Charlize Snyman

In my final year at RMIT, I partnered with a fellow student and we entered and won the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) student product development competition.

I became interested in food science after speaking to a family friend who was working as a senior food technologist. She was so passionate about her job and even took me through Coles to show me all the products that she had helped to develop.

Soon after, I enrolled in the Food Technology and Nutrition program at RMIT as it has a great reputation and is known as a leader in the field of food science. The facilities and resources available to students are great – we had access to technology that sets you up for a successful career.

I completed one of my subjects as an internship at Simplot Australia. Here I worked on a project, wrote a literature review and then presented my findings. This experience provided a valuable insight into the industry, giving me access to a wealth of knowledge from expert staff.

In my final year at RMIT, I partnered with a fellow student and we entered and won the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) student product development competition. The support provided by lecturers and staff during the preparation was just amazing – they really went out of their way to support us throughout the journey.

I currently work as a graduate food technologist at Simplot in the Shelf Stable Sauces department. In this role I develop, reformulate and evaluate well-known pasta sauce products.

I'd like to progress my career and expand on my knowledge to eventually become an expert in the field of product development.