Buonasera! I’m sitting down to write this blog post after perfecting my roasted garlic tomato aioli that will go with my zucchini fries for my summer intern presentation at Del Monte Foods tomorrow.

As I look back on the summer I cannot believe how much I have learned in 3 months both professionally and personally. My work at Del Monte was nothing like what I expected, honestly I thought I’d have half the responsibilities and projects let alone actually get to develop my very first product to be released NATIONALLY! Whoa. How many interns can say that?

My time at Del Monte has been packed with projects. TheTomato Sauce project being my favorite and most challenging. I received the first case of tomato sauce yesterday, and it feels so official that the labels are on. The chance to develop on the bench top and go out into the pilot plant to process the product was an eye-opening experience because up until now I’ve sat through lectures and done labs on these types of things, but have never been asked to step up and preform in this type of way.  There were numerous growth moments with this project especially when I thought I had the product just right and then I had to overhaul it, a bit disappointing at first. Though a major learning moment and lesson in research and the sooner you’re able to understand and work with this concept the stronger a product developer you will be.

About half way though the summer Nicole my absolutely amazing manager invited me down to Hanford to pack CLT (a type of consumer test) samples by hand at the Del Monte fresh pack tomato plant. I saw more tomatoes processed a minute then I could have figured possible and realized how much I take the safety and ease of caned goods for granted. The plant work taught me lots about not only the workers who work the lines each day but how a formulation from the bench top preforms in a plant commercialization scale up.  Twelve hours later a pair of shattered Dansko shoes and we were headed home with a car full of diced tomatoes. The plant work was extremely valuable and showed me another but ever important part of the food industry.

This internship has fueled me to pursue my professional options in product development. I could not have done it without the wonderful effort of the numerous folks on the tomato/broth/veg teams helping me along the way, and taking time from there busy schedules to teach. Your lessons were all too valuable and I appreciate them very much.

Truly, Del Monte Research & Development thank you for welcoming me and giving me a wonderful internship experience this summer.

Kayla Rockwell

(banana, bromatoe, red sauce)