What is a Research Food Technologist?

As the name implies, as a Research Fellow, you will be conducting research and analysis of comprehensive results, literature, and data. You will be supervising research assistants and recruiting study participants for specific studies.

For the educational requirement, a Research Fellow needs to have a doctorate relevant to the discipline and should have published papers that are peer-reviewed. As a Research Fellow, you can be supervised or independent.

The top skills Research Fellow applicants include in their resumes include Molecular Biology, Data Analysis, Cell Culture, Research Projects, and Ph.D. You might want to brush up your knowledge on these things and make sure you are knowledgeable in the field you will be applying to.

You can earn an average annual salary of $49,120 with a job growth rate of 8%. You can also explore other careers like being a Research Scientist, a Scientist, and a Senior Scientist.

Food technologists are those that plan the manufacture of food and drink products and who can work in a wide range of settings. You will generate new product ideas and recipes while you modify and improve existing recipes for the company. You will also help to design processes and machinery for the production of recipes on a large scale. Likely, a strict hygiene food safety standard must be met by you. You will also be the one to identify and choose the best products for food or drink preparation from the suppliers. Reports will be given on the procedures to other colleagues and management.

The food technologist earns an average of $53,585 annually. The educational requirement for the post of food technologist is at least a bachelor's degree in food science and technology, food/chemical engineering, biochemistry, or related field. Excellent written and verbal communication skills will be needed as a food technologist. You must also be confident and be able to work independently.

Do not mistake this for Chefs; knowing how to cook is one thing, but creating different foods for different health purposes is another, and that's where a Food Scientist comes in. They are meant to create different types of food and make sure it is healthy for human consumption. Unlike Chefs, Food Scientists make use of scientific methods to come out with the right food that serves the right purpose. Their primary aim is to find better ways to preserve foods, hence, keep them fresh and attractive.

To qualify for this job, you must be skilled with the knowledge of a wide range of foods and their applications, good IT, analytical, numerical, and business skills, ability to work without supervision, excellent communication skills, and attention to detail.

As for the salary structure, you have to understand that most of these people prefer working independently, but some of them still like working with organizations (which are mostly in the hospitality sector). So we will be getting the salary structures from that angle. An average Food Scientist earns between $55,000 and $133,000, but it can still go as low as $28,500. This is because some factors decide the salary structure, e.g., size of the organization, experience acquired, and country you live in.