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Food Scientists and Technologists

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about 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.

Related: Agricultural Technicians Animal Scientists Chemists Food Science Technicians Soil & Plant Scientists

Industries: Manufacturing Professional, Science, & Technical Management

Summary
Details

Seek substitutes for harmful or undesirable additives, such as nitrites.
Develop new food items for production, based on consumer feedback.
Develop new or improved ways of preserving, processing, packaging, storing, and delivering foods, using knowledge of chemistry, microbiology, and other sciences.
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.
Stay up to date on new regulations and current events regarding food science by reviewing scientific literature.
Study methods to improve aspects of foods, such as chemical composition, flavor, color, texture, nutritional value, and convenience.
Confer with process engineers, plant operators, flavor experts, and packaging and marketing specialists to resolve problems in product development.
Test new products for flavor, texture, color, nutritional content, and adherence to government and industry standards.
Demonstrate products to clients.
Evaluate food processing and storage operations and assist in the development of quality assurance programs for such operations.
Develop food standards and production specifications, safety and sanitary regulations, and waste management and water supply specifications.
Study the structure and composition of food or the changes foods undergo in storage and processing.

Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.

Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.

Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

96020/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

46.16/hr

Currently Employed

200

Yearly Projected Openings

Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out. They do well at jobs that need:

Analytical Thinking
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Cooperation
Achievement/Effort
Dependability

Air samplers or collectors
Amino acid analyzers
Anaerobic chamber
Analytical balances
Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
Autosamplers
Bench refractometers or polarimeters
Blanching machinery
Blast freezers
Calorimeters
Color sensors
Colorimeters
Commercial use deep fryers
Commercial use food choppers or cubers or dicers
Commercial use food grinders
Commercial use food slicers
Commercial use griddles
Commercial use grills
Commercial use microwave ovens
Commercial use mixers
Commercial use ranges
Commercial use steamers
Conductivity meters
Cooking machinery
Crushing machinery
Cutting machinery
Darkfield microscopes
Dehydrating machinery
Dehydrators
Desktop computers
Dry wall single chamber carbon dioxide incubators
Electronic counters
Electrophoresis system accessories
Extracting equipment for laboratories
Fat extractors
Filling machinery
Flask or retort units
Fluorescent microscopes
Forced air or mechanical convection general purpose incubators
Freeze dryers or lyopholizers
Gas chromatographs
Gel documentation systems
High pressure liquid chromatograph chromatography
Homogenizers
Ice cream machines
Infrared spectrometers
Ion chromatographs
Juicing machinery
Kjeldahl nitrogen determination apparatus
Laboratory balances
Laboratory blenders or emulsifiers
Laboratory box furnaces
Laboratory diluters
Laboratory heat exchange condensers
Laboratory mechanical convection ovens
Laboratory membrane filters
Laboratory mills
Lasers
Light scattering equipment
Manual or electronic hematology differential cell counters
Mass spectrometers
Melting point recorders
Microbiological aircontrol equipment
Microbiology analyzers
Microcentrifuges
Microplate readers
Nephelometers
Nitrogen or nitrate or nitrite analyzer
Notebook computers
Orbital shaking water baths
Oscilloscopes
Oxygen gas analyzers
Packaging vacuum
Personal computers
Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges
Rheometers
Roasting machinery
Scanning electron microscopes
Solution strength estimation apparatus
Spectrofluorimeters or fluorimeters
Spectrometers
Standard fermentation units
Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
Sterilization cabinets
Stomachers
Strain gauges
Sugar analyzers
Temperature cycling chambers or thermal cyclers
Thermal differential analyzers
Thermo gravimetry analyzers
Tissue culture incubators
Vacuum or rotary evaporators
Viscosimeters
Water analysis systems
Water baths
X ray diffraction equipment
pH meters

Analytical or scientific software
Business intelligence and data analysis software
Customer relationship management CRM software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Sales and marketing software
Spreadsheet software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

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Food Scientists and Technologists

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