With a turnover of £66 billion (€95bn) the UK food industry employs some 500,000 people in 7000 businesses. But a schism appears to be opening up between business and skills pools that could create difficulties for the food industry.
"We need to focus on issues that matter to employers and are of universal benefit to the industry and we must ensure that we have enough food scientists and they are world class by way of competence," Paul Wilkinson, chairman of Improve Ltd, the sector skills council for the UK food and drink sector highlighted at a recent food science forum in the UK.
Such are the concerns that the UK-based Institute of Food Science and Technology, that represents some 3500 food scientists, is involved with Improve Ltd as well as educators, the food industry and the UK science council, in coming up with a clear plan they can take to the government.
"There is a mismatch of information between educators and the industry that we must address," Professor Jack Pearce at the IFST told FoodNavigator.com.
If we can assemble concrete evidence, the government may be receptive to the compiled information, he added.
The group involved in the strategy are hoping that the plan may hold some sway in the education policy. A first meeting to draw-up an outline for the road map is due in mid-November.
Their concerns are supported by Foresight, a government-funded group that concluded over two years ago that the food processing industry - from trained operators to scientists - was the most under-skilled industry among the UK manufacturing sectors.
Professor Pearce would like to see a vibrant future for food science that he feels may be threatened. And declining numbers of school children that take the subject up could be in part due to an image problem. "Food science and technology still has the aura of home economics and cooking about it. And in Northern Ireland, where I live, the past 10 years has seen a 25 per cent drop in children choosing chemistry."
If the country will have a future in technology, it needs people trained in these areas, he concludes.