From nutrition and safety to developing food for space travel, read about the lives of different food scientists! Does this sound like something you would like to do? 

Career

Check out a day in the life of a food scientist.

Watch author J.K. Rowling speak on the benefits of failure and her advice for facing it and turning it to your advantage. Write down something you're afraid of failing at. How can you turn it to your benefit?

Advice

Overcome your fear of failure. 

Get a jump start on what you want do in college or test your interest before you get there by taking a class in food science or nutrition! 

Education

Take a food science or nutrition class.

Food Scientists

Use chemistry, microbiology, engineering, and other sciences to study the principles underlying the processing and deterioration of foods; analyze food content to determine levels of vitamins, fat, sugar, and protein; discover new food sources; research ways to make processed foods safe, palatable, and healthful; and apply food science knowledge to determine best ways to process, package, preserve, store, and distribute food.

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Third Interest High-Point

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

First Interest High-Point

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Second Interest High-Point

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Food Scientists and Technologists

Agricultural and Food Scientists

Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

Life Scientists

Test new products for flavor, texture, color, nutritional content, and adherence to government and industry standards.

Check raw ingredients for maturity or stability for processing, and finished products for safety, quality, and nutritional value.

Confer with process engineers, plant operators, flavor experts, and packaging and marketing specialists to resolve problems in product development.

Evaluate food processing and storage operations and assist in the development of quality assurance programs for such operations.

Study methods to improve aspects of foods, such as chemical composition, flavor, color, texture, nutritional value, and convenience.

Study the structure and composition of food or the changes foods undergo in storage and processing.

Develop new or improved ways of preserving, processing, packaging, storing, and delivering foods, using knowledge of chemistry, microbiology, and other sciences.

Develop food standards and production specifications, safety and sanitary regulations, and waste management and water supply specifications.

Inspect food processing areas to ensure compliance with government regulations and standards for sanitation, safety, quality, and waste management.

Seek substitutes for harmful or undesirable additives, such as nitrites.

Develop new food items for production, based on consumer feedback.

Stay up to date on new regulations and current events regarding food science by reviewing scientific literature.

Air sampling systems

Amino acid analyzers

Amylographs

Anaerobic growth chambers

Analytical balances

Atomic absorption AA spectrometers

Automatic diluters

Autosamplers

Bacterial identification systems

Batch fryers

Benchtop nephelometers

Biological safety cabinets

Bioreactors

Blast freezers

Carbon dioxide CO2 laboratory incubators

Color difference meters

Colorimeters

Commercial microwave ovens

Computerized calorimeters

Conductivity meters

Coulter counters

Darkfield microscopes

Dehydration equipment

Dejuicers

Desktop computers

Differential refractometers

Digital oscilloscopes

Drum dryers

Dynamic light scattering equipment

Dynamic mechanical analyzers DMA

Electronic laboratory balances

Emulsifiers

Epifluorescence microscopes

Extractors

Fermenting tanks

Food choppers

Food crushers

Food dehydrators

Food mixers

Food slicers

Fourier transform infrared FTIR spectrometers

Fraction collectors

Freeze drying equipment

Fruit presses

Gas chromatographs GC

Gel electrophoresis equipment

Glucose analyzers

Griddles

Grills

Heat exchangers

High pressure liquid chromatograph HPLC equipment

High speed refrigerated centrifuges

Homogenizers

Ice cream freezers

Induction cooktops

Infrared IR spectrometers

Ion chromatographs

Jet cooking systems

Laboratory lasers

Laboratory mechanical convection ovens

Laboratory mills

Laboratory ovens

Laboratory water baths

Laptop computers

Laser colony counters

Macro kjeldahls

Mass spectrometers

Meat grinders

Meat saws

Melting point apparatus

Membrane filtration systems

Micro kjeldahls

Microbial monitoring systems

Microcentrifuges

Muffle furnaces

Nitrogen analyzers

Orbital shaking water baths

Oxygen analyzers

Personal computers

pH indicators

Phase contrast microscopes

Piston filling machines

Plate heat exchangers

Programmable incubators

Pulper finishers

Pulsifiers

Ranges

Reflectance spectrometers

Refrigerated benchtop centrifuges

Retort sterilization equipment

Rheometers

Roasting equipment

Rotary evaporators

Scanning electron microscopes SEM

Scanning plate readers

Specific gravity fat analyzers

Spectrofluorimeters

Spiral platers

Steam autoclaves

Steam blanchers

Food Scientist

The Roadtrippers interview food scientist Elise Benstein at the Jelly Belly factory before speaking with Nuclear Engineer Deon Clark about his rough childhood in South Side Chicago. Later, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek shares his non-linear life experiences.

