Career As a Food Chemist: Using Science and Technology to Make Food Safe, Healthful and Delicious

CAREER AS A

FOOD CHEMIST

Institute Research Number 203 ISBN 1-58511-203-8 DOT Number 041.081-010 O*Net SOC Code 19-1012.00

CAREER AS A

FOOD CHEMIST USING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE FOOD SAFE, HEALTHFUL AND DELICIOUS AS HUMAN BEINGS, WE ALL NEED TO EAT IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, AND WHAT WE

eat is food. The food industry is actually the largest manufacturing industry in the United States. Every food product in your local grocery store and many of the foods listed on your favorite restaurant menu have been developed by people working in food science – food chemists. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for making sure that the food we eat, except for meat and poultry, is safe and labeled accurately. To do this, the agency enforces the

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Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which guarantees that foods are safe, clean and wholesome. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for the safety of meat and poultry. Under federal law, animals must be examined before and after they are slaughtered to make sure they are not diseased. The FSIS also makes sure that only approved ingredients are used in processed meat products by examining the labels. By processed meat products, we mean canned foods that are ready to eat when the package is opened, like Spam and devilled ham. These two agencies set the standards for our food and tend to establish very strict procedures for food chemists and others involved in producing our food supply. If harmful substances are not detected before a food item goes on the grocery shelf, there can be widespread sickness and even death. You may remember an incident where tainted beef made its way into fast food burgers and several people died. Government inspectors go to food processing plants to make sure the law is being obeyed. They may buy products off the shelves of grocery stores and have them tested in independent laboratories by food chemists to make sure the labels are accurate. If a food is found to be in violation of the law, the company selling it must remove it from the shelves. If it fail to do this, the courts will confiscate the offensive product and impose fines or even prison sentences on company officials. Food science is the knowledge and understanding of food items and how they behave under various conditions, for instance, how yeast makes bread dough rise. Food chemistry is the manipulation of food items to achieve a specific result, as in adding vanilla to create flavor in a cake mix. Food technology applies food science to the food items in order to create safe, wholesome and attractive foods for consumers, typified by adding calcium to orange juice to increase its nutritional value. Food chemists play an important part in ensuring the safety of food products in the United States. They also help to meet the demand we as consumers have for foods that are healthy, tasty and convenient.

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Food chemists are basically engaged in the business of preserving and processing food, finding new methods and additives to prolong shelf life and keep food fresh-looking and fresh-tasting as long as possible. They constantly change the foods we eat and what is available and what it costs. Food chemistry is an old practice, but the occupation of food chemist is only about 150 years old. In fact, the first prehistoric person to place raw meat in a cold cave or put fruits out to dry in the sun was in a way a food chemist. But it would be many years before we understood why cold keeps meat fresh longer, or how the sun preserves fruit through drying. Food chemists have been responsible for many innovations in the way we use food. Once upon a time, citric acid was extracted from lemons. Now, however, it is usually created by a microbiological fermentation process that was developed by a food chemist. The element is exactly the same no matter what its source. Vanilla was once a rare and expensive substance, an exotic flavor extracted from a vanilla orchid which was found in South Africa. The flavor itself is a single chemical: vanillin. As early as 1874, that chemical was synthesized by a food chemist, thus making vanilla more widely available and much less expensive. In fact, the word “vanilla” is now used to denote something that is bland or ordinary, not exotic and rare. Food chemists don’t just create substitutes for foods that would otherwise be too rare or expensive for most of us to enjoy. They also change the foods we already know. After years of research, food chemists were able to devise a method of raising pigs so the resulting pork would be leaner and less susceptible to dangerous bacteria. In all the living things on our planet, there are proteins which are made from various combinations of 20 amino acids. Their composition is the result of coding by the RNA and DNA of our genes. If we eat foods that are deficient in some amino acids, we are vulnerable to deficiency diseases. There is a widespread trend today to consume as many “natural” foods as possible. This would seem to indicate that “natural” foods are simple and pure, but this is not strictly true. Even an ordinary glass of milk actually contains hundreds of 4

chemicals balanced in a delicate, watery solution. There are vitamins, phospholipids, carotenoids and cholesterol, and that’s just the fatty portion of the milk! Food has nutrients that are held together in a composition which our bodies have been designed to digest. Food is not a substance that our bodies use naturally; rather, our bodies shred and divide the foods, extracting what we need and discarding everything else. Any preservatives in our food, whether natural or synthetic, do two things: they delay spoilage, and they preserve the original quality as much as possible. Sugar is used for jams and jellies, vinegar for pickling meats and vegetables. Salt is the oldest preservative and is used in a variety of ways, while alcohol turns fruit juices into wine and other spirits. More modern food preservatives are ascorbic acid, benzoic acid, sulfur dioxide and a variety of neutralizers, firming agents and bleaching agents. Most governments do not permit the secret use of these chemical agents, but require product labels to list whatever preservatives have been added to the food. The term “food additives” can make people nervous, because it seems to indicate that our food contains artificial, perhaps dangerous ingredients. The reality is that food additives have been used for centuries. For instance, people in olden times used salt as an additive to preserve meat and fish. They added herbs and spices to improve the flavor of some foods, fruit was preserved using sugar, and vegetables were pickled in vinegar so they could be eaten safely all year long. Most of the additives used today are safe and some, like Omega-3, actually make food healthier according to dietary standards. There is controversy surrounding other additives, like trans fat, which some doctors feel is more dangerous to our heart health than full-fat butter. We as consumers obviously feel the same way, judging by the preponderance of new products with large labels announcing “no trans fat.” A food chemist developed trans fat, and other food chemists are now working on taking it out of our food!

