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The differences between food 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 scientist and a scientist. Additionally, a scientist has an average salary of $97,344, which is higher than the $74,345 average annual salary of a food scientist.
The top three skills for a food scientist include product development, project management and food safety. The most important skills for a scientist are chemistry, data analysis, and patients.
| Food Scientist | Scientist | |
| Yearly salary | $74,345 | $97,344 |
| Hourly rate | $35.74 | $46.80 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 17% |
| Number of jobs | 93,145 | 62,467 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A food scientists' job is primarily to improve food in terms of quality and packaging and create new food products. This job may include ensuring products comply with health and safety standards as well as developing excellent quality food processing, storage, and transportation procedures. They will collaborate with project groups to make new products starting from conceptualization to commercialization. Moreover, they work on the release of potential brands and improve nutritional quality, especially the flavor and texture of food. Also, they assist the company in leading product improvements and innovations.
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 scientists and scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average salary | $74,345 | $97,344 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $121,000 | Between $67,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | Napa, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | Ohio | California |
| Best paying company | LexisNexis Reed Tech | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Education | Technology |
There are a few differences between a food scientist and a scientist in terms of educational background:
| Food Scientist | Scientist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Food Science | Chemistry |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between food scientists' and scientists' demographics:
| Food Scientist | Scientist | |
| Average age | 40 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 2.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 11.9% White, 73.1% 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% |