Career Heroes - Jemma Deighan

Tell us more about you

I’ve been working as a Food Technologist at Dale Farm for the last four years.

Outside of work, I live with my partner and our two lovely chocolate Labradors. I enjoy reading books and spending time with my family and friends, catching up over a wee coffee.

What kind of work do you do?

I’m part of the New Product Development (NPD) team at Dale Farm and work as a Food Development Technologist. My job involves working on the development and manufacturing processes and recipes of food and drink products. So far, I’ve been involved with many projects across our NI sites, including Pennybridge, Dromona, and Dunman products, such as custards, cheese, ice cream, and spreads.

My key duties include sending product samples to our customers, creating recipes, managing factory trials to see how the product is performing, conducting taste panels, and making sure that any product we’re working on is safe and produced to the highest quality standards for our customers and consumers. It’s also important that we keep up to date with all the latest food regulations and standards.

Currently, I’m based in the office, but I also spend time in the factory environment when completing factory trials and looking at manufacturing processes. I have had experience working in a wide range of settings, including the office, laboratories, and factories.

I’ve had opportunities to travel to trade shows and events the across the world, which is fun and helps me gain great insights into new and upcoming market trends. I also spend a lot of time networking and making relationships with our suppliers and customers.

My role requires the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. This is important when it comes to focusing on specific NPD duties and responsibilities, as a key part of my job is to work successfully alongside different departments in the business, such as commercial, marketing, technical, and packaging teams.

How did you become a Food Development?

After my GCSEs, I completed A Levels in Biology, Health & Social Care, and Religious Education. I then completed a four-year degree in Food & Nutrition at Ulster University in Coleraine.

I joined Dale Farm in August 2018 through the Graduate Trainee scheme. This was a great steppingstone into the business and I could learn and develop both personally and professionally. As part of the scheme, I gained a post-graduate qualification from Queen’s University, Belfast.

I’ve always been provided with opportunities to develop my skillset and build on my technical and food science knowledge. For example, I’ve completed many training courses both internally and outside of the business such as the Dairy Technical Academy Course, margarine training in Denmark, and a cheese course in Cork.

At the start of my career, I worked on Mullin's Ice Cream projects, which was exciting. I had the opportunity to help with creating recipes and concepts for our customers and of course had the chance to check out all the amazing flavours and textures. I moved across into other product categories, such as custards, milk drinks, butters, spreads, and cheese.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

I feel that the path I took was best for me at the time in terms of my personal education and career choices, although there are various other opportunities and different routes you can take if you want to work in the food industry. For example, apprenticeship schemes via CAFRE.