Career
Food scientists and technologists
Use science to make food safer, better and more nutritious.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- 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.
- Study methods to improve aspects of foods, such as chemical composition, flavor, color, texture, nutritional value, and convenience.
- Develop food standards and production specifications, safety and sanitary regulations, and waste management and water supply specifications.
- Stay up to date on new regulations and current events regarding food science by reviewing scientific literature.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on ideas & analysis, then objects & tools?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Inspect food processing areas to ensure compliance with government regulations and standards for sanitation, safety, quality, and waste management.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Critical Thinking, Writing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $88,720 a year and 1,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Agriculture, GeneralCIP 01.0000
- International AgricultureCIP 01.0701
- Food ScienceCIP 01.1001
- Food Technology and ProcessingCIP 01.1002
- Brewing ScienceCIP 01.1003
- Viticulture and EnologyCIP 01.1004
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Food Science Technicians$52,130 · +4.8%
- Animal Scientists$68,940 · +5.8%
- Chemists$91,240 · +6.4%
- Agricultural Technicians$49,630 · +5.4%
- Microbiologists$87,990 · +6.2%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.