Searching

Career Exploration

Food Scientists and Technologists

Also called: Food Scientist, Food Technologist, Research Food Technologist, Research Scientist

What they do:

Use chemistry, microbiology, engineering, and other sciences to study the principles underlying the processing and deterioration of foods; analyze food content to determine levels of vitamins, fat, sugar, and protein; discover new food sources; research ways to make processed foods safe, palatable, and healthful; and apply food science knowledge to determine best ways to process, package, preserve, store, and distribute food.

On the job, you would:
  • Inspect food processing areas to ensure compliance with government regulations and standards for sanitation, safety, quality, and waste management.
  • Check raw ingredients for maturity or stability for processing, and finished products for safety, quality, and nutritional value.
  • Develop new or improved ways of preserving, processing, packaging, storing, and delivering foods, using knowledge of chemistry, microbiology, and other sciences.
On the job, you'll need:

Manufactured or Agricultural Goods

  • food production
  • manufacture and distribution of products

Math and Science

  • biology
  • chemistry

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Engineering and Technology

  • product and service development

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Verbal

  • listen and understand what people say
  • read and understand what is written

Ideas and Logic

  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information

Math

  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide
  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem

Visual Understanding

  • see hidden patterns

Investigative

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.

  • Analytical Thinking
  • Integrity
  • Attention to Detail
  • Cooperation
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Dependability

Data base user interface and query software

  • Microsoft Access
  • Structured query language SQL

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

Analytical or scientific software

  • Insightful S-PLUS
  • MDS Analytical Technologies GenePix Pro

Video courtesy of CareerOneStop.

Job Outlook

The job outlook for this position is Bright.

New job opportunities are very likely in the future. This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Median Annual Salary: $79,860

Education

Bachelor's degree or doctoral degree is usually needed.