Food industry technical professional (integrated degree)
- Level
- 6
- Typical duration
- 48 months (about 4 years)
- Max funding band
- £27,000
- End-point assessment
- 3 months
- Route
- Health and science
Ensuring the safety and quality of food and drink products.
About the role
This occupation is found in a diverse range of sectors within the food and drink industry. For example, food manufacturing, research and development, quality control, and food marketing.
The size of employers in the food industry is diverse and includes a mix of organisations involved in food production, processing, distribution, and retail. The specific size of employers will depend on the subsector within the food industry and the nature of the business.
The broad purpose of the occupation is to ensure that food products meet stringent quality standards. Conducting inspections, maintaining documentation, and overseeing quality control measures. They support the implementation and monitoring of food safety protocols, promoting compliance and fostering a strong food safety culture.
A food industry technical professional will drive innovation by developing and improving food products and processes.
They may lead a team of food professionals and collaborate with cross-functional teams and communicate with customers.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a diverse range of individuals and groups, collaborating across different departments.
They interact with internal stakeholders, including research and development teams, quality teams, production and manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, commercial and finance. They may also interact with external stakeholders such as food safety auditors, suppliers, customers and government regulators.
An employee in this occupation will lead the implementation of food products that are safe to consume and of a consistent appearance, taste and texture to comply with company, customer and industry standards.
They lead and proactively resolve technical challenges using insight and data from a variety of sources to make recommendations on new ways of working. They may research new trends and opportunities and have responsibility for budgeting and staff management. They inspire and lead a team of food professionals, emphasising technical guidance on food safety and quality.
How it compares
At 48 months (about 4 years), it is longer than average for a degree-level apprenticeship (the average across all 172 Level 6+ standards is 39 months).
The funding band — the maximum an employer's levy can contribute to training costs — is £27,000, at or above the £21,500 average for degree-level standards. Apprentices never pay tuition either way.
Typical job titles
- Assistant food technical manager
- Flavourist
- Food and drink technologist
- Food engineer
- Food hygiene manager
- Food laboratory scientist
- Food process manager
- Food product innovation and development technologist
- Food quality manager
- Food retail technologist
- Food safety auditor
- Food safety manager
- Food technical service manager
- New product development scientist
- Packaging technologist
- Research and development food scientist
What you come out with
- Food industry technical professional degree that fully aligns with the KSBs within the apprenticeship standard — Level 6 (integrated degree)
- Professional recognition: The Science Council for Registered Scientist (RSci) — Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, individuals are eligible to apply for RSci through a shortened application route. Individuals also need to be a member of a professional body that is licensed by the Science Council to be awarded this status. Further information is on the Science Council’s website.
- Professional recognition: Institute of Food and Science Technology (IFST) — Successful apprentices will be eligible to apply for Registered Scientist status with the Institute of Food and Science Technology (IFST). The duration of the apprenticeship will contribute to years of experience required for membership of the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
What you'll learn
The official standard defines 11 core duties, 27 knowledge areas, 22 skills, 7 behaviours. This is the actual assessed content of the apprenticeship — worth reading before an interview, because competency questions are usually written straight from these lists.
Core duties 11
- Develop and improve food products by conducting experiments, creating new formulations, new product development, existing product development, recipes, and production scaling up processes.
- Engage in research to explore new technologies, and methods and encouraging continuous improvement.
- Conduct inspections, maintain documentation, and oversee quality control measures to ensure that food products meet established quality standards.
- Lead, implement and monitor food safety and food defence protocols, ensuring compliance with regulations and promote a food safety culture.
- Ensure compliance with and keep up to date with food regulations, laws and guidelines and disseminate information to internal and external stakeholders
- Identify opportunities to optimise food processing, manufacturing processes and implement sustainable solutions.
- Ensure food safety and the quality of raw materials and finished goods through the supply chain.
- Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, including cross-Functional Teams.
- Lead and develop colleagues on quality control procedures, food safety protocols, and other technical aspects.
- Lead the preparation for and execution of internal, external, regulatory audits and inspections, ensuring that site processes and procedures are compliant and strive for continuous improvement.
- Lead and inspire a team of food professionals and provide technical guidance on food safety and quality.
Knowledge 27
- Product and environmental microbiology.
- Food allergy and intolerance management, including labelling requirements and management systems for control of allergens in manufacturing.
- Food safety and hygiene legislation and regulation.
- Food microbiological, chemical and analytical testing techniques and principles including sampling and interpretation of results.
- Food hazards and their controls.
- Food analysis including fat, moisture, carbohydrate, protein, energy, density and melting point.
- Composition of food and its nutritional value and trends; including rheology, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics.
- Enhancing nutritional impact of food components, macro and micro-nutrients; preserving and enhancing nutritional values in processing, distribution and sale.
- How products can be developed and adapted to meet dietary requirements, habits and consumer trends.
