Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click hereto read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

So far at my placement, one of the main things I have been surprised at is how many audits take place. The QAs are constantly auditing production and ensuring the products are of a good quality. QA Supervisors carry out GMP audits on the production areas, and we also have internal audits which means other departments audit each other against the procedure for various tasks. I was audited against the record keeping and document control procedure yesterday and due to this the procedure will now change to reflect the work that I do. We have also been ‘surprised’ with a unannounced GMP audit from Central Technical so everyone is running around like headless chickens trying to get organized! On the flip side, this usually means I have a relatively quiet day which is great! We’ve also been given the date for our PPC audit, which we decided to have now rather than later when the other products move over – a much busier time! Preparation is taking place for this and I’ve been given the responsibility of ensuring all staff are training for attending taste panel. I will be carrying out training sessions over the next few days which basically entails colour blind tests, odour tests, taste tests and texture/ mouthfeel description tests. So far I am really enjoying this part of my job; we trained some of the staff a few months ago which has meant I feel more confident in what I am doing. Most staff are willing to do the training, especially when I tell them one of the tests involves chocolate! That’s always a winner!!

On a separate note, I went back to Sheffield last weekend to see all of my old uni friends – it was really nice to be back in the city and have a good old catch up! Although they tell me of all of the stress of final year I still can’t wait to go back!! I feel I am going back with more experience (and money!) than before, and since listening to my friends speaking of how hard they are finding it finding a job, I think I made the right choice by doing a placement. I’ve also now found where I will be living next year so that’s a big load off my mind! It’s a really nice place which I would never have been able to afford if I hadn’t spent this year earning, so its definitely a good idea to do a placement!

Right, I better go get prepared for this audit!