A Welsh government-funded project that provides technical support to food and drink manufacturers in Wales, including bakeries, has been relaunched as The Helix Programme.
Previously known as Project Helix, the initiative is said to have delivered impact of over £676m since it was launched in 2016. The range of assistance it has provided to firms includes help with food safety certification scheme compliance, new product development, and process efficiency improvements.
Among the stats highlighted in the latest annual report for Project Helix, which covers the period from 1 July 2023 to 31 March 2025, were that it had:
- Delivered more than £303m impact to the Welsh food and drink industry
- Supported the creation of 188 jobs and safeguarded a further 6,131
- Helped companies develop 533 new products and gain 149 third-party certifications
- Worked with 199 companies, including 103 start-ups.
The project’s assistance was delivered by three food centres – Food Centre Wales in Ceredigion, Food Technology Centre in Anglesey, and Zero2Five Food Industry Centre at Cardiff Metropolitan University. The latter institution has supported Caerphilly-based bakery brand Just Love with its free-from cake formulations since day one of launching back in 2010, and later provided a part-funded NPD affiliate as part of its knowledge transfer programme.
AberInnovation in Ceredigion is to now join the line-up of food centres for the Helix Programme relaunch, offering pan-Wales academic research support.
“I’m delighted to announce continued funding through the Helix Programme, which will build on this success by bringing together industry, government and academia to support sustainable growth in one of Wales’ most important sectors,” commented Huw Irranca-Davies, deputy first minister with responsibility for climate change and rural affairs.
“This renewed commitment reflects our confidence in Welsh food and drink producers and our determination to see them continue to innovate, expand, and showcase Welsh quality on the global stage,” he added.
Two further bakery case studies that have benefitted from Project Helix in recent months include Pettigrew Bakeries in Cardiff and ANR-Probake, which operates out of an adjacent unit to Just Love in Oakdale Business Park.
Pettigrew – the winner of Craft Bakery Business of the Year at the 2024 Baking Industry Awards – specialises in sourdough bread, laminated pastries, and patisserie, opening its fourth retail shop earlier this year. Having historically used fresh yeast in its pastry recipes, which has a short shelf life, it approached experts at Zero2Five to find an alternative ingredient to help reduce waste.
The centre carried out trials at its dedicated bakery facility, resulting in a reformulation of its croissant with cheaper instant yeast that had no discernible impact on product quality.
“We had tried re-gearing our product recipe to use some commercial dried yeasts but had found that it was not working and certainly not scalable,” said David Le Masurier, founder and co-owner of Pettigrew Bakeries. “Our processes are 72 hours plus, so trialling test batches was very time consuming and led to waste. The bakery team at ZeroFive were superb to work with and really took the pressure off us to run tests and trials that we simply couldn’t manage with our busy seven day a week bake schedule.”
Pettigrew plans to roll out the use of instant yeast for the rest of their range of laminated pastries, driving further cost savings and waste reductions.
ANR-Probake specialises in private label, manufacturing a range of nutritionally enriched goods such as protein cookies and flapjacks. It also turned to Zero2Five for support when it wanted to better understand its waste produced through bakery processes.
The centre’s waste experts spent two days on the factory floor, monitoring the various stages of production including depositing, baking, cooling, and packaging, and then compiled a full waste audit.
“From the first meeting, the detail and information they provided was great and the staff at ANR-Probake found them very helpful and interested in what they were doing,” expressed Jason Bailey, factory manager at ANR-Probake.
“The final report has helped us to look at our losses and yields going forward. I use the data at our weekly meetings with my shift managers to show our losses and what we can do as a team to drive more efficient plant performance and potential cost savings,” added Bailey.
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