Food Science contributes to making sure that our food supply is safe, nutritious, tasty, economical, abundant, sustainable and quick to prepare. The demand for these qualities of food by consumers has led to the growth of opportunities for qualified food scientists.
Who is a Food Scientist?
Food Scientists study the various properties of food and ingredients like physical, chemical, and microbiological to ensure that they are safe for consumers by applying scientific expertise and technological principles.
A food technologist is always on the lookout to make the processed foods healthy along with increasing the shelf lives of packaged products. He is required to find out new sources of food that are suitable for human consumption.
Their work involves checking for the stability and maturity in raw food ingredients and also makes sure that the ingredients meet the set standards concerning quality, nutrition value and safety. They should also see that the food is distributed, processed, preserved and packed according to the safety regulations formulated by the government.
They help in resolving and help in solving problems related to product development by working with process engineers, flavour experts, plant operators, marketing and packaging experts.
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Key skills and duties of Food Scientists
- Communication skills including listening, understanding, speaking and proper interpretation is required for food technologists.
- Problem-solving abilities are advantageous to both companies and their employees as it helps them to have good control over the surroundings.
- Strong mathematical skills are required for a food scientist and he should be able to finish the study using specific mathematical models and methods.
- Effective time management is required to perform multiple activities while assessing the food scientist’s learning and performing skills.
- Excellent people’s persuasion skills to solve problems by involving others in the discussion and understanding them.
- Estimating the nutritional value, texture, colour and flavour of food.
- Optimization of field practices like the modelling of the crop, soil and weather mapping for evaluating the limitations and abilities of meal processing optimization methods.
- Collaboration with food technicians, agriculture scientists, universities, business leaders, educational researchers and other communities to promote nutritional analysis that is evidence-based.
- Determination of physical and chemical properties of soil by collecting the samples to check for the growth potential and any nutritional deficiencies present in the soil.
- Researching food and providing nutritional and health information to the public.
- Undertake research and studies on animal genetics, nutrition, reproduction, growth and diseases by the collection of samples or evaluation of overall conditions.
- Consulting farmers on various things such as how to improve the farm produce, increase productivity, reduce wastage, reduction in cattle mortality rate etc.
Qualifications
A bachelor degree is required in the related fields like:
- Food Science and Technology
- Biochemistry
- Nutrition
- Food or chemical engineering
- Microbiology
An advanced degree like a masters or PhD in food sciences is essential in different government labs, regulatory authorities like BIS and FSSAI or for research posts in universities like CFTRI, DFRL etc.
Doing certification in regulatory, ISO or the latest technologies offered by various and government organizations unlocks better opportunities.
Types of Food Scientists
- Quality control technicians
- Meat Scientists
- Meat Inspectors
- Animal Health Technicians
- Bakery Scientist
- Farm Manager
- Agricultural Inspector
- Dairy Technologists
Typical employers
Employers of food science are a food manufacturing and retail companies, government agencies, universities. Research associations, technical service providers and government departments that are bothered with the development of food policies and enforcement processes also employ food technologists.
In the industrial and scientific sectors, there are also employment opportunities. The National Health Service (NHS) and private healthcare organizations hire food scientists for roles like nutritional therapists.
Job Profiles for food science graduates
- Food technologist
- Naturopath
- Nutritional therapist
- Product/process development scientist
- Quality manager
- Regulatory affairs officer
- Scientific laboratory technician
- Technical brewer
- Chef
- Procurement manager
- Production manager
- Research scientist (life sciences)
- Toxicologist
Salary of a Food Scientist
On par with other science and engineering graduates, food scientists earn salaries that are in competitive range.
According to a research by IFT in 2017’s Employment and salary survey, the median salary for professionals in food science is $92,000. Fresh food science graduates earn $50,000.
– Samiya Firdous