- Functionality of ingredient categories including, dairy, fresh and frozen produce, meat, fish, bakery, oils and fats, alternative proteins, flavourings and functional ingredients.
- Principles of food processes, including, mixing and blending, batch and continuous processing, baking, thermal processing, canning, pasteurisation, enrobing, chilling and freezing.
- Food supply chain management systems and practices to assure the safety, quality and legality of all raw materials, packaging, final product and services.
- Food safety management systems including, specifications, traceability systems, food defence and food safety culture.
- Food quality management systems such as total quality management including, organoleptic quality assessment panels and various weight control systems.
- How to plan, manage and review products and processes, monitor costs and measure against technical and operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- Problem solving and continuous improvement techniques, including root cause analysis and investigation methods.
- Methods to collect, interpret and analyse technical data, using digital and mathematical techniques and presenting information, including Statistical Process Control (SPC).
- Identification and selection of appropriate laboratory test methods, the interpretation of results and the appropriate actions to take.
- Characteristics of packaging systems taking account of food safety hazards and quality, including processing and filling operations to assure shelf life compliance.
- The processes from concept to launch for new and existing products and process development, to include specification definition, scaling-up, hazard identification, technical feasibility and commercial viability.
- Factors governing food safety, ethics, integrity and sustainability within the global supply chain including, waste reduction and energy optimisation.
- Hygienic design and practices for factories and equipment, including Cleaning In Place (CIP).
- Principles used to lead, develop and manage resources, people and budgets.
- Properties of packaging materials that meet product preservation, shelf life and environmental sustainability goals.
- Methods used to measure appearance, colour, aroma, taste, texture and overall sensory characteristics of food products.
- Audit inspection and preparation requirements for quality and food safety systems.
- Leadership and management styles and how to inspire team members.
Skills 22
- Contribute to the development, validation and implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
- Establish process parameters and control requirements; measure the impact of process on product, set limits and take action to deal with process and product non-conformance.
- Interpret laboratory results; identify and analyse trends to diagnose or anticipate issues; define and implement action plans.
- Contribute to creating and implementing product specifications to meet customer requirements, identifying the key risk factors in product design.
- Contribute to the development of internal audits to ensure compliance with legal, industry and customer standards.
- Identify and promote tools to ensure a food safety culture within the organisation.
- Utilise tools to support the delivery of consistent quality of products.
- Establish and monitor integrated cleaning and hygiene programmes.
- Drive external audits including preparation, auditor interaction and corrective actions.
- Manage complaint performance through the identification of trends and the design of corrective action programmes.
- Design and implement site procedures to ensure legal compliance with current food law.
- Manage, influence and negotiate with internal and external stakeholders.
- Optimise and control parameters that influence common industry processes, for example: washing, mixing, heating, cooking, cooling and chilling, freezing, drying, freeze drying.
- Collaborate with internal and external partners to deliver new or existing product development projects.
- Apply project management tools to deliver projects to time, cost, specification and quality.
- Coordinate investigations into product non-conformances and implement incident management procedures.
- Review and select scientific techniques considering cost and practicalities and justifying the selection of service providers.
- Contribute to monitoring supplier performance and intake controls using supplier risk management processes.
- Design, implement and validate traceability systems to be fully compliant with customer and legal requirements.
- Lead, inspire and support the development of the team, providing technical guidance on food safety and quality.
- Identify, select and source relevant data and critically evaluate complex information to inform actions.
- Support and participate in environmental sustainability efforts by ensuring eco-friendly practices, such as waste reduction and energy optimisation.
Behaviours 7
- Committed to the promotion of food safety, health and safety, environment and sustainable working practices.
- Proactively takes ownership and responsibility for delivering work and striving towards technical excellence.
- Responsive to change, demonstrates flexibility to changing working environment and demands.
- Demonstrates integrity and respect including diversity, beliefs, culture, needs and preferences, adapting communication for all.
- Committed to developing and leading collaborative working relationships across multi-functional teams.
- Inspires others and acts as an ambassador internally and externally.
- Fosters new ways of thinking and working; seeks out opportunities to drive forward change and improvements for the business and industry.
Live vacancies
No live vacancies for this course as of 2026-07-24 — new adverts appear on Find an apprenticeship daily, and many degree apprenticeship employers recruit on their own careers sites instead.
Universities registered to deliver it
5 universities are on the government provider register for this standard. Registration means they can deliver it — live vacancies depend on employer partnerships each recruitment cycle.
- Harper Adams University
- Nottingham Trent University
- Sheffield Hallam University
- University of Lincoln
- University of West London
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Official sources
- Official standard page (Skills England)
- Registered training providers (Find apprenticeship training)
Occupational summary, duties, knowledge, skills and behaviours reproduced from the ST0197 apprenticeship standard (last updated 2026-02-01) — contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page before applying: standards get revised.