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WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW IF YOUR PARENTS HAVE COOKBOOKS AROUND THE HOUSE, GLANCE THROUGH

them, as they can also be a good source of information about foods and how they interact with one another. For instance, a good book on baking bread will tell you what to expect, how it should look, when you add lukewarm water to yeast; this is a chemical reaction and helps bread to rise and taste fluffy. Without yeast, bread dough will not rise and might become flat and heavy after baking. If there are no cookbooks in your home, you can always find some at the library. The other kind of book you will want to read is one on the basics of chemistry. The procedures used by chemists are much the same no matter what their area of expertise and practice. For example, a chemist working to develop new pharmaceutical drugs uses similar analytical methods as a chemist who is trying to create a new artificial sweetener. Take the time to explore the association and publication websites listed at the end of this report. All the sites are user friendly and have something to offer, even if you ultimately decide not to pursue food chemistry as a career. In a social sense, it will benefit all of us if we become more aware of what is in the food we put in our mouths. The knowledge you gain now will help you the rest of your life, because you can actually head off future medical problems by eating healthy today.

HISTORY OF FOOD CHEMISTRY IN A SENSE, THE FIRST FOOD CHEMIST WAS THE FIRST PERSON WHO DECIDED TO

place a piece of meat in the fire and cook it, in prehistoric times. Every cook today is also a chemist of sorts. Think of the various chemicals we use all the time in the kitchen: sodium bicarbonate, pectin, yeast, acetic acid, and so on. Another important discovery in the chemistry of food, and one of the most ancient methods of food preservation, is drying, used for fruits, grains, vegetables, meat and fish. In Scotland, drying was combined with parching for oatmeal, as it was for corn by the Native Americans. Today, we still see dried or dehydrated fruits and vegetables, milk, meat and eggs.

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The ancients did most of their drying by exposing the food directly to the sun. They also discovered smoking, hanging the food high over a smoky wood fire, using the drying action of fire with the chemicals of smoke to form a protective coating on meat and fish. These processes were used long before they were fully understood. If you keep air from reaching a piece of food, you can successfully delay spoilage. Nowadays, this is accomplished by hermetically sealing food in plastic; no doubt you’ve seen shrink-wrapped meats at your local grocery store. Before the mechanical means of sealing were available, however, people poured hot oil over potted meat or fish, coated food with melted fat or buried vegetables in the earth or in sand. Melted wax was also used. In the Middle Ages, before the introduction of spices from Asia, salt was used primarily to preserve food. Cheese, eggs and bread were stored in a pantry, necessarily at room temperature. In almost all households, a pot of soup was kept hot over an indirect heat in the hearth, and vegetables and meat were thrown in as they became available. Another method of preservation was to cook meat and vegetables in a huge pie, which had a longer “shelf life” than raw food. Once Europeans obtained spices, they could use them to disguise the taste of rotting meat, thereby using meat they would otherwise find unpalatable. To our modern sensibility, this sounds pretty awful, but meat was a commodity available only to the rich and not to be wasted. Poor folks ate vegetables, fresh in season, pickled out of season, and brown breads made from coarse grains. In Colonial America, food preservation was only a little more advanced. Meats were sliced thin and salted, then dried in the sun. Large pieces of meat were salted or brined and then slowly smoked and dried. This could only be done in the latter part of the year, as the outside temperature had to be below forty degrees. Large, flat baskets were used to dry fruits and beans in the sun. Fish were also dried, laid out on racks in the sun or smoked. Fruits were preserved in barrels of brandy, producing a fruited drink as well as brandied fruit. Cheese making was the predominant way to preserve dairy items. Hard wheel cheeses kept almost indefinitely on the shelf. 7

In crowded 18th and 19th century England, the predominant meat of choice was pork, because a small parcel of land could maintain many pigs. Each autumn, a pig would be slaughtered and the sides then hung up in the chimney to be smoked and preserved. In any household, the primary cook spent a great deal of time bottling some foods and turning other foods into preserves. The first portable preserved food was the result of a challenge issued by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800s, when he offered 12,000 francs to anyone who could successfully devise a method of preserving food for his army and navy. Nicolas Appert was able to do just that using sterilization to store food in bottles in 1809. At the same time, scientists had been experimenting with metal containers to store food. The first metal canning of food took place in New York in 1812, when a small plant successfully canned oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables in hermetically sealed containers. In 1840, Justus von Liebig wrote the first book about the serious use of chemistry in food: Organic Chemistry and its Application to Agriculture and Physiology. The leading chemist of his day, Leibig was able to show how specific chemicals in the soil affect the health of the animals that graze on grass grown there and, eventually, affect the humans who consume the meat provided by those animals. With this, the science of nutrition was born. What scientists eventually found was that the European diet was sadly lacking in essential nutrients, resulting in diseases that could have been prevented by the addition of specific chemicals to the diet. For instance, adding iodine would alleviate goiter, adding Vitamin D would prevent rickets, and adding Vitamin C would prevent scurvy. When the science of food was still young, there was a common theory that someday there would no longer be a need for agriculture, as science would provide us with all the nutrients we need in some synthetic liquid form. In 1884, an organic chemist named Marcellin Berthollet wrote: “In the world at that time (the year 2000), there will no longer be any agriculture or pastorage or farm laborers: the problem of existing by means of cultivating the soil will have been solved by chemistry. The day 8

