too!
Another excellent interview today! This time it is with Lucy Jordan, Senior Technical Manager for Morrisons Supermarket plc. Lucy talks us through her journey to get to becoming a Senior Technical Manager for one of the largest UK retailers. To put it in perspective, Morrisons had sales of £17.5bn (2019-20) and employs 110,000 staff (2019). Lucy offers some great advice on what to put in your CV and cover letter.
A great interview today with Louise Nicholls, the managing director for Suseco and vice chair for the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, the largest professional body for environmental practitioners in the United Kingdom and worldwide, with nearly 15,000 members.
In this interview, Simon talks to Karin Goodburn, the Director General for The Chilled Food Association. The CFA represent many of the biggest UK chilled food manufacturers including salads, sandwiches, desserts and ready meals.
Vivo Life are an aspiring new supplements company focusing on vegetarian/vegan options only. Helen Wakeford, the QA Manager, did not come through the standard school > University > Degree > career route. She missed the university and degree options, however, through hard work, determination and a love for food and quality, took a series of courses and has become highly successful as a result.
Today I am joined by Debadutta Jayaprakash, the Technical Manager for Artisan du Chocolat, a high-end bespoke chocolate manufacturing company. Debadutta talks about chocolate tasting, and the diversity of flavours and adaptability of chocolate, along with what he looks for in a CV/cover letter.
Chocolate tasting is daily - #nomnom
Bright Blue Foods are not a very well known company as they do not produce own label products, however, if you have ever bought an ambient cake from one of the UK retailers you will have likely sampled their products.
Mark Izzard, Technical Director for Bright Blue Foods discusses his route into the food industry, some challenges with supplying multiple UK retailers and some advice for aspiring students/graduates wanting to get into the food industry.
A longer podcast than usual, in this episode Simon talks with Sterling Crew, the Chair of the Food Authenticity Network and Food Safety Advisory Board. Sterling looks back on his time in the industry and talks about his degree at Cardiff University in Zoology, then his move to Environmental Health and on into the food industry.
In this episode, Simon talks to Anita Kinsey, the Senior Technical and Safety Manager for Pret a Manger. Anita talks about some of the challenges working for a global company and some points to make your CV and cover letter excel.
In this episode, Simon talks to Becky Shaw, a flavouring and development consultant who spent the first part of her career working for a number of major food businesses before setting up her own company. Becky discusses her path and the benefits of working for herself.
In this episode, Simon interviews Rebecca Hall, an environmental health officer from Bristol City Council. Rebecca is a graduate from Cardiff Met University 2013. She studied a BSc (Hons) degree at Cardiff Met and since graduating has moved into a variety of roles prior to working for Bristol City Council.
In this series,Simon Dawson,lecturer from Cardiff Met University, talks to food professionals from a wide variety of stages in their career What has been interesting when developing this material is that barely any guests have followed a straightforward path through their career,however,one thing is clear - their love for food Note:All podcasts are recorded LIVE using computer or headphone microphones. Quality does vary although we try to ensure all recordings are clear and easy to hear