Product Development Specialist in Food Manufacturing: Career Insights with Leslie Herbas | That’s a Food Job! #119

About Leslie Herbas

Leslie Herbas is a Product Development Specialist at Ascona Food Group, a global supplier of customized dry blends, edible films, and casings for the meat industry. With over 10 years in the meat sector — spanning production supervision, quality management, and R&D in Bolivia and Canada — Leslie brings a hands-on, formulation-first approach to product development. She holds a background in food engineering and completed a culinary innovation and food technology program in Canada to deepen her understanding of flavor science.

Check out the podcast below!

Key-Takeaways

• Functional ingredients aren’t interchangeable with flavor ingredients. Reducing a seasoning blend based on taste alone can compromise how functional ingredients perform — affecting yield, texture, and sodium levels in the finished product. Leslie recommends always specifying a usage rate with the reasoning documented.
• Documentation is the product. Specification sheets, nutritional fact tables, process flowcharts, and regulatory justifications aren’t administrative overhead — they’re what lets a customer replicate a bench-top result at 5,000 kg scale.
• Regulatory knowledge is a hidden core skill in meat R&D. Canadian (CFIA) and US (FDA/USDA) labeling rules differ significantly — and customer-specific restrictions (e.g., allergen-free facilities) add another layer. Leslie recommends building comfort with these databases early.
• Production operators are underrated mentors. They may not know the science behind why something is happening, but they know exactly how it behaves. Leslie credits production workers as some of the most valuable teachers in her career.
• Practice product development at home. Buy a product you like, read the ingredient deck, and try to replicate it. What if you’re missing an ingredient? What’s the alternative? This low-stakes practice builds problem-solving instincts that are hard to teach in a classroom.

Links

• Leslie Herbas LinkedIn
• Ascona Food Group Website
• Ascona Food Group LinkedIn

Sponsor

CareersNOW! is Food and Beverage Ontario’s multi-year workforce development initiative that is connecting students and job seekers with employers in Ontario’s food and beverage processing industry for exciting career opportunities. Check out CareersNOW.ca for more information on exciting jobs, career information, industry mentors and training opportunities for professional development.

CareersNOW! – What can you do with an Engineering Degree?

Leslie’s Career Path to Ascona Foods

1. Started as a Production Supervisor in the meat industry in Bolivia, gaining 10+ years of hands-on manufacturing experience
2. Moved into Quality Management Systems, learning the regulatory and non-negotiable standards that govern food production
3. Relocated to Canada and enrolled in a Culinary Innovation and Food Technology program to fill a gap she identified in her flavor science knowledge
4. Joined a meat company in a product development role focused on finished product innovation — more sales-driven, coordinating with marketing and sourcing suppliers rather than formulating from scratch
5. Joined Ascona Food Group as a Product Development Specialist after previously working with them as a customer — recognized the hands-on, formulation-first role she was looking for, sent her resume, and was hired

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Introduction to food product development and problem-solving
• 01:05 – What a Product Development Specialist does at Ascona Foods
• 03:10 – Customizing dry blends, edible films, and casings for meat clients
• 05:13 – From bench-top formulation to plant trials
• 07:07 – What “documentation” actually means in product development
• 10:34 – Navigating regulatory differences between Canada and the US
• 15:57 – Building confidence through failure and iteration
• 18:09 – Managing multiple projects and scaling up formulations
• 23:07 – How to practice product development skills at home
• 29:56 – Career path: from production supervisor to R&D specialist
• 37:38 – Why problem-solving starts with planning, not reacting
• 43:27 – Learning from production operators and floor teams