Sarah awarded inaugural ABP Loughry bursary

Loughry College student Sarah Jane Houston from Kilkeel, Co. Down, has become the winner of the inaugural ABP Food Group CAFRE Undergraduate Bursary at Loughry College.
Pictured presenting her prize George Mullan ABP NI Managing Director, with Sarah Jane Houston Bursary Winner and Dawn Speers, Technical Manager, ABP.Pictured presenting her prize George Mullan ABP NI Managing Director, with Sarah Jane Houston Bursary Winner and Dawn Speers, Technical Manager, ABP.
Pictured presenting her prize George Mullan ABP NI Managing Director, with Sarah Jane Houston Bursary Winner and Dawn Speers, Technical Manager, ABP.

The bursary has been created to help promote a deeper understanding of the beef processing sector and help develop innovative thinking in the area.

Sarah’s winning essay addressed the management of traceability within a beef and lamb production facility where legislative and customer requirements are of the utmost importance to traceability. She was also required to display an understanding of traceability within the beef industry from farm to fork including current threats.

Commenting on the bursary, George Mullan, ABP NI Managing Director said that “the company was placing a strong emphasis on developing linkages with local education providers at all levels to ensure the right skills were being developed and that students were aware of the considerable career opportunities that existed within ABP Food Group and the wider agri-food sector.”

Sarah will start a year-long work placement with ABP in May.

ABP in Northern Ireland is part of the UK division of ABP Food Group, the largest beef processor in the UK. It is a leading meat supply company that partners with over 12,000 farmers in the UK and 5,000 in Northern Ireland.

Its sites in Newry and Lurgan employ over 650 people and supply high quality beef, pork and lamb products to leading supermarket chains across the UK. ABP Food Group is one of Europe’s leading agribusiness companies. The company also operates substantial renewable, pet food and protein divisions. Overall the group employs 10,000 people and has 41 manufacturing plants across Europe.

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