Three Welsh food and drink manufacturers have used Welsh Government-funded support to strengthen their ability to investigate and prevent food-safety problems, with bespoke root cause analysis training delivered on site by Cardiff Metropolitan University’s ZERO2FIVE Food Industry Centre. The Welsh Pantry in Llantrisant, Kepak’s Merthyr Tydfil plant and Beacon Foods in Brecon all received tailored sessions under the Helix Programme, and, according to the original report, more than 90 staff across the three businesses were trained.

Root cause analysis is a structured problem‑solving approach that helps organisations identify the underlying causes of safety or quality incidents so they can put lasting corrective actions in place. ZERO2FIVE’s workshops combined classroom instruction with interactive exercises, a hypothetical case study and a company‑specific, real‑world example at each site, with delegates drawn from technical, engineering, production and training teams to ensure cross‑functional capability.

Speaking to the original report, Beacon Foods’ training co‑ordinator Mark Commons said the bespoke sessions “have driven a change in mindset” and empowered staff to carry out more in‑depth investigations. Dan Walker, technical manager at The Welsh Pantry, told the same outlet that Helix funding had allowed the firm to access expert knowledge and “tackle technical projects that have a direct impact on product quality and compliance.” Professor David Lloyd, director of ZERO2FIVE, said the interactive format helps turn theory into practice for teams that have not previously run formal investigations.

The support comes via the Welsh Government’s HELIX Programme (previously Project HELIX), which ZERO2FIVE says provides tailored technical and innovation assistance — including help with food safety certification, new product development and process efficiency — and gives companies access to university facilities and specialist expertise. Industry coverage of the scheme notes the workshops form part of a wider series on food security topics delivered between June and September 2025, and that partial or full funding may be available for eligible firms.

Those practical benefits are in line with the outcomes HELIX aims to deliver: better food‑safety management, fewer recurring issues and lower risk of costly recalls or customer complaints. ZERO2FIVE’s own case study on The Welsh Pantry illustrates the possible rewards of such interventions — the company received multiple days of on‑site support covering equipment commissioning, supplier audits and bespoke workshops, and subsequently achieved an unannounced BRCGS Issue 9 AA+ grade, according to the centre.

The training also arrives against a backdrop of local industry growth. Kepak’s Merthyr site has undergone significant investment in recent years — a June 2022 announcement described a £5.5m programme to expand packaging capacity and create more than 100 jobs on a site that already employed in excess of 850 people — highlighting why robust investigation and quality systems matter as operations scale. Beacon Foods, which supplies major retailers and foodservice operators from its Brecon base, likewise presents the kind of complex supply relationships where consistent food‑safety performance is commercially critical.

ZERO2FIVE is running a further root cause analysis workshop for Welsh food and drink manufacturers on 16 September 2025 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Llandaff campus. The course outline indicates it is aimed at supervisors and managers across manufacturing functions, stresses verification of corrective actions and warns that attendance may be partially or wholly funded only for producers based in Wales who meet subsidy‑control eligibility requirements.

Taken together, the on‑site interventions and the public‑funded workshop programme underline a concerted push in Wales to embed investigative capability and resilience across the food sector. According to organisers, the intention is to give producers practical tools to prevent repeat incidents, protect brand reputations and support continued market growth — while access to funding and university expertise aims to lower the barrier for smaller companies to make those improvements.