Food & Drink Skills Ambassadors Network

Fascinating facts about Food & Drink

• World wide, consumers spend more than $7 billion a year on chocolate. Annual per capita consumption of chocolate is 12 pounds per person.

• The most expensive coffee in the world comes from civet poop selling for between $120 and $600 USD per pound (Listverse.com)

• There are 100 to 150 milligrams of caffeine in an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee, 10 milligrams in a six-ounce cup of cocoa, 5 to 10 milligrams in one ounce of bittersweet chocolate and 5 milligrams in one ounce of milk chocolate.

• Though the stomach cannot distinguish between beef and hedgehog protein, the palate does. 

• You taste with your nose

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Reference Listverse.com

Fascinating facts about Food & Drink

• Fried grasshoppers are popular in Africa, and chocolate dipped ants in Japan.

• The earliest archaeological evidence for the consumption of soup dates back to 6000 BC, and it was hippopotamus soup!

• The largest food item on a menu is roast camel.

• Snails (escargots) are always linked to France but are thought to came from Italy originally. They were the favourite food of wealthy Romans who liked them so much that specially designed farms were set up for breeding. 

• When Caesar invaded Gaul, his legionnaires munched on escargots, introducing this gastropod to the French, where it became a culinary sensation.

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Reference Listverse.com

Fascinating facts about Food & Drink

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• Butter Tea – made from yak butter, salt and tea

• The Mayans added chillies to make their hot chocolate HOT!

• When an egg floats in water it should not be eaten

• Very cold food can hurt your head

• Tomato ketchup was originally a fish sauce

Fascinating facts about Scotland’s Food & Drink

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Reference Listverse.com

• Irn-Bru holds the Guinness Book of Records for the largest Can Can http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V90A5qRJ4A

• How many Jaffa cakes are eaten every year?

• If you stacked all the Mini Cheddars produced in one day how high would they be?

• What is the world record time to eat '3' cream crackers?

• How many new foodstuff are launched every year?

• What is the biggest manufacturing sector in the UK?

Fascinating facts about Food

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• In a USA city more than 100 employees at a postal hub were treated at the scene after a forklift punctured a barrel of concentrated chili pepper extract.

• Authorities identified the substance as liquid capsaicin, a chili pepper component

Fascinating facts about Food & Drink

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From General Chemistry Online! Fire and Spiceby Fred Senese

• Humans are the only species that specifically seek out chilli for its burning sensation, what most likely evolved as a plant's defence mechanism against herbivores and fungi.

• Capsaicin is insoluble in cold water, but soluble in alcohol and vegetable oils thus drinking water after munching a hot pepper won't stop the burning.

Reference Institute of Food Science & Technology

Fascinating facts about Food & Drink

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• A major player in the Scottish Economy• Scotch whisky, Scotch beef, Scottish salmon, cheese

and oat products are globally recognised brands• Many Scottish brands are household names within the

UK• A large number of prominent International brands also

operate within Scotland• Some of the world’s finest minds in agricultural research,

food science and the life sciences are working in the industry in Scotland today

• It is a global marketplace with many exciting career opportunities

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The Food & Drink Industry

Reference Fresh Thinking

• Scotland is home to some of the most iconic brands of food we eat on a daily basis. Who can tell me some of the products we produce:

The Food & Drink of Scotland

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• Scotland is home to some of the most iconic brands of food we eat on a daily basis. Who can tell me some of the products we produce: – Salmon– Oat cakes– Tunnock’s Tea Cakes and Caramel Wafers– McVities’ Biscuits– Border Biscuits– Scottish Lamb and Beef– Cheese– Milk– Coffee - Matthew Algie– Irn Bru– Seafood – Young’s– Spices and herbs– Flour

The Food & Drink of Scotland

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Agrico UK Albert BartlettAssociated British Foods Border BiscuitsBritic Coca-ColaDean’s DevroInnovate Foods Loch Fyne OystersMacsween MacphieMatthew Algie Muller WisemanNairn’s Rachels OrganicScotbeef ScotherbsStag Bakeries Taste of ArranTunnocks Young’s

Selection of Food & Drink Companies

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Annual R&D spend £10mgrowing through the downturn

Largest manufacturing sector 21% of total industry turnover in Scotland

Nearly 50,000 employees

Almost 1,200 businesses£10.4bn turnover

Exporting £5.4bn in 2011Target to grow to £7bn by 2017

2/3rds UK Farm Production

The Scottish Food and Drink Manufacturing Industry

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• 170,300 jobs will need to be filled in UK Food and Drink Manufacturing and Processing between 2010 and 2020*

• In Scotland alone 16,000 new recruits were forecast required between 2007 and 2017, 45% of which are managerial roles

• It offers greater job security than other sectors• Jobs pay more on average than other sectors**• There are skills shortages in technical disciplines such as food science

and technology and engineering resulting in very good employment prospects for young people

• It is a progressive and innovative industry constantly responding to the changing needs of consumers and regulatory requirements

• An FDF survey indicated that the average tenure for employees was just under 9 years with average earnings 5% higher than the national average (Survey conducted for IfM Value of Food & Drink Manufacturing to the UK).

*Working Futures 4 Datasets (WIER and Cambridge Economics, published by UKCES 2011** Skills Development Scotland and Improve

Real Job Opportunities

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