will come when everyone will carry around with him as nourishment his little nitrogen lozenge, his little pat of fats, his little piece of starch and sugar, his little flagon of aromatic spices adapted to his personal taste. All this will be manufactured economically and in inexhaustible quantities in our factories.” Of course, it hasn’t turned out this way – we now know it would be impractical. Even if such liquids are developed, our bodies are not constructed for only liquid nourishment. We have evolved as churning machines that need traditional solid food to exist; our gastrointestinal system needs bulk fiber if it is to remain healthy. Two famous American companies made major contributions to food preservation in the early 20th century. Clarence Birdseye, known as the “father of frozen food,” adapted a method of freezing food that he learned from Eskimos: meat frozen in the extreme cold of midwinter actually keeps better than any other preserved meat, frozen or otherwise. In 1923, he perfected the process of flash-freezing foods under high pressure, and the modern frozen food industry was born. At almost the same time, the son of German immigrants, George A. Hormel, developed the process to make and distribute the first canned ham. By 1927, it was being distributed by “sausage trucks”. When George’s son Jay took over day-to-day operation of the company, he introduced Dinty Moore beef stew and Hormel chili in 1935. In the 1980s, people became more concerned about how the food we eat affects our health. We wanted information about the ingredients in products, as well as components of those products, like saturated fat and dietary fiber. Some manufacturers tried to boost their sales by adding claims to their packaging, like “contains no cholesterol.” At that time, the FDA did not have guidelines for the use of such descriptive phrases, so there was no way to guarantee whether the claims were true. Food labeling reform began in 1989. After public hearings held by the FDA and FSIS, Congress passed the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act so food-label reform could continue. New labeling regulations came into use in late 1992 and, by mid-1993, labels with the new format appeared. The deadline for changing all food labels to the new format was May 1994. The latest labeling reform, wherein all products must state whether or not 9

they contain trans fat, mandates that the change must be in effect by 2006. Irradiation is the newest method of food preservation, used to destroy most of the microorganisms that might cause food to spoil. What this means is that we can now eat medium rare burgers as long as the meat has been irradiated first. Some people feel that there is a health hazard in eating foods preserved by irradiation, a hazard that may not be apparent for years.

WHERE FOOD CHEMISTS WORK AS A FOOD CHEMIST, YOU WILL WORK PRIMARILY IN A LABORATORY SETTING,

although some chemists travel to manufacturing facilities or to inspect food processing plants. The labs are usually set up like kitchens, with equipment like ovens, blenders and other cooking tools. You will do many of the same tasks you would do if you were fixing dinner at home, but the goal will be to understand the chemistry involved with each ingredient, rather than getting a meal on the table. As a food chemist, you might also work in an industrial setting in food quality management, processing, research and development, marketing and distribution. You could also work for a company that manufactures retail food products, or a company that supports food manufacturers by supplying ingredients, processing equipment or packaging material. Likewise, you might be employed by a company that provides services related to institutional feeding. Food chemists in private industry may work in test kitchens while they are investigating new techniques. If you work for a private manufacturer, you may receive the responsibility for seeing a new product idea from the lab to the grocery store shelf. You would spend less time in your lab after the new product is created, as you interact with the production and marketing people to make sure the product is brought to market in a timely and efficient manner. Government agencies and independent testing labs employ food chemists in technical and administrative jobs. You could even work for the Food and Drug Administration at their headquarters in Washington, DC or in any of a number of facilities located 10

around the country. The Food Safety and Inspection Service also employs food chemists. There is an increasing number of food chemist consultants, who may work in large firms or even on their own. They work in their own lab and provide services to any company or person who desires an independent analysis of a food product. Your laboratory and office could be located in your house or in a separate facility. As a consultant, you may be called upon to appear in court as an expert witness if your client is involved in a lawsuit about the suspect food. If you decide to teach food chemistry, you will do almost all of your work on a university or college campus. You will have an office where you work and meet with your students. You will also do research in your lab and write up your findings for scholarly journals, either in the lab or your office. You might also choose to work for an independent organization, like the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This is a non-profit organization that attempts to ensure the quality of food using activist procedures, like newsletters and rallies, to educate the public. They employ food chemists in their lab and office. Food chemists who publish their work in journals are often asked to present their papers at various conferences and symposiums where other chemists meet, usually on an annual basis. You would travel to the conference and give your presentation, then network with others in your field at the conference location. These events are usually held in a different city each year. A relatively new employer for food chemists are large grocery store chains. As everyday life become more hurried and complex, people are searching for ways to feed their family that won’t keep them in the kitchen for hours. The days of long, slow-cooked meals are all but gone. Grocery stores have stepped up to the plate by providing us with roasted chickens, deli salads, prepackaged sandwiches and pizzas ready to be cooked. They have even expanded to offer their own lines of modestly-priced foods like frozen meals and salsa.

