Year
10 Food Technology students undertook an
educational but also entertaining trip to Warburtons bakery
where they could see the process of mass production of
bread.
Read Roisin Rimmer's
account of the day;
|
We visited Warburton’s as an educational but also entertaining
trip. Allowing us to see the production of a famous branded bread
meant that we could realise what baking was like on a large scale.
When we arrived, we were asked to read 3 safety cards explaining
about specific ingredients that may trigger allergies, what items
of clothing or accessories we need to remove and other general
safety procedures. We were given a white over coat and a disposable
hair nets. All our valuables and accessories such as hair clips
were taken off us and locked away. All these factors are safety
precautions to mainly prevent contamination to the products we
were viewing.
We then watched a short DVD on the factory with people giving us
their view on what product they liked the best. This helped us
understand just how many products were made overall. I was surprise
to find out that Warburton’s produced around 56 different
types of breads/loaves and a few facts about the people who are
important within the business, including one of the directors,
Jonathon Warburton.
As we entered the factory, where bread production was taking place,
we were instructed to wash our hands. A button that had to be pushed
using the knee meant that we could wash our hands without leaving
germs, which could potentially contaminate the bread, on the tap.
Our tour guide, Neville, took us round the factory showing us each
stage of the bread making production system. Atfirst we were shown
the giant sized piece of dough that would be used to make 200 loaves.
He went through each stage in detail and answering any questions
that our group asked him. The next stage was the separation of
the dough ball and smoothing them out so that they wouldn’t
stick to the tin. At this point each member of the group was allowed
to handle a sample. Our guide mentioned that if you were baking
bread from home, you wouldn’t get it to the quality that
they do.
It was then time for the bread rolls to go into a specific tin
and go into the first oven for about 13 minutes and then the main
oven for 30 minutes or the time depending on the recipe. By this
time, the bread has rise to double its previous size. We stood
next to the oven whilst the bread was put inside and came out.
It then went through a clever mechanism where magnets took of the
lids to the tins (if they were used] and the bread was sent off
to a cooler for about 234 hours. We could not see this process
because the bread was not out in time.
Afterwards, we were taken to on of the final stages of bread production.
We were able to see the loaves being sliced and bagged. We were
told that every half an hour, a loaf from a batch would be checked
for its quality. For a definite high quality loaf, a loaf from
a batch had previously been taken to a specific room where it was
tested for anything that shouldn’t be there. These results
were recorded and sent to the
customer in case any problems arose.
The final stage was the washing and drying of the crates and then
the loaves being packed into them. We finished the tour in the
warehouse, with hundreds of crates surrounding usl We were told
the way that the bread was delivered and a bit of background information
about the Warburton family.
We were also told that Jonathon Warburton enjoyed receiving letters
about new products that could be introduced the Warburton collection.
Overall the trip was a success. We learnt about a large scale production
of a product, except the product was something that we can make
at school and some of us already have. We were able to see just
how the factories cope with producing so much bread in one day.
We learnt that the product was a 24 hour set up and that not many
workers were needed for such a large scale production.
|
