Scotland’s world-class food and drink sector offers wide career opportunities for school leavers, college students and graduates.
There are jobs for STEM specialists, outdoor types, people who want to start a business or run a production line, fight climate change, develop new products or work in IT, with entry points at all education levels.
We have a range of resources about food and drink careers, as well as teaching aids relevant for STEM, business and other subjects.
Recommended
Careers resources
Educators and career influencers can use these resources when talking to students about career opportunities. Many of these resources can be used as teaching aids and lesson plans can be built around them.
Key messages about working in the food and drink industry in Scotland
This practical guide has been has developed on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership. It will help educators and career influencers better understand the wealth of career opportunities in the food and drink industry.
Learning resources: Chemistry videos
Did you know science is crucial to the success of the food and drink industry? Chemists, physicists and biologists are all needed to ensure food products are safe to eat; to develop new products; and to make changes to existing products.
Resources for educators and influencers
Explore a wide range of career resources including infographics, posters, powerpoint s and links to other related education and career sites.
Teaching resource: Reformulation
Check out our new teaching resource covering the topic of reformulation developed in support of Food a Fact of Life.
You'll find two pdf files containing a presentation with a suggested activity, and supporting teaching notes to accompany each page.
Jobs from farm to fork
Infographics and posters about food supply chains, showing the breadth of jobs involved in putting food on people’s plates. Ideal for lesson planning, teaching aids and career discussions.
Food and drink careers in practice
Video with DYW Dumfries & Galloway bringing food and drink careers to life through practical science experiments. See also their great videos about Science in the Classroom, Coffee and careers Behind the Scenes.
Tasty Careers map
Interactive, user-friendly map to help you promote the many different food and drink careers, from engineering to finance to sales to retail
Why work in food and drink?
A practical guide and FAQs to help educators and careers specialists promote the different career options in food and drink. Developed on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership.
Qualifications and career routes
Our Agri-food and drink route map shows where different qualifications, from Nat 3 and 4 to a PhD, can lead and also the different qualifications available.
STEM learning resources
Food science videos for schools showing how chemists and biologists make our food taste and look better, and safer. Helpful for teaching chemical processes, as well as careers guidance.
Another useful science teaching resource is DYW Dumfries & Galloway’s Science in the Classroom videos.
Understanding food labels
Useful visual resource for teaching about food and allergen labelling, nutritional info and claims, and how to decode what’s on a label.
Foundation Apprenticeship in Food and Drink Technologies
Take a look at what young people studying for the Foundation Apprenticeship in Food and Drink Technologies really think about the course and the opportunities it provides for career progression.
A Foundation Apprenticeship provides young people with a nationally recognised qualification, real work experience AND the opportunity to find out what careers are available in the Scottish food and drink industry.
For employers, offering a young person work experience to achieve the Foundation Apprenticeship is an excellent opportunity to engage with your future workforce.
Related topics
Dietary intakes and recommendations
Useful industry and scientific resources on nutrition, health and consumer eating habits.
Environmental sustainability
Our members have continued to significantly reduce carbon emissions and water consumption, as part of their commitment to reduce our environmental impact.
Reformulation support for Scotland
FDF Scotland delivers Reformulation for Health, a Scottish Government funded programme to support smaller businesses to make their products healthier. This support is available for both FDF members and non-members.