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While chefs design most of the recipes for the products that bear the name of the grocery store, food chemists also become involved in the analysis of ingredients and the preparation of the mandatory label. Working for a grocery retailer can be exciting, as you will be challenged to design quality products that fit regulatory guidelines and can be manufactured inexpensively.

YOUR WORK DUTIES FOOD SCIENCE INVOLVES MANY DISCIPLINES, INCLUDING CHEMISTRY,

engineering, biology and nutrition. In general, the food chemist helps to preserve, process, package and distribute foods that are nutritious, wholesome, delicious, affordable and safe to eat. They study the chemical elements found in food and food ingredients, and how they interact with each other and with our bodies. The work of a food chemist requires accurate record keeping in every aspect of the process, no matter where you are employed. Your work must always be precise, and other chemists must be able to reproduce your results exactly. Science in general is a matter of building on the past work of others to create something new, whether it is technology, pharmaceuticals or food. As a chemist, there are certain tasks common to the job regardless of specialty. You will research the properties of various chemicals and discover what they can and cannot do. Then you will proceed to analyze the chemicals, break them into parts, change them and put them back together. Finally, you will report on what happened or what you think will happen. You will spend time writing descriptions of what you have tried, or want to try, and the results. Food chemists usually work 40 hours a week. However, if there are deadlines for completion of a particular project, you will be expected to work as long as it takes to meet your deadline. Deadlines are driven by the need to bring a product to market on time or to get a study done in a timely manner in order to try to remove a product from the market if it proves to be dangerous. Food chemists work primarily with the chemistry of food products. If you are working in basic research, you will study the properties of proteins, starches, fats and carbohydrates to explore 12

how each works within the food system, such as processed foods. You may also work on ways to process, preserve or package foods that meet government and industry regulations. In applications research, you will work on developing how ingredients can be used in new ways, or even develop entirely new ingredients, like fat or sugar substitutes. Your day will begin at the lab. You may continue research from the day before, or you may receive a new project from your supervisor. As you proceed through your day, you will try experiments with food, carefully noting the results. You may create prototypes of new products and conduct physical and chemical analysis of them. Perhaps you are trying to design a breakfast cereal with maximum fiber and minimum sugar. You will also evaluate how foods work together; you may have combined two additives that result in an unsatisfactory flavor, and you have to figure out how to do it better. You will also work with preservatives to decide which ones perform best in preventing food spoilage or discoloration. You must maintain and review a wide variety of documentation about your work, including lab notebooks, instrument logbooks, and training records. The lab notebooks contain information about your research projects and are the backbone of your work. This is where you will assemble the material to begin writing your professional articles for scholarly journals. Instrument logbooks record when a specific piece of equipment has been used, by whom and when it was last serviced. Training records are involved when you or another lab employee are teaching a research assistant or intern how to perform a particular procedure. Possibly the most important task is to maintain extremely detailed records of everything you do, especially when you are developing new methods of doing something. You will write and review detailed documents explaining the work you have done, the results and what they mean. Besides internal documentation of your work, you will also have to produce reports for senior management if you work at a private company. Government agencies have specific forms to complete in order to report your progress on any given project, and they may also require separate written reports. 13

If you are assigned to a project where you will be responsible for developing a new food product and seeing it through the process until it goes to the store shelves, you will have many more responsibilities. You will have to arrange for production with the manufacturing personnel, labeling with a designer, and marketing with an agency which specializes in that aspect. Your involvement will be more than as a food chemist, more like project manager. Another important work duty for a food chemist is to serve on committees that are striving to improve laboratory procedures. There is a constant need to increase safety precautions surrounding food research. If equipment becomes contaminated or you do not observe cleanliness procedures such as washing your hands, your research could become worthless. If you work for a government agency like the Food and Drug Administration, you will evaluate the methods, facilities and controls used to manufacturer food products and determine if they are adequate. You will have to review labels that will be placed on foods and recommend approval or disapproval, depending on your analysis. You will also conduct projects to study the effects of food and dietary supplements on consumers. You may even study how agricultural chemicals affect cattle and other domestic animals. As a food chemist consultant, you will meet with potential clients and discuss the work they want you to do. Then you will perform the analysis and report back to your client. You may be called as an expert witness to testify to your findings in court, so your verbal abilities should be well-refined. If you have a solo consulting practice, you will also need to be concerned with day-to-day business procedures, like billing and accounts payable. This is where some business education will come in handy. Of course, you can hire a business manager to make sure your taxes are paid in a timely manner and your customers pay their bills, but you will always need to understand what is happening with your business, even if you look at the books only once every couple of weeks. As a professor of food chemistry, you will still be involved in research, though the projects may be of your own design rather than at the direction of a manufacturer or government agency. 14

You will also need to teach your students, spending your time in lecture halls, labs and your office. You will also need to prepare articles about your research for scholarly journals. You may attend conferences and present the material from your articles to other food chemists, even on an international level. If your work is particularly groundbreaking, you may receive an award from a chemistry society or other organization. The paperwork involved in teaching centers around developing lesson plans, reviewing and grading homework assignments, designing exams and then grading them. You may need to prepare lecture notes or lab assignments and then supervise students as they work in the lab. Some students may need extra help, so you will have to find the time to sit down and work with them. You will have student assistants to supervise and direct, some of whom may be graduate students who will look to you for help with their research and theses. Being a professor is much more people-oriented than working for a food manufacturer or government agency, so this is something to consider when you are deciding on your career specialty. Teaching may allow you to combine a desire to do science with the pleasure of interacting with others on a daily basis. As you progress in your career, you may aspire to become a laboratory director or laboratory manager at either a private sector company or government agency. If you attain this level, you will include among your duties the supervision of the other food chemists in your department as well as the organization of the various projects that are ongoing at any given time. You will be responsible for the lab’s annual budget and, besides the standard reports and other documentation produced by individual chemists, you will also have management reports and other paperwork associated with a supervisory position.

