Processing Plant Refugees

 About 25 Idaho refugees from three Boise resettlement agencies will get job training in food processing from specialists at University of Idaho’s Food Technology Center in Caldwell.

 Refugees from Iraq, Bhutan and Congo will be introduced to food processing concepts and practices. They’ll augment that classroom training with a tour of AFI Packaging’s Caldwell food processing plant and with hands-on experience in potato processing at the Food Technology Center in University of Idaho Extension’s Caldwell Complex, 1908 E. Chicago St. Participants must pass a skills test to receive a certificate.

 Regional Employment Coordinator for the Idaho Office for Refugees Tara Wolfson has the answer: “The food processing plants sometimes have trouble finding dedicated, hard working folks even in an economic time like this and refugees are starting their lives over again here.”