Published: Thursday, 18th February, 2010 10:13am

Head of food technology retires from Loughry

Friends and colleagues gathered to celebrate Dennis Legge's contribution to the NI Food Industry. Ian Titterington (Deputy Director and Head of Loughry Campus, CAFRE) pictured with Dennis Legge and Roy McClenaghan (Deputy Secretary, DARD).

One of the leading figures involved in the development of the food industry in Northern Ireland, Dennis Legge, has retired recently after 29 years working at Loughry Campus, Cookstown.

He was Head of Food Technology Development, CAFRE at the time of his retirement which was marked at a recent dinner held at the Campus.

Dennis started his career in the industry and later joined the Loughry staff in 1981. Shortly afterwards he was given the task of developing and managing a technology support service for the food industry.

Under his leadership, Loughry's Food Industry Services developed from small beginnings to a point where staff now respond to over 2000 requests for technical support from over 200 food processing businesses each year.

In line with his vision of Loughry as a centre of excellence for food, Dennis was instrumental in driving forward many developments at the campus. This included the Food Technology Centre and Food Business Incubation Centre.

Dennis is highly regarded for providing effective support to most of the significant food processing businesses in Northern Ireland. In this work, he and his staff collaborated extensively with other DARD Divisions, InvestNI, AFBI and industry bodies.