LETTER

Sir​

I read an article in Food Manufacture ('You reach them and we'll teach them!', Food Manufacture, June 2007, p60) about the lack of food scientists. I am writing to ask for your help before I give up on a career in the food industry.

In 2003, I switched from a degree in marine biology to a degree in food science, technology and management. The course really appealed to me and we were told about the brilliant opportunities in the industry. At the end of my third year, I started investigating summer placements. I wrote to countless employers and was disheartened to receive refusal letters. I didn't understand. I had excellent coursework results.

Eventually, I asked my course tutor for help. She told me to write to a factory she had worked with. I was so glad when they took me on for eight weeks in the summer. I gained experience of a factory environment and carried out a project on the installation of an ultra-filtration plant.

In December 2005 I started investigating graduate employment, thinking my experience would help. I applied for hundreds of food industry jobs and received only one interview in January 2006. The recruitment agency later told me I had insufficient experience for the role, a depressingly repetitive pattern in my job hunting. It seems after four years of study and a summer's experience, you are not qualified for a job as a food scientist.

I gave up on the industry when the employers for my temporary role as a publicity assistant for a precision engineering company offered me a full-time post for a graduate salary. I have loved this role and the company has embraced my skills, but my career progression is limited. I would love to be in the food industry working in new product development or marketing.

It is upsetting when people say: "The taxpayer paid for your degree and you are wasting it in the wrong industry."

Alison Edward​