Food chemist vs process chemist

The differences between food chemists and process chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a process chemist has an average salary of $81,542, which is higher than the $62,727 average annual salary of a food chemist.

The top three skills for a food chemist include laboratory equipment, FDA and sops. The most important skills for a process chemist are lab equipment, HPLC, and R.

Food chemist vs process chemist overview

	Food Chemist	Process Chemist
Yearly salary	$62,727	$81,542
Hourly rate	$30.16	$39.20
Growth rate	6%	6%
Number of jobs	61,028	29,813
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 79%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	-	-

Food chemist vs process chemist salary

Food chemists and process chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Food Chemist	Process Chemist
Average salary	$62,727	$81,542
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $87,000	Between $54,000 And $121,000
Highest paying City	Vancouver, WA	Wilmington, DE
Highest paying state	Delaware	Delaware
Best paying company	Cargill	Bio-Rad Laboratories
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between food chemist and process chemist education

There are a few differences between a food chemist and a process chemist in terms of educational background:

	Food Chemist	Process Chemist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 79%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Food chemist vs process chemist demographics

Here are the differences between food chemists' and process chemists' demographics:

	Food Chemist	Process Chemist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 57.3% Female, 42.7%	Male, 77.3% Female, 22.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 20.5% White, 57.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	5%

Differences between food chemist and process chemist duties and responsibilities

Food chemist example 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.

Process chemist example responsibilities.

Manage synthesis and production of specialty chemicals for carpet and textile industry.
Support new, modify and existing chemical processes by developing and validating HPLC and GC methods with a rapid turnaround time.
Analyze unknown materials with FTIR, Raman, and SEM-EDS.
Display improving working knowledge of business processes as they relate to GMP manufacturing.
Create titration solution and other solutions such as stock solutions used in analysis.
Show a desire to learn about and understand advance chemistry principles underlying project assignments.

Food chemist vs process chemist skills

Common food chemist skills

Laboratory Equipment, 18%
FDA, 17%
Sops, 13%
R, 9%
HPLC, 9%
Food Products, 8%

Common process chemist skills

Lab Equipment, 7%
HPLC, 6%
R, 5%
GMP, 5%
NMR, 4%
Sigma, 4%

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Food Chemist vs Process Chemist

Updated January 8, 2025

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