National Centre for Food Manufacturing Celebrated for its Support of UK Seafood Industry
17 January 2025
Written by: gathomas
National Centre for Food Manufacturing (NCFM) part of The University of Lincoln, UK, was celebrated at an event in Grimsby earlier this week.
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.
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.”
NCFM’s commitment in Grimsby coincides 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.”