Delivery
The first five weeks of the course concentrated on building skills and knowledge. The lessons outlined the theory of food preservation. Topics covered included food hygiene and food science. The students learnt about safe food handling and the need for personal and industrial hygiene. At the end of week six, the class visited one of the two Heinz Wattie's plants in Hastings, they were met by their client Sandra Chambers who outlined her brief: "to develop a product for the New Zealand family market that Heinz Wattie's could conceivably put into commercial production." The class then observed the manufacturing process.
After the visit Kate introduced Rachel to the class. Rachel spoke about her job as a product development technologist and how new food lines are developed for the New Zealand and Australian markets. She outlined criteria for shelf-stability, commercial appeal, food safety, and economy of production. Rachel told the class what she expected from them and what she offered in return. She also mentioned that if it was warranted, her company would run one of their classroom products through its pilot plant, at the end of the course. Rachel developed Heinz Wattie's "Bit on the side" product range. This has been case studied on the Techlink website and was a useful teaching tool for Kate to use with the class.
On subsequent visits to school, Rachel answered questions and demonstrated the use of Food Technology equipment for ph, brix and consistency testing, explaining how it worked and what it was used for. Testing the ph level of their products became a focus for the students. As the students went about formulating their products, Kate built on their knowledge, outlining the role of sugars and pectins, sterialisation etc. Kate and Rachel maintained contact between visits mainly through emails. Conceptual ideas, product development trials and technical questions were dealt with through fax and email.
