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The differences between food safety scientists and scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a food safety scientist and a scientist. Additionally, a scientist has an average salary of $97,344, which is higher than the $80,238 average annual salary of a food safety scientist.
The top three skills for a food safety scientist include safety data, safety issues and drug safety. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.
| Food Safety Scientist | Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $80,238 | $97,344 |
| Hourly rate | $38.58 | $46.80 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 106,128 | 62,467 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A food safety scientist's responsibility is to improve food quality and packaging and to create new food products by developing excellent processing, storage, and transportation procedures with proper compliance with the health and safety standards. He/she is skilled at analyzing the nutritional food content, discovering new food sources, and researching safe and healthy food processing. In addition, this food scientist studies the microbiological, chemical, and physical properties of food and ingredients to ensure its safety for consumers.
A scientist is responsible for researching and analyzing the nature and complexities of the physical world to identify discoveries that would improve people's lives and ignite scientific knowledge for society. Scientists' duties differ in their different areas of expertise, but all of them must have a broad comprehension of scientific disciplines and methods to support their experiments and investigations. They collect the sample for their research, record findings, create research proposals, and release publications. A scientist must know how to utilize laboratory equipment to support the study and drive results efficiently and accurately.
Food safety scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Safety Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average salary | $80,238 | $97,344 |
| Salary range | Between $48,000 And $132,000 | Between $67,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Genentech | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a food safety scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:
| Food Safety Scientist | Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Biology | Chemistry |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between food safety scientists' and scientists' demographics:
| Food Safety Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 32.1% Female, 67.9% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.1% Unknown, 2.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 12.3% White, 72.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 19% | 8% |