Celebrating Welsh food and drink

18 @specialityfood TheHELIXProgramme: ABlueprint for the Future of Food &Drink The Welsh Government-funded Helix programme is renowned for its exceptional producer support and tangible impact T heworld of food production is a challenging one, with a number of factors constantly shaping the business landscape for better or worse. Frompolitical issues to environmental ones, as well as in-house matters such as finances, resources and peoplemanagement, there are many hurdles for businesses of all sizes to overcome to achieve success and growth. In 2016 theWelsh Government, recognising these issues and forecasting the positive effects that stepping in to support would have, created Project HELIX– a key programmewhich assists with the headwindsmentioned above as well as on tasks such as newproduct development, process efficiencies and food safety certification scheme compliance. Access tomarket intelligence and one-to-one guidance add yet more value to help businesses compete successfully in domestic and national markets. The programme, delivered as a partnership between three food centres acrossWales: Food CentreWales in Ceredigion, Food Technology Centre in Anglesey, and ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre at Cardiff MetropolitanUniversity, brings together expertise fromacademia and industry to offer a uniquely valuable service to food and drink businesses. In total, Project HELIX has delivered £676million impact to theWelsh food and drink industry, and now rebranded As a collective groupwhich bring together industry and academia, the food centres have unrivalled connections with the food and drink sector – and thanks to the combination of academic knowledge and hands-on industry experience of those delivering the support, whether they be quality or technical managers, newproduct development professionals or food safety experts, the HELIX Programme is delivering impressive results MartinJardine, FoodTechnology Centre IN NUMBERS Project HELIX Annual Report 2024-2025, published in July 2025 and focused on the period 1st July 2023-31st March 2025, details the tangible impact the programme has had on the sector. It states that since 1st July 2023 the programme delivered over £303 million impact to theWelsh food and drink sector by workingwith 199 companies, including 103 start-ups, helping them to develop 533 newproducts and gain 149 third- party certifications. As well as strengthening the foundations and building the portfolios of these businesses, the livelihoods of the peopleworking within the sector have benefited from the programme – 188 jobs were created, and 6131 safeguarded. as the HELIX Programme after further funding from theWelsh Government, AberInnovation in Ceredigionwill provide pan-Wales academic research support – additional resources helping to guide the Welsh food and drink industry towards an even brighter future. Through the HELIX Programme the Welsh Government are demonstrating their commitment to the country’s food and drink industry, and it’smore successful thanwe could have imagined. TheWelsh Government has firmly established its leadership through this exemplar project, and the results speak for themselves – looking to the future, I hope that this model could serve as a blueprint for other authorities beyondWales Angela Sawyer, Food CentreWales 95%of food businesses aremicro or SME, and all of themhave a need to keep their products safe, gain accreditation, open newmarkets andmore – this is vital to drive the sector forward. With a rolling 30%of food businesses workingwith the HELIX Programme, we’ve workedwith around 70%of the businesses currently operating in theWelsh food and drink industry, andwe’re always looking for newbusinesses to support Professor David Lloyd, ZERO2FIVE