
North Wales school wins Tasty Careers Schools Challenge
The challenge is supported by the Welsh Government-funded Sgiliau Bwyd a Diod Cymru / Food & Drink Skills Wales programme and Careers Wales.
This year's Schools Challenge was backed by Castell Howell Foods, Leprino Foods, Kepak, Dunbia, and hospitality group Seren.
The finals took place on March 5 at Conwy Business Centre, where teams of pupils pitched their final products, including a sheep milkshake, crempog with pureed parsnip, Welsh rarebit bites, and a strawberry oat snack bar.
Denbigh High School emerged victorious with their product, 'Muffin' Around' – a selection of red pepper and spinach muffins.
The judges were impressed by the concept, taste, and sustainability of the muffins.
The competition, which has been running since 2018, has seen previous winners' products professionally produced and sold.
This year's challenge required pupils to create a new healthy, sustainable product for a food and drink manufacturer.
Tasty Careers 2025 attracted the highest number of entrants since its inception in 2018, with over 1,200 pupils from schools across Wales taking part.
The North Wales finalists included Alun School, Denbigh High School, Ysgol Glan Clwyd, Rhyl High School, Ysgol Friars, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni, Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, Ysgol Eifionydd, and Ysgol Bro Idris.
Teleri Owen, a teacher at Denbigh High School, said: "The competition has given the pupils an insight into the food industry.
"They had thoroughly enjoyed working with each other in a different scenario to the classroom."
Louise Cairns, CEO for NSAFD/Tasty Careers, said: "Congratulations to Denbigh High School for their outstanding performance in this year's Tasty Careers Schools Challenge.
"The judges were highly impressed with all the entrants but their creation really stood out for sustainability, commercial viability – and of course, taste."
Kate Rees, Sgiliau Bwyd a Diod Cymru / Food & Drink Skills Wales Programme Manager, added: "It's been inspiring to witness the ingenuity of the students at the Tasty Careers Challenge.
"They are undoubtedly our future foodies, and this initiative is a significant asset in cultivating talent for the industry."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mr Kipling maker's £48m swoop on healthy ready meals brand Merchant Gourmet
Mr Kipling maker Premier Foods has agreed to buy healthy ready meals brand Merchant Gourmet for £48million. The seller of microwavable pouches of pulses and grains was founded in 1994 by brothers Mark and Oliver Leatham from a market stall in London. Merchant managing director Richard Peake said: 'We believe Premier is the right partner to match our ambition. 'They understand where we've come from, they respect what makes our brand special.' Premier boss Alex Whitehouse said the deal would help meet 'the growing demand for premium, healthy and convenient meal options'. It bought cooking kit firm The Spice Tailor in 2022 and granola maker Fuel10K this year. Shares in Premier, which also owns Bisto, Ambrosia and Oxo, rose 1.2 per cent, or 2.2p, to 189p.


Business News Wales
5 hours ago
- Business News Wales
Council Leaders Welcome Latest Businesses to Neath Leisure and Retail Centre
The latest arrivals at Neath's Leisure and Retail Centre have been welcomed by Neath Port Talbot Council Leader, Cllr Steve Hunt and Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Economic Growth, Cllr Jeremy Hurley. Among the new outlets are Neath Deli, which opened in July this year, Baroc, a fashion, jewellery and home accessories store which opened this week and a new children's space, Dream Street. The council's Economic Development and Regeneration Teams have worked closely with these businesses providing advice and grant funding to support the realisation of their owner's ambitious plans. These new and growing businesses, as well as adding to the offer for locals and visitors to Neath alike, are creating and safeguarding valuable jobs in the town centre. Also, a new bilingual children's day care centre is due to open in the Leisure and Retail Centre soon. These four new businesses join the existing Neath Leisure and Retail Centre's popular leisure centre and swimming pool, furniture, DIY and gardening specialists the Range, café bar The Cadno Lounge and Neath Library. Cllr Hurley said: 'This new part of Neath is really making a difference, creating a different vibe and making Neath a dynamic and attractive place to visit.' Council Leader Cllr Hunt, who with Cllr Hurley recently visited Neath Deli owner Chris Cundill at his new business, said: 'With the different offer and atmosphere these new businesses bring Neath Town Centre is definitely a place where people want to spend some time.' Chris Cundill, who owns Neath Deli with his wife Rosana said the space available at the Neath Leisure and Retail Centre helped him and his wife to 'think big' in opening the deli which specialises in organic and local produce. The couple's new business is only a hundred metres away from Rosa's Bakery and Shop, in Neath (which is their children's business, with their oldest daughter, Estera-Rosa, as head baker at only 17 years old). Cllr Hunt added: 'There is now plenty of variety on offer throughout the town centre in terms of shops and hospitality with these new arrivals adding to the traditional stores and businesses already operating in the area and we welcome visitors from Neath and further afield.' The Neath Leisure Centre and Library project was funded through a combination of sources including Neath Port Talbot Council, Welsh Government's Transforming Towns Fund and Welsh Government Grants with £300,000 from the Welsh Government allocated to cover the costs of relocating and furnishing the new library.


Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Supermarkets are NOT profiteering and Sir Ed Davey was wrong to 'cajole' watchdog - but food prices will keep rising, says City broker
City analysts have defended supermarket pricing and criticised Sir Ed Davey for encouraging accusations of price gouging levelled at the sector. The Liberal Democrat MP and leader 'squeezed' and 'managed to cajole' the Competition and Markets Authority into probing supermarkets in 2023, analysts at broker Shore Capital alleged this week. In a note, analysts said food inflation had 'understandably spiked in in 2020 'in the backwash of Putin's malevolence in 2022', when Russia invaded Ukraine. 'That did not stop Sir Ed, ex-Post Office Minister (think Horizon) from cheaply suggesting supernormal supermarket profitability', they added. Shore Capital said British supermarkets were not 'supernormal profiteers' and noted that their trading margins were slim. In May 2023, the CMA launched an investigation into claims supermarkets were profiteering off high food prices. The Lib Dems were the only political party calling for this investigation at the time. In July 2023, a preliminary report by the CMA found that the groceries retail market was broadly competitive in Britain. The CMA said in July 2023 that it not not appear that high price inflation for groceries was the result of weak or ineffective competition between retailers, adding that supermarket profit margins were 'historically low'. In a second report in July 2024, the CMA said it did 'not find evidence that groceries inflation is being driven at an aggregate level by weak competition between retailers'. According to Shore Capital's note this week, Davey 'said absolutely nothing' after the CMA published their findings. A Liberal Democrat spokesperson told the Daily Mail: 'We won't be taking any lectures on this. 'Families have been hit hard by rising food prices and it's right that we explore every avenue to bring them down. 'The CMA exposed how supermarkets have been ripping off motorists at the pump, and it's the regulator's job to make sure they can't rip off shoppers at the till too - especially whilst they also battle with sky high bills and stagnant wages. 'Meanwhile the farmers who put food on our tables and look after our countryside are being squeezed from all angles, clobbered by the farmers tax, declining incomes and cuts to much needed support. 'Liberal Democrats will unashamedly always stand up for hardworking families and British farmers.' What's happening to food inflation now? Food inflation in Britain remains high. Many households are being forced to fork out more for the basics at the checkouts in supermarkets. Grocery price inflation fell marginally from July to August, but consumers are still trying to make savings due to the high cost of essentials, data from market researcher Worldpanel by Numerator showed on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics said the 12-month inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic beverages was 4.9 per cent in July, up from 4.5 per cent in the year to June. In the five years to July, the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose by around 37 per cent. Shore Capital has claimed the Labour government was squarely to blame for higher food inflation over the last year. It said: 'The prime causes of current UK food inflation are pretty clear to us, the policies of the British government. 'From the National Insurance 'raid', to the notably above CPI National Living Wage (NLW) award, plus packaging taxes, the State is hammering the hospitality and retail sectors of the UK, evident now in business closures (e.g., public houses) and easing sectoral employment levels.' Shore Capital warned of worse to come for food inflation amid, among other polies, higher rates for larger stores, the upcoming National Living Wage hike and implementation of the Employment Bill. Analysts at the investment firm expect food inflation to reach between five and six per cent by Christmas and remain 'elevated' for much of the first half of 2026. 'UK food inflation is going to remain fulsome through to at least spring 2027', Shore Capital said on Wednesday. In turn, the note claimed that real living standards in Britain look set to 'contract to mid-2027.' Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday, said: 'We have taken the decisions needed to stabilise the public finances, and we're a long way from the double-digit inflation we saw under the previous government, but there's more to do to ease the cost of living. 'That's why we've raised the minimum wage, extended the £3 bus fare cap, expanded free school meals to over half a million more children, and are rolling out free breakfast clubs for every child in the country. 'Through our Plan for Change we're going further and faster to put more money in people's pockets.' How big are supermarket trading margins? Summing up its thoughts on Davey, Shore Capital's analysts said: 'Whilst Ed Davey no doubt moved onto Thorpe Park or the like, his shallowness has had some beneficial use to us, as it showed not just the competitiveness of the British grocery retail scene but also the real challenge of food system profitability in the UK.' Using the group's latest annual results, Shore Capital said Marks & Spencer's last post-tax trading margin was 5.4 per cent, which is expected to dip this year following the cyber attack. Sainsbury's, with a 15 per cent slice of the grocery market, saw its last annual trading margin come in at 3.2 per cent, while Tesco's, Britain's biggest supermarket, was 4.3 per cent, according to Shore Capital. 'For FY26 both retailers [Sainsbury's and Tesco] are guiding to lower year-on-year return on sales due to sector competitiveness', Shore Capital said. Using historic Companies House data, Shore Capital claimed Asda's operating margin was 'negative' in 2022, but in positive territory the following year. Aldi's 2023 figures revealed a margin of around 3.1 per cent, Shore Capital added, noting that trading margin data was trickier to find for certain grocers. According to Shore Capital's analysis, in the year to March 2025, Iceland's trading margin was 2.1 per cent. For 2024, Lidl's margin was around 2 per cent, it added. For the year to October 2024, Morrisons' trading margin came in at 0.1 per cent, the note said. Shore Capital analysts said: 'With UK supermarket trading margins largely under around 5 per cent alongside, on a longitudinal basis, frankly poor returns on capital employed, especially compared to many other industries, we find it quite bizarre that the grocery sector comes under such unreasonable ongoing scrutiny, acknowledging the necessity and ubiquity of food.' It claimed Britain's food system 'needs to be profitable to feed the nation.' The note added: 'Profitability is currently materially challenged by UK Government policy, so much so that, as we argued in our recent note on food prices, 90 per cent of current inflation can be attributed to the State, that is 4 per cent and rising UK food prices are not due to commodities, crude oil, or currency movements, but dictates like the National Insurance raid, the NLW and taxes like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). 'And so, should the likes of Sir Ed Davey once again call upon the CMA to investigate the food market and the role of supermarkets in food prices, especially around super-normal returns, we suggest he thinks again, and asks the likes of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Energy Secretary and the Minister for the Environment for an explanation.' Sir Ed Davey was contacted before publication but did not provide any comment.