Poultec Training has recently been awarded full Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) status by the Learning and Skills Council for their collaborative project with Otley College, Suffolk.

The project named Food IMPACT (Improving Management Practices and Core Technology) is based around a new Food Centre of Excellence. This is housed in a brand new building at Poultec’s South Green Park in Mattishall, offering full facilities to support the food & drink sector. To achieve full CoVE status Poultec had to hit rigorous standards and specific targets in relation to numbers of learners trained, especially those at level 3 and demonstrate that the project had been successful with its employer, learner and school engagement programme.

The new food centre will include a training area for food hygiene, quality assurance and product development. It will also offer an IT communication and technology suite, a healthy eating and retail area, a butchery training suite and a food science laboratory.

The facilities available are those which the industry itself said it needs. Poultec was aware of the importance of consulting with the food sector so that the centre would reflect employers’ demands in terms of training requirements and industry support. To maintain the relevance of the centre to today’s and tomorrow’s industry IMPACT has a steering group which is made up of representatives from industry and the supporting public sector bodies.

The butchery area will give learners the opportunity to be trained using the latest equipment and to produce products which can be packaged and labelled. Many food products can also be developed in the product development area, allowing companies to experiment and bring a product to market, maximising its potential prior to launch. The food science laboratory will add value and a practical aspect to training courses such as food hygiene, allowing learners to see bacterial development and swabbing/sampling techniques.

As well as being a valuable resource for the food sector the centre will be running short courses covering a wide variety of practical topics based around the preparation and cooking of food. Poultec will also encourage the use of local produce and promote the healthy eating message.

Nathan Raines CoVE Manager at Poultec said “The food sector is one the region’s most important industries and to maintain and build on this success we are aiming this fantastic new centre not only at businesses but also at schools. We have careers and healthy eating areas which support schools in promoting healthy eating as well as the food sector as an exciting career option. We invite all young people and schools to come and find out more.” Nathan further explains that the project aims to create close links with schools with the food centre being a facility students can access to gain information as well as take part in practical training sessions.

The Norfolk Food Centre of Excellence is due to be fully operational by the end of September 06.