I am the only ID’er at Dart container, which just bought Solo this past year (which makes us 2nd largest in the world I believe) we make single serve food industry containers. ( don’t send me hate mail, the “foam” is being replaced) I work in the new product development part of engineering, creating product concepts, a lot of quote support and run the 3D printing/one off thermoforming of NPD. I am the only one sketching the concepts, researching them, finding processes that fit the concepts, creating the presentations/mockups and presenting them to management. I don’t directly deal with food, but I have been educating the company that the food is what we are really selling, so the packaging needs to enhance the experience. It is a very tough sell to a company that has been doing things the same way for years and years. So I might be outside of what you are looking for but it is a challenge.
BTW- I recieved my ID BFA when I was 38 years old, don’t worry about the age, it is what you do that gets you hired.