Joanne McMullan, Genesis Breads, Magherafelt

“Hi, I’m Joanne McMullan and I have been employed as the Quality Manager at Genesis Breads in Magherafelt for 7 years.

It doesn’t seem like eight years since I graduated from Loughry with a BSc. in Food Technology. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Loughry and I feel that the Food Technology degree programme really prepared me well for my current role as Quality Manager at Genesis. I particularly enjoyed the practical hands-on modules in Food Microbiology and Food Manufacture.

Socially - the craic was great at Loughry and during my time there I made many good friends with whom I am still in regular contact.

Genesis is an award winning bakery producing an extensive range of artisan baked products for customers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Superquinn. This impressive client list brings with it many challenges for me as Quality Manager. On a day to day basis I am involved in maintaining our Grade A accreditation in the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, delivering hygiene training, carrying out food safety audits and answering technical queries from our customers. An exciting element of my job is being involved in the New Product Development Team which enables me to see new products progress from idea generation through to product launch. I oversee the completion of new product specifications which includes gathering the microbiological and nutritional information and writing ingredient declarations. This information is used when authorising artwork for new product labels.

Since my graduation I have maintained contact with Loughry staff and have particularly benefited from the advice provided by the team of food technologists who support food companies.

A career in the food industry offers many exciting opportunities and I’d certainly recommend it to anyone. I am particularly enjoying working in the bakery sector – especially sampling all of Genesis wonderful products.”

Joanne McMullan, Quality Manager, with one of Genesis' range of artisan baked products