A series of month‑long industry placements, funded through the Welsh Government’s HELIX Programme, has given recent food science and technology postgraduates hands‑on experience within Welsh food and drink manufacturing companies.
During their placements, the students delivered bespoke technical projects with mentoring from ZERO2FIVE technologists and industry supervisors. The programme helped students develop practical skills in food processing, product development, food safety, and quality assurance, while providing companies with additional technical resource to implement improvements.
Three postgraduates, Marykamala Agnes Palepu, Sania Gul, and Mohammad Zidaan, completed placements with Monmouthshire’s Hive Mind Meadery and Bossa Nova Chocolate in Newport.
Founded in 2018 by brothers Kit and Matt Newell, Hive Mind Meadery produces traditional sparkling meads and honey beers, which utilise modern brewing techniques and British honey. Bossa Nova Chocolate, which was founded in 2019 by Andrea Staggemeier, creates handmade Brazilian style truffles and won the Rising Star award at the 2024 Wales Food and Drink Awards.
At Hive Mind, Marykamala Agnes Palepu focused on reviewing and reorganising the company’s document control system in line with the SALSA food safety standard. She also supported with labelling, daily quality assurance tasks, sensory testing, bottling and even joined in with beekeeping.
Speaking about her experience, Marykamala said: “This industry placement brought my studies to life. With the support of Hive Mind and ZERO2FIVE, I gained essential industry skills that will help launch my career and one day, my own business.”
Matt Newell, Co-founder of Hive Mind said: “Mary produced excellent work on our document control register, was able to assist in many areas of production and beekeeping and has been invaluable when organising our policies and procedures. It was great to have her as part of the Hive Mind team”
At Bossa Nova Chocolate, Sania Gul and Mohammad Zidaan worked together to develop a prototype functional chocolate product – dark chocolate buttons with freeze‑dried açaí. They contributed to recipe development, sourcing packaging, supplier evaluation and preparing the prototype for trial production, as well as updating the company’s HACCP framework and production process flow to incorporate the manufacture of the product.
Mohammad said: “This was my first industry experience and an amazing opportunity to apply what I learned during my studies. The mentoring from ZERO2FIVE was invaluable.”
Sania added: “This opportunity provided a vital platform to apply my academic studies in a real-world setting. By engaging closely with the complexities of the food industry, I gained insights that only hands-on experience can offer. The guidance and support from ZERO2FIVE and Bossa Nova Chocolate have been essential to my professional development.”
Andrea Staggemeier, owner of Bossa Nova Chocolate, said: “Having Mohammad and Sania on board was a huge help. Their technical work allowed me to focus on production, and their support accelerated the development process for a product idea that I’ve been thinking about for a while.”
The HELIX Programme is delivered by four organisations across Wales and provides a range of funded technical and innovation support to Welsh food and drink companies.
To find out more about the funded support available from ZERO2FIVE through the HELIX Programme, visit: www.zero2five.org.uk