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FOOD CHEMISTS TELL THEIR OWN STORIES I Am a Food Chemist at a Private Company “I am a food chemist working for a large company that manufacturers food for consumers. I work in a laboratory, and my projects include tasks like trying to improve the melting quality of fat free cheese and developing a method to make processed meats look more like grilled steak in frozen meals. While the projects change, the basic work stays the same. There is a great deal of repetition as we test and retest procedures and products, then write up our results and share them with management. Sometimes we are working under deadlines and then we tend to put in longer hours, and our environment becomes more stressed. It’s extremely important that everyone in our department work together as a team. We definitely have disagreements, but we’re usually able to talk them out. When you work under a deadline, the pressure can make tempers wear a little thin, so it helps if you can stay calm. The part I like best about my job is that I feel like I’m making a difference in the world. I actually have influence on our food supply, the stuff your and my kids take in their lunch boxes, what we put on the table for Sunday dinner. It’s an awesome responsibility, and one I try never to take for granted. My one regret is that I only got my master’s degree, and if I don’t eventually pursue a PhD or MBA, I’m pretty much locked into my present job level and salary. But I’m hoping to go back to school one day soon and correct that. I could move to another job to get more money, but the basic problem would still be the same: at some point I would reach the point where I need more education in order to get a promotion.”

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I Am a Food Chemistry Professor “I am a food chemist who is also a professor at a university. I spent about five years working in the private sector before I went back to school and got my PhD. I found out that doing straight research and just reporting my findings wasn’t quite what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I really enjoy my students. They are a never-ending source of amazement and satisfaction as I watch them develop their research skills and dream of what they’ll accomplish when they finally enter the work force. I take very seriously the role of mentor to the next generation of scientists who will have an impact on the way we will nourish our bodies in the future. Of course, I also cherish the time I spend in my lab, doing my own research. It’s such a change from where I began my career. There are very few deadlines, and I have the leeway to let the research guide me. What I mean by that is if a new avenue presents itself, other than the one I imagined, I can pursue it without asking for someone’s approval. I’ve been successful at getting some of my scholarly papers published, and I presented one just last year at a conference. I love the chance to confer with my colleagues, share ideas and talk with other people who are as concerned with our food supply as I am. I really wouldn’t want to do anything else, because I love both aspects of my job so much. I was able to get tenure, so my plan is to stay right here at the university until I retire.”

I Am a Food Chemistry Consultant “I am a food chemist consultant, and I conduct research based on the needs of my individual clients. Although I have my MBA, I was never really interested in working for someone else. Some of my clients are individuals who have developed a food product in their kitchen, and they want me to analyze it for ingredients and nutritional values before they attempt to 17

put it on the market. Other clients bring me samples of food they’ve eaten which they think has made them ill. It’s my job to analyze and report my findings of any dangerous bacteria that may be present. Other clients include food companies that want to be sure about their own products. They come to me to repeat the process that their own staff chemists go through, to be sure of the results. If there is a discrepancy, we all get together to try to figure out what happened. Occasionally, if a client is suing a company because of dangerous food, I will go to court to testify about my findings concerning that food. My testimony carries weight because in the eyes of the law, I am an expert witness. Of course, the attorney for the other side tries to confuse me or otherwise discredit my testimony, but I’m usually able to maintain my composure on the stand. Besides being able to do the science I love, I am happy being self-employed. The projects I get from clients are always different and interesting. Even though some of the financial record-keeping can be a hassle, it is well worth it to be my own boss. I would highly recommend going out on your own after you’ve had some experience in a traditional lab setting. However, I would recommend that you spent some time in a traditional food chemist job, because that’s the best way to gain the experience and industry contacts that will really help you launch your consultant practice. If you try to set up without establishing yourself within the field, you will have no references to offer people who want to talk to someone who has worked with you.”

