What is a Food Science Technician?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a food science technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.69 an hour? That's $36,799 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Food Science Technician Do
Agricultural and food science technicians assist agricultural and food scientists by performing duties such as measuring and analyzing the quality of food and agricultural products. Duties range from typical agricultural labor with added recordkeeping duties to laboratory testing with significant amounts of office work, depending on the particular field the technician works in.
How To Become a Food Science Technician
Agricultural and food science technicians typically need an associate’s degree in biology, chemistry, crop or animal science, or a related field. Many positions require a bachelor’s degree. For those positions requiring only a high school diploma, technicians typically need to have previous work experience. Technicians often receive on-the-job training that may cover topics such as production techniques, personal hygiene, and sanitation procedures.
Average Salary for a Food Science Technician
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Food Science Technician
There are several types of food science technician, including:
Technician
Role:
Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.
The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.
- Average Salary: $38,045
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Biological Science Technician
Role:
Their main duties include setting up, maintaining, and cleaning laboratory instruments and equipment, such as microscopes and test tubes, gathering and preparing biological samples, conducting biological tests and experiments, analyzing and writing reports on their finding, among others. Analytical, communication, observational, and critical thinking are some of the skills that are required from a biological science technician.
The most common requirement to become a biological science technician is a bachelor's of science or associate's degree. A bachelor's degree in biology or a related field takes four years to complete. An associate's degree can be completed in two years or less, depending on course load. The median annual salary for this profession is $45,860. The job market is projected to grow 5% over the next ten years.
- Average Salary: $35,390
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Food Science Technician Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active food science technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where food science technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Food Science Technician Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,833 | $44,555 |
| 2 | Florida | 2,362 | $29,591 |
| 3 | Texas | 2,282 | $35,415 |
| 4 | Illinois | 1,704 | $32,884 |
| 5 | New York | 1,577 | $40,616 |
| 6 | Georgia | 1,462 | $29,249 |
| 7 | North Carolina | 1,425 | $29,630 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 1,393 | $48,764 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 1,379 | $33,430 |
| 10 | Virginia | 1,246 | $30,815 |
| 11 | Michigan | 1,180 | $31,938 |
| 12 | New Jersey | 1,054 | $41,160 |
| 13 | Ohio | 1,012 | $36,110 |
| 14 | Indiana | 958 | $30,101 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 889 | $31,313 |
| 16 | Washington | 846 | $31,086 |
| 17 | Arizona | 834 | $31,554 |
| 18 | Colorado | 820 | $33,873 |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 792 | $31,253 |
| 20 | Maryland | 779 | $43,023 |
| 21 | Tennessee | 771 | $29,195 |
| 22 | Missouri | 770 | $34,001 |
| 23 | South Carolina | 704 | $34,201 |
| 24 | Kentucky | 578 | $34,489 |
| 25 | Iowa | 562 | $32,241 |
| 26 | Alabama | 539 | $29,347 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 524 | $47,705 |
| 28 | Kansas | 439 | $31,255 |
| 29 | Oregon | 434 | $31,850 |
| 30 | Louisiana | 428 | $34,942 |
| 31 | Utah | 393 | $39,491 |
| 32 | Mississippi | 375 | $34,388 |
| 33 | Oklahoma | 353 | $29,191 |
| 34 | Arkansas | 334 | $29,134 |
| 35 | Maine | 302 | $35,585 |
| 36 | Nevada | 279 | $43,463 |
| 37 | Nebraska | 264 | $34,176 |
| 38 | West Virginia | 249 | $35,609 |
| 39 | New Hampshire | 222 | $48,568 |
| 40 | New Mexico | 220 | $30,526 |
| 41 | Delaware | 206 | $44,196 |
| 42 | Alaska | 199 | $50,338 |
| 43 | Idaho | 193 | $29,771 |
| 44 | Montana | 177 | $34,092 |
| 45 | South Dakota | 163 | $34,904 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 137 | $48,678 |
| 47 | Vermont | 136 | $47,813 |
| 48 | Hawaii | 107 | $37,902 |
| 49 | North Dakota | 106 | $42,259 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 92 | $28,863 |
Top Colleges for Food Science Technicians
1. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Private
2. North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC • Private
3. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
4. University of California - Davis
Davis, CA • Private
5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL • Private
6. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Private
7. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Private
8. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
9. University of Delaware
Newark, DE • Private
10. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ • Private
Top Skills For a Food Science Technician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 25.6% of food science technicians listed food safety on their resume, but soft skills such as physical stamina and analytical skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Food Science Technician Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Food Science Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Food Science Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Food Science Technician Demographics
Food Science Technician Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among food science technicians, 47.6% of them are women, while 52.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among food science technicians is White, which makes up 64.4% of all food science technicians.
- The most common foreign language among food science technicians is Spanish at 66.7%.
Online Courses For Food Science Technician That You May Like
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The food safety course will help prepare you for safely working in a kitchen and food handler tests like Servesafe...
Best States For a Food Science Technician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a food science technician. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Food science technicians make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $50,338. Whereas in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, they would average $48,764 and $48,678, respectively. While food science technicians would only make an average of $48,568 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$50,338
Avg. Salary
2. Vermont
$47,813
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$48,764
Avg. Salary
How Do Food Science Technician Rate Their Jobs?
Top Food Science Technician Employers
Most Common Employers For Food Science Technician
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Echo Lake Foods | $45,379 | $21.82 | 4 |
| 2 | Cornell University | $44,116 | $21.21 | 1 |
| 3 | DuPont | $42,702 | $20.53 | 2 |
| 4 | Mariani Packing Co. | $42,087 | $20.23 | 1 |
| 5 | Clemens Food Group | $40,873 | $19.65 | 1 |
| 6 | General Mills | $40,855 | $19.64 | 2 |
| 7 | SOPAKCO | $40,837 | $19.63 | 1 |
| 8 | Virginia State University | $40,690 | $19.56 | 1 |
| 9 | Lyons Magnus | $39,511 | $19.00 | 1 |
| 10 | Frito-Lay | $38,600 | $18.56 | 1 |