Food Manufacture – 90 and still going strong!

Food Manufacture celebrates its 90th anniversary this month, writes editor Rick Pendrous. The first issue of ‘The Journal of the Food Industry’ was published in May 1927 to provide practical advice to those working in the sector.

Ninety years later, we are still striving to do that job, although the industry we report upon has undergone radical change.

But, it’s not just the UK food and drink sector that has experienced a transformation. The team at Food Manufacture now produces not only a monthly magazine, but daily news stories and newsletters from our website FoodManufacture.co.uk.

Looking back at those early issues, it is interesting to note that although products and technologies may have changed, several companies – including advertisers – are still around (albeit in slightly different guises, and even different areas of business).

Disciplines of ‘food science’

Another noticeable change is that we no longer talk about company ‘chemists’ – something that was the norm in the early days. That’s because the disciplines of ‘food science’ and ‘food technology’ had yet to emerge.

The Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) didn’t appear until 1964. Although individual sciences had been applied to food from the mid-19th century onwards, it was only during the 1950s that the different sciences became integrated into what has become ‘food science’ and its application, ‘food technology’.

This was followed by the establishment of the National College of Food Technology in 1959 and the emergence of science degree courses.

We plan to celebrate our 90th anniversary over the coming months with a series of stories – online, some in video format, and in the magazine – and a supplement in the September issue of Food Manufacture. If you have memories to share, please contact me.