Ep. 189 - How Food Scientists Innovate in the Packaging Field with Jesper Thomsen and Helen Sellar, Food Technologist and Product Manager at TetraPak

Tetrapak is one of the biggest packaging companies in Europe and you might know them for their unique boxed packaging. When you think of boxed chocolate milk or juice, these guys might have made it. But more importantly is that TetraPak is more than just a packaging company, they solve complex ways in how to package and sustain food.

You’ll learn about how Jesper Thomsen (Food Technologist)  and Helen Sellar (Product Manager) found out about food science and why they love working at TetraPak. You’ll also learn about the types of problems TetraPak is trying to solve from packaging complex food systems to solving sustainable packaging.

Also, this is a great episode about what you can do with a  degree in Food Science! Both Jesper and Helen have food science degrees and utilize it in solving Tetrapack’s food division!

Enjoy this episode with Jesper and Helen all the way from Europe!

About Jesper Thomsen

Food Technologist – Dairy Chilled, Business unit Liquid Foods,

Jesper Thomsen works as a food technologist covering various liquid dairy products such as pasteurized, Extended Shelf Life, flavoured, fermented, recombined and lactose free milk products.

This includes customer trials run at Tetra Pak product development centres, and for full scale deployment on customer sites.

Before joining Tetra Pak in 2016, Jesper was working as a dairy technician in Denmark where he managed development work on UHT RTD products with specialised nutritional content along with other dairy-based drinks and smoothies.

Furthermore, he has also worked with other diary-based product such as processed cheese, mozzarella and spray dried cheese powder.

Jesper holds an Academy Profession degree in dairy technology from Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark.

About Helen Sellar

Product Manager

Helen Sellar is a Product Manager for Tetra Pak Dairy & Beverage Systems. In her role she is responsible for development projects, such as a recent project to develop the next generation on standardization units.

She has over 27 years of processing and technical experience, of which 23 years have been at Tetra Pak based in Sweden. During her 23 years at Tetra Pak she has led project teams to implement leading technology that focus on cutting costs for customers, provide enhanced automation and reduce maintenance requirements.

Sponsor

We’re excited to be partnering with Smart Kitchen Summit {SKS}, the leading food tech event bringing together leaders across the food and cooking ecosystems.

Now in its fifth year, #SKS2019 is *the* conference shaping the future of food, technology, and the kitchen. Well-known leaders within the food tech industry will all be speaking on engaging topics such as food robots, alternative protein, and connected kitchen devices such as smart refrigerators.

Trust us, you’ll want to be there. Use code FOODJOB15 to get a 15% discount on tickets and I’ll see you there on October 7-8 at in Seattle. Just go to smartkitchensummit.com to register. For easy access, just click on our link for this episode’s show notes.

Show Notes

JUST Water
Tetrapak
Describe how you got to where you are today: We had different paths but we ended up in the same company.
Technical to management: Why did you do it?: I just really like working with people
What are the hard parts of the job?: You get into territory you can’t look up anywhere.
How big is Tetrapack?: 3600 people in Sweden alone
Does Tetrapack do just food?: our core business, but we do equipment, and cosmetics
My Food Job Rocks: I get to work with food producers all around the world. Helen: I enjoy the short term and long term rewards in the industry
What is Tetrapak’s stance on sustainability?: We are putting a lot of resources to make our packages recyclable
What type of food trends and technologies are exciting you right now?: Nutritional shakes in a tetrapak environment. Also, chilled products becoming ambient
What is the biggest challenge the food industry needs to face?: Sustainability. We need to prepare for that
What do Swedes drink in plant-based: First soy, and then Oat. Oat milk has exploded
What do you want to more about?: alt-meat trends
Favorite kitchen item: Male: Beer brewing system
Favorite Quote: Jesper: To do a common thing uncommonly well, bring success – Heinz
Helen: Quote: Tetrapak’s quote – Protect what’s good
Any advice for anyone who wants to be in the food industry?: Go for it, go for the first job and see where it takes you. Jesper:  your first job is not going to be your last job. Take your learning, it’s not the end goal, but you’ll learn a lot.
Where can we find you for advice?: Jesper: If you’re a tetrapak customer, you can find me. Or find me on LinkedIn.