The Power of Serendipity

Jackie. >> I'm Zachariah, nice to meet you. >> When you explain to people what your job is, what's a typical reaction? >> I have to tell you, my husband is an orchestra conductor, I think that's pretty cool. >> That's really cool. >> I think that's a very cool job, yeah. But whenever he's talking to people and we introduce ourselves or whatever, and he says I'm an orchestra conductor, blah, blah, blah, and then you tell them I work in R&D, we develop the new flavors of Jelly Beans and new candy products, and it's like he doesn't exist anymore. >> [LAUGH] >> They're like, what, you work at Jelly Belly? >> [LAUGH] >> And they just get so excited, it's just really, it's very cute. That has not worn off, in the 12 years I've been here I always enjoy that. >> [NOISE] What's it like to kinda be behind the whole scene cuz scientists are usually the ones in places like this, while all the glorious marketing productions happening, what's that kinda like? >> You know what, and I'm so that way, I'm a behind-the-scenes kinda person, and I like to make all this happen, but then I don't wanna be the person out there taking all the credit. But I know inside, okay, I worked on that. And that's kind of a cool job. If you go to the store and see candy out there that I've worked on, it's like wow, that's cool. It sounds kinda corny, but we help to make people's lives a little bit happier for a little bit of time. >> [LAUGH] >> It makes all the difference in the world to have a job where you feel like you're creating something, and in its own little way, it's making a positive difference in people's lives. It's a good thing. There's enough bad stuff going on in the world, so here we're doing something that's good and it makes people happy. >> Yeah, mm-hm. >> So how, for working I guess, in any food science job, did you get specific classes in high school, or? >> Mm-hm, I had a goal in my mind. I knew it was gonna be science. Some degree in science, I wasn't sure what. So I took all the prerequisite courses that I knew were gonna be required. So I knew that I liked food science, I knew that I liked nutrition, and so that's what my degree is in. So then I thought, well, what else can I do? I have this science background, and I have the nutrition background, and I thought, well, I like the creativity aspect of it. And so I got a degree from the culinary academy as well, and that kinda combined the arts and the sciences together. And then I was fortunate enough to get the job here. And it's just great being able to come up with new candy products and new Jelly Belly flavors and seeing how much people enjoy it, and it's pretty cool. >> What is the process like, and you can get pretty chemical and Jackie might translate for me. >> Yeah [LAUGH]. >> But what is that process like going from conceiving a flavor that might be successful to finished product. >> Okay, well we start out with the idea, the concept. And we'll do tastings and just have people rate the different flavors. >> It's either green apple or lime? >> Citrus orange. >> Citrus orange, okay. >> You're very close. And that's the. We tally that all up and decide which version of the flavor it is that we wanna use to do our testing in candy. So all this takes place in the lab here because the smallest amount that we can do out in the plant is probably anywhere from 200 to 400 pounds. It's a CFM Kettle. >> [LAUGH] >> Yeah, yeah, so we need to know pretty much pretty well ahead of time kind of the direction we're gonna go. So we do all that ahead of time. We've selected the flavor that we're gonna use, so we take that, we do our preliminary formula and we go up to the kitchen. Mix that up all together, heat it up, cook it, and then we add the flavors and colors at the CFM Kettle, which is what I was talking about, the big 400 pound kettle. So we'll do that, we'll deposit the centers and let them cure overnight in our dry rooms so that the water is pulled out to firm up the center. So then we have our center. And then from there we go to the engrossing process to build up this shell. And we're constantly tasting as we go. Do we need to add a little more flavor, do we need to add a little more color, that kind of thing, until we get it to where we think oh, that's pretty good, pretty good, we'll see where this goes. And then we have to polish the bean to make it presentable, to make it look shiny like this. >> So at any given time, there are several million beans out here. >> How many? >> Several million. >> Million beans. >> There's a real art. >> Yeah. >> So then we have our sample. I'm able to make all my own test samples, which is really cool, I'm pretty proud of those. You should see some of the ones in the very beginning when I started working here. They were really pretty scary. >> [LAUGH] >> They would have ended up as belly flops for sure, but a lot of our test candy does end up as belly flops just because we rarely get it right the first time around. We were working on a pizza, we wanted a pizza Jelly Belly. And it was like oh, we're gonna this really super tasty pizza, and we were throwing all kinda flavors in there and stuff. And then when we tasted it, it was so hideous. >> [LAUGH] >> And so then when we did the Harry Potter Bertie Bott's Beans, it was like oh, this would be perfect for vomit, for the vomit beans. >> [LAUGH] >> So it was a mistake but it ended up being a success. >> Cheers. >> Cheers. >> Eww. >> Are you kidding? >> [LAUGH] >> Oh, my God, it's so bad. >> Good. >> That's a response we want. >> That is awful! >> Every time you bite is a little more it just get bad again. >> [LAUGH] >> That's just terrible. >> Thank you. >> All right, yeah, it's time. [LAUGH] >> He's got it now, he got it. >> [LAUGH] >> Don't be afraid to make mistakes. I feel very fortunate, I really do. I didn't plan this, but you need to open to opportunities, to be able to capture those opportunities when they present themselves. I feel like, again, I'm at the forefront of developing new candy products, it's like I never thought I would be doing that. Gotta embrace those new concepts. 

Exploration

Failure

Fulfillment

Opportunity

Interview

I had a goal in my mind. I knew it was gonna be science. Some degree in science, I wasn't sure what. So I took all the prerequisite courses that I knew were gonna be required. So I knew that I liked food science. I knew that I liked nutrition, and so that's what my degree is in. So then I thought well you know, what else can I do when I have this science background and I have the nutrition background? And I thought, well, I like the creativity aspect of it. And so I got a degree from the culinary academy as well. And that kinda combined the arts and the sciences together. And then I was fortunate enough to get the job here. And it's just great being able to come up with new candy products and new Jelly Belly flavors. And seeing how much people enjoy it. And just, it's pretty cool. I feel very fortunate, I really do. You know, I didn't plan this. I'm at the forefront of developing new candy products, and it's like, I never though I would be doing that. 

Goals

Elise Benstein Highlight

When you explain to people what your job is, what's the typical reaction? >> I have to tell you, my husband is an orchestra conductor. I think that's pretty cool. I think that's a very cool job, yeah. But whenever he's talking to people and we introduce ourselves or whatever, he says, I'm an orchestra conductor blah, blah, blah. And then you tell