The National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM) part of The University of Lincoln, UK, was celebrated at an event in Grimsby when the University formally launched a centre in Grimsby to work alongside the Grimsby seafood and North Lincolnshire food sector.

Working from within the Humber Seafood Institute, the NCFM has recommitted to provide UK seafood processing and trade and food manufacturing businesses with access to higher level skills, research and innovation support.

 

The University has worked in partnerships with the sector’s businesses through the Seafood and Grimsby Humber Alliance for three years to create new training courses and apprenticeships to grow future leaders, along with a range of support services and to help small and large businesses innovate.  As the Seafood and Grimsby Humber Alliance transitions into the UK Seafood Federation, the courses developed in Grimsby are now being rolled out to meet the needs of the industry across the UK.

 

Professor Simon Pearson, Head of the School of Agri-food Technology and Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln said: ‘‘We are delighted to provide businesses with ready access to NCFM’s unique seafood and food processing and manufacturing capability.

 

“This will help the sector to advance, not just regionally but across the UK, including the adoption of AI, automation and the innovative use of chemistry and biotechnologies to generate high value co-products, as well as providing access to skills provision tailored for seafood processers.”

 

This commitment in Grimsby coincided with the launch of the UK Seafood Federation (UKSF), an industry-led body and voice of the seafood processing and trading sectors in the UK. Simon Smith, Chair of the UK Seafood Federation and Vice Chairman Europe, Sofina Foods said: ‘‘We are pleased to be celebrating two major milestone events for the seafood processing and trading sector. Our partnership with the University has achieved so much to date and now as the UK Seafood Federation we look forward to building on this success, aided further by ready access to the NCFM in the heart of the sector across the UK.” 

 

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