Exploring Food Vulnerability

Date published: 4 August 2025

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) welcomed technical staff from a range of food companies to attend CAFRE’s Exploring Food Vulnerability training programme at Loughry Campus, Cookstown.

In the dynamic world of food production, it’s of paramount importance that staff have update knowledge of food security.

This course helps food businesses appreciate and understand the importance of food security. It takes a practical approach to assessing potential vulnerabilities in the raw material supply chain. For example, this includes risks like substituting an ingredient with a cheaper alternative. It also covers threats to products during processing. One example is deliberate contamination by a staff member in the processing environment. This approach to food protection embraces established food defence methodologies; systems which are mutually beneficial to food producers and their customers.

The CAFRE Exploring Food Vulnerability Programme focuses on threat assessment critical control points and vulnerability assessment critical control points. The course is offered to food processing companies across all commodity areas and can be delivered either in the Loughry Campus or on the factory site.

Eimeir Quinn, from Davison’s Puddings, who attended the programme in April 2025 shares her experience saying it was a: “Thoroughly enjoyable and informative refresher day on TACCP / VACCP at Loughry.  The course highlighted the need to question the vulnerability of our supply chains, to ensure that the security of our food products is protected.”

The next programme will be delivered at CAFRE’s Loughry Campus on Thursday 23 October 2025. To secure your place on the programme, book now on the CAFRE website.

For further information, contact Victoria Shiels, email: Victoria.Shiels@daera-ni.gov.uk