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PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS FOOD CHEMISTS MUST BE BOTH ORGANIZED AND DETAIL ORIENTED, AND

creative. They are generally curious, outgoing people who like to combine the traits of precision work with creativity. Motivation and tenacity are extremely important to this work, as well as a good sense of taste and smell. Experienced food chemists say that instinct is as important as classroom learning; in fact, many of the nuances of the profession cannot be taught, but must be learned over time. You should be able to work either alone and independently, or as part of a team. Both scenarios are common. You must also be able to communicate extremely well, both orally and in writing. It will be helpful if you understand basic business principles and acquire the ability to apply basic statistical techniques. Computer skills are essential, as well. You must enjoy working indoors more than outdoors, because most of your work will be done inside in lab surroundings. You should also be able to handle the pressure of working under a deadline. Perhaps your company is bringing out a new product and the final formula must be ready by a certain date. Or tests must be done on a questionable substance and people, or even government officials, are waiting to hear your results. Not everyone does well in these kinds of circumstances. If you are having trouble making your school report deadlines now, and you panic as it gets closer to the date, you might rethink your desire to become a food chemist. Strong communication skills are absolutely essential for a food chemist. Besides taking notes as you conduct your research, you will be expected to publish scholarly articles and prepare reports for your boss or even the government. The food chemist job demands an enormous amount of paperwork, so you should be comfortable with spending time at the computer, writing. You must also be able to talk to people about your results, so oral communication is at least as important as written. The notes you take must be detailed and identify each step in your research, in chronological order. Ideally, another scientist should be able to reproduce your work just by following your notes. Food chemists do not work in a vacuum, but their work is under scrutiny by peers, regulatory entities and, ultimately, history, as succeeding generations of chemists use your work to build on their own. 19

Almost everyone who aspires to become a chemist does so from a love of science and a desire to help humankind. But the food chemist especially is devoted to helping people. Julia Child, one of the first chefs to have her own television program, said that a chef is one of the most generous and nurturing people in the world, because there is nothing more caring than to want to feed people. The same could be said of food chemists, who want to ensure the world’s food supply, its safety and continuation.

ATTRACTIVE FEATURES BEING A FOOD CHEMIST CAN BE A VERY EXCITING, REWARDING CAREER PROVIDED you enjoy doing detailed research, working with food

and scientific instruments, and you prefer a sedentary, indoor kind of work. Many people do! When you work with food, you are essentially working to feed people, and this can be a deeply satisfying experience. It will become even more satisfying when you are a parent and are worried about everything your children put in their mouths. It would be great knowing your work is contributing directly to their good health. On the other side, you could be instrumental in eliminating harmful foods. When your chemical analysis reveals that a food contains a substance that may cause cancer or other disease, you have the power to remove that food from grocery store shelves by writing a concise report and submitting it to the appropriate authority. You can make the world a better place in this way. What you do in your lab will have a far-reaching effect. For instance, if you develop a super healthy, tasty and popular bread product, it will become breakfast toast, lunch time sandwiches, bread pudding for desserts, breadcrumbs for casseroles – the list is almost endless. There aren’t too many other fields where the product of your work will find its way into virtually every American household. Even more exciting for some food chemists is the fact that, when they do their weekly grocery shopping, the products on which they have worked are sitting on the grocery store shelves. Imagine walking into a friend’s home and seeing one of those 20

products on the kitchen counter. “I helped create that,” you could say, to your friend’s amazement. It is equally satisfying when friends and family tell you how much they like a product you helped put on the market. This is a powerful validation of your work and can help motivate you for your next project. When you consider that research work is often a solitary or isolated activity, removed from the target audience until the final product is ready, such feedback becomes precious. As a food chemist, you will become part of a respected scientific profession. Chemists, indeed scientists in general, are among the most highly regarded members of our society. It rests in their hands to find ways to make our lives easier, to discover new technologies, and to make it possible to explore outer space and the depths of the ocean. Food chemists in particular are part of something much larger. The body of knowledge with which you will work extends over centuries of human involvement and affects the most important, most basic need of humankind: nourishment.

UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES ALL CHEMISTS MUST LIVE WITH THE POSSIBILITY THAT THEY WILL BE EXPOSED TO dangerous chemicals during the course of their work. That is

why there are special regulations and safety procedures that must be followed at all times to minimize risk. Yet accidents do happen. While food chemists do not work with the most dangerous substances, there are the same risks in their lab as in a busy kitchen. Fire, hot liquids, hot pots and pans, acidic substances – all these present a danger. Did you know that adding water to hot oil will cause the oil to splatter up from the pan? Having hot oil on your skin is no laughing matter. As a food chemist, you must cultivate and preserve your senses of taste and smell, because that is how you tell if you have achieved the correct result in some of your work. Flavor chemists especially guard their sense of taste. If you are prone to allergies or head colds, which tend to dull the taste and smell, you may want to think about another branch of chemistry.

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Then there are those annoying deadlines. Working under intense pressure is not for everyone. Having your boss breathing down your neck, demanding results, can stress out even normally strong people. If you have never worked under stress, or you do not respond well to the “I need it yesterday” approach, food chemist may not be the right career for you. If your experiments fail, or you miss something in your research, you could release a potentially dangerous food additive to the general public. No one knew that trans fat was so dangerous until recently. Somewhere, there are food chemists that minimized the risks or simply didn’t have enough information about trans fat to assess the risks correctly, and trans fat is still out there causing problems. The worst case scenario for a food chemist who produces a dangerous food product or fails to detect the dangers in an existing food product is to be fired or even go to jail for violating regulatory requirements. If you are an independent food chemist consultant, and you come to wrong conclusions, and your client loses a lawsuit, that same client may turn around and sue you for negligence. There is always the possibility of layoffs. Federal and state agencies downsize, independent labs come and go, and you may find yourself out of a job someday. With a narrow specialty like food chemistry, you may not be able to find another job quickly, making it necessary for you to return to school to learn a new specialty. This is both costly and time consuming, and you will still need to pay your bills. If you cannot find a job as a food chemist, you may need to take a less satisfactory job. There are food chemists working as food processing plant managers and high school chemistry teachers. Depending on how you feel about compromising your goals, you could find yourself in a very unfulfilling position with little opportunity to change. Even worse, you may be called on to compromise your integrity in the worst way. Suppose you find that one food additive is less dangerous than most but still poses threats, so you recommend that it not be used. Then your boss and the senior management of your company decide to use it anyway. How will you feel?

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTERESTED IN ANY CHEMISTRY CAREER SHOULD TAKE

English, science, and math classes each year, with university preparation emphasized during the last two years. Once in college, you should pursue a degree in science, majoring in biochemistry or chemistry. Computer courses are also very important because employers today demand that their employees be technologically competent. There are 50 schools with food science programs that are approved by the Institute of Food Technologists. You can find the list at this website http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1000426 Many food chemists receive an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biology, and go on to a master’s program in food science. A PhD is usually not a requirement for employment unless you wish to teach at the university level. Go to this website for a list of graduate schools with good programs: http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1000624 Those students who have a solid in chemistry and related subjects like biology and chemistry are usually the strongest food science students. The combination of Bachelor of Science in chemistry or biology, with a Master of Science degree in food science is the most well recognized educational path in this career field. Most people do not realize that science is so heavily involved in the food they eat. The major portion of a food science curriculum at the college level is concentrated in chemistry. Students in master’s degree programs take courses such as food chemistry, food analysis, food microbiology, food engineering, and food processing operations. While you are in this program, you will probably decide what your specialty will be. For instance, you can plan to work only with meat or cereal. There is both an American Association of Cereal Chemists and an American Meat Science Association. Food chemists sometimes discuss their work as more art than science, because there can be so much creativity involved. The training and education typically emphasizes innovation in addition to technical knowledge.

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An excellent way to gain practical experience in the field is through internships, paid or otherwise. Usually you will be assisting a senior professional in research work. You will have the chance to use the equipment and see how the research process works in the real world. Business courses are also valuable for an aspiring food chemist, because it will help you understand how your work will be integrated into the consumer market. You will learn how to create a working budget and how to manage employees, valuable skills if you eventually want to work as a Laboratory Manager or Director. This ability will also come in handy if you decide to establish a practice as a food chemist consultant. The highest earnings in the food chemistry field go to those with an MBA, or Master of Business Administration degree. This credential also enhances your chances of employment and will enable you to move out of the laboratory, if you wish, and into the even more lucrative field of senior management at a food manufacturing company. A PhD, or doctoral degree, is necessary if you have ambition to teach at the university level. Many food chemists spend some time in a commercial or government laboratory environment before returning to school for this degree and then seeking a teaching position.

EARNINGS A STARTING SALARY FOR A FOOD CHEMIST WITH A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IS ABOUT $30,000. A master’s degree chemist earns about $40,000 to

start and a PhD about $50,000. Depending on where you live, with a bachelor’s degree, you can expect to earn an average of $65,000; with a master’s, $75,000; with your PhD, $85,000; and with an MBA, $95,000. You can increase your earnings as a food chemist by pursuing additional degrees. As you can see, education equals financial advancement in the food chemist field. Anyone with an MBA earns top dollars because the additional degree qualifies you for many more jobs than just food chemist. You are automatically considered management material and could become the head of a laboratory operation or company division. 24

Within an individual job situation, there will likely be levels of promotion. For instance, as a new food chemist you might be considered a junior chemist or research assistant. With time and experience, you might attain the level of senior chemist, which will bring an increase in your earnings. You may even aspire to the position of Laboratory Manager or Laboratory Director, which means you will be responsible for everything that is done in your lab and every person working there. This comes with an increase in salary. Downsizing is always a danger, especially as government agencies lose some funding or change their focus. One way to increase your job security is to obtain a PhD and teach at the university level. Once you become a tenured member of the faculty, you will most likely have a job until you retire. If you become an independent food chemist, you will be able to set your own hourly fee to clients, although some consultants charge by the project. You will have to make sure that your fee covers your overhead, the costs of your office and your lab, traveling expenses, your healthcare costs, and other expenses – and leaves earnings for you after paying for everything. If you work for a nonprofit organization like the Center for Science in the Public Interest, you may not command top dollar in earnings but you can be an influence for good and keep everyone who is involved in the food industry honest. In a world where corporations regularly hide negative facts and distort questionable ones, you could become a hero by uncovering their wrongful practices. Some rewards have nothing to do with money. The Economic Research Institute, which tracks salary and cost of living statistics in the United States, projects that the average salary for a food chemist will be $92,000 by the year 2020.

