How To Become A Food Chemist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a food chemist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Betsy Smith

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a food chemist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $30.16 an hour? That's $62,727 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 5,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a food chemist?

Dr. Betsy Smith

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Elmira College

I would advise students just graduating to be flexible and open-minded in their job search. Chemistry is a challenging major, and students who succeed in it have learned how to learn, so they shouldn't assume that pure chemistry is the only thing they can do. One growing field is biomedical research, and chemistry majors are often qualified for jobs in that area. If you have other strengths like writing, there are often jobs that can combine them as a technical writer or work for a science journal. There are jobs out there that might be perfect for you that you haven't heard of until you see an ad for it, so be open to different possibilities.

ScoreFood ChemistUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $62,727

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.25%

Asian 18.21%

Black or African American 7.84%

Hispanic or Latino 9.38%

Unknown 4.59%

White 59.74%

Gender

female 42.68%

male 57.32%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a food chemist

Explore food chemist education requirements

Most common food chemist degrees

Bachelor's

79.2 %

Master's

11.7 %

Associate

5.2 %

Start to develop specific food chemist skills

Skills	Percentages
Laboratory Equipment	18.14%
FDA	17.00%
Sops	13.49%
R	8.85%
HPLC	8.64%

Complete relevant food chemist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New food chemists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a food chemist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real food chemist resumes.

Research food chemist duties and responsibilities

Manage food chemistry testing laboratory and measure clenbuterol levels in beef samples by HPLC
Position are focused around ensuring that the different products being test pass the specifications put in place by the FDA.
Provide calculated electronic absorption (UV/Vis) spectra for molecular candidates suspect to be impurity chromophores in a commercial nylon process.
Establish extraction profiles and develop appropriate QC methods for product certification and annual qualification.

Prepare your food chemist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your food chemist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a food chemist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable food chemist resume templates

Build a professional food chemist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your food chemist resume.