Research and Development at the FTC

Established in 1999, our main aim has been to provide training programmes and technical services to meet the Welsh food industry's long-term needs and to aid in the development of manufacturing and food processing throughout the UK.

Our ability to provide services such as research and development (R&D), technology transfer, technical advice and specialised training has been of huge benefit to small food businesses and has provided the agri-food sector there with skills that can be transferred to the rural workforce in order to nurture entrepreneurial activity. In essence we have introduced an innovation culture to the Welsh food sector in particular.

Our catchment area stretches to places like Manchester and Liverpool and further afield to Birmingham and even as far north as Cumbria. We are fully equipped to meet most of the technical issues facing companies in Wales and beyond.

Our facility at Coleg Menai's campus in Llangefni has many resources including dedicated processing halls for fresh meat, dairy products and prepared foods. It also has a UKAS-accredited food safety testing laboratory service, a training room, a product development test kitchen, an analytical laboratory and a video conference suite. Click here for a more detailed list of available equipment and facilities.

The following are some of the services we offer as we aim to meet the long term needs of the industry :

• New product development services providing advice and technical support to new and existing companies for innovative new food products.
• Collaborative development projects where companies require the use of facilities to pilot new, innovative products with the support of qualified food technologists.
• Assistance in meeting the demands of the market - qualified food technologists will provide advice and support to local companies to enable them to meet the requirements of major market players.
• Analysis of food products - the establishment of an analytical food laboratory facility has enabled performance characterisation and compositional assessment of food products to be carried out, assisting in a better understanding of processing technology and techniques.

A number of enterprises, at differing stages of development, have received service from the Centre that has proven critical to their development.

The plan is to increase our capacity, both in terms of services on offer and to increase its partnership agreements with a wider range of agencies and organisations.

In North Wales we have already worked in partnership with the likes of the University College of Wales, Bangor and the Water Soluble Polymers Research Unit at the North East Wales Institute in delivering research projects.

We formed Food Network Wales in conjunction with Food Centre Wales at Horeb, Ceredigion and the Food Centre at the University Wales Institute in Cardiff in 2003 to offer a more effective way of helping food companies throughout Wales.

Research programmes are also underway with Irish organisations including the Dublin Institute of Technology Food Product Development Centre, the Dairy Research Institute in Cork and the National Foods Centre in Dublin.

Although our main focus is on food research and development projects, training and education is also vitally important. The centre offers a large range of courses, including those leading to nationally recognised qualifications such as A-level, HNC/D, NVQ (levels 1 to 4). There are also a number of CIEH (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) courses covering subjects such as food hygiene, risk assessment and manual handling.

In addition, a good range of specialist courses is offered covering, for instance, basic cheesemaking, food product development, butchery skills and quality management systems.