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OPPORTUNITIES ALMOST FOUR IN TEN FOOD CHEMISTS WORK FOR FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL

governments, especially concentrated in the US Department of Agriculture. Some work for agricultural service companies in the private sector, while others work for commercial research and development laboratories, wholesale distributors and food products companies. Over 1,600 food chemists are self-employed as consultants. There is widespread disagreement about the future employment prospects for students who pursue a career as a food chemist. On the one hand, government experts predict that employment of food chemists is expected to grow more slowly in coming decades. On the other hand, food chemists themselves are optimistic about opportunities. According to the University of Idaho website: “There are plenty of jobs available in Idaho and throughout the world for [food chemist] graduates with a BS degree. Idaho has a vibrant and growing food industry.” The best thing you can do is research which businesses in your area use food chemists. A rule of thumb is that if a company is connected to the manufacture or distribution of food, there will be a food chemist somewhere in the background. You might also check out the state of Idaho. It is a fabulously beautiful state and, obviously, they have jobs for food chemists. The good news is that food chemists are less likely to feel the effects of economic recession; employment for this group is actually more stable than most occupations. Layoffs are less likely because food is a basic necessity, and the demand for it does not fluctuate with economic changes. Continuing food research will probably result in some additional employment for food chemists as the public continues to focus on diet, health and food safety. Food trends are changing all the time, and the emergence of strong markets for such innovations as low fat, no fat and high fiber food will probably keep the demand for trained food chemists at a high level. Global and domestic issues, such as overpopulation, will also increase future need and focus for food chemists. If you are interested in teaching and research, you could pursue a scholarly career at a university or other institution of higher learning. You will probably need to have a master’s or 26

doctoral degree for such a position and specialize in one area, such as food chemistry. One overriding concern many professors have is obtaining tenure, which basically means that you will have your job for as long as you want it. Tenure is often tied to whether or not you publish books or scholarly articles in your field, so you will want to continue your own research projects in order to have something significant to write about. If self-employment is your goal, you will need to work for some years in a conventional food chemist position before you can break out on your own. Without proven experience, it will be difficult to attract clients. While you are employed by someone else, work toward your self-employment goal by networking in the industry, saving as much money from your salary as possible to give yourself a financial cushion when you finally go out on your own, and learn as much as you can from your co-workers and those in senior positions. When you establish your own consulting practice, it is extremely important that you maintain the relationships with your former co-workers and boss. You never know when you will need to seek their professional advice, and they may be willing to refer clients to you if they know of someone who needs your services.

GETTING STARTED IF YOU ARE TAK ING SCI ENCE CLASSES NOW, YOU CAN GO TO THE SCIENCE

department in your school and make an appointment to talk with a chemistry teacher. You will discover a wealth of resources that will allow you to explore food chemistry as a career. Ask about journals or other publications that you can read. The teacher may know someone working in the field of food chemistry. You might also inquire whether the science department uses student volunteers to help out in labs or other areas. If it does and you can arrange to become one of the assistants, it will give you additional exposure to lab procedures and other science-related work. Another good place to learn about a food chemist career is the library. You may have to begin by exploring the job of chemist as a general area, but many of the work procedures are the same whether you specialize in food, pharmaceuticals or any other specific area. 27

You can also become involved with the Institute of Food Technologists in order to become familiar with the professionals who work in the industry. Go on their website and try to find a chapter local to your home. Summer internships are also a good way to gain experience in how the industry works. If you can obtain a summer internship during high school or early in college, it will give you the means to plan the rest of your education and career. At the very least, it may refine the options you feel you have. Depending on where you live, look for local chapters of chemistry associations. Even if you can’t find a local chapter, check out the association websites. Any association for a specific profession usually has a section of the website devoted to providing information for aspiring members of that profession. You could contact members of the associations and ask about their work, or ask them to put you in touch with someone working in the profession. If the site has a message board, you could post a general question about food chemistry as a career. Experts stress that to keep your career on an upwardly mobile path, you should pursue the highest degree of education as possible. One food chemist says, “A Bachelor of Science degree is just not sufficient to be able to move up and get paid well. If you are at all ambitious, if you want to be able to get promoted or to get the high-paying jobs, then do not stop until you have a PhD.” In view of this, you should start early in your search for a good school. Go to the library and obtain the current rankings of colleges and universities that have good reputations for their graduate programs. Look at schools all over the United States, not just in your home territory.

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ASSOCIATIONS O American Association of Cereal Chemists

www.aaccnet.org O American Chemical Society

www.chemistry.org O American Institute of Chemists

www.theaic.org O Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical

Engineers www.chemconsult.org O American Meat Science Association

www.meatscience.org O Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

www.centerforfoodsafety.org O Center for Science in the Public Interest

www.cspinet.org O Food & Drug Administration

www.fda.gov O Institute of Food Science & Technology

http://ifst.org O Institute of Food Technologists

www.ift.org/cms/ O Life Sciences Research Office

www.lsro.org/

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PUBLICATIONS O Food Product Design Magazine O The World of Food Science

Online magazine that publishes articles, news of products, policies and regulations, and diary of events. Includes contributions in Spanish. www.worldfoodscience.org/ O Food Traceability Report

Newsletter that covers the globe regarding regulations, technology and people who are shaping the tracking of food to market. There is a fee for full access to the site. www.foodtraceabilityreport.com O MedBioWorld

This is a directory of links to articles found in food science journals. www.medbioworld.com/bio/journals/food.html O Appetite

This journal covers the nutritional and psychological aspects of eating. www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/0195-6663 O Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology

Research, development, production and distribution of foods from the marine and fresh water bodies of the world. www.haworthpressinc.com/web/JAFPT/

COPYRIGHT Institute For Career Research 2010 CAREERS INTERNET DATABASE www.careers-internet.org

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