2019 Aspire Prize for Personal Development winner: Ceara Kaveney

22 May 2019

Ceara‘s placement was with Müller as an NPD Technologist in the Muller Milk and Ingredients (MMI) department based in Telford. Her job was heavily focused on private label flavoured milk, supplying retailers such as M&S, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury and Tesco. She experienced a product from concept to launch, creating recipes to the specifications required by the retailer, presented the products and other flavour ideas.

These were either progressed to factory scale or the recipes were adjusted and presented again until the retailer was satisfied. Ceara, BSc (Hons) Food Nutrition and Wellbeing, had the opportunity to work and importantly form good relationships with ingredient suppliers, creating flavours and stabiliser blends and was involved with tasting panels for a variety of launches.

Ceara said: “My placement at Muller put me in really good stead because I had a lot of responsibility and I can take all that experience and knowledge I’ve gained with me into my next role which will be with Framptons as a development technologist.”

Ceara saw thirteen recipes turn into a stable milkshake and go from pilot scale to factory and then launched into stores across the UK. This was followed by a further six recipes launching at the end of October into Tesco. This experience was like no other with practical knowledge which will help her achieve in the future, standing her in good stead for her next adventure in the food industry after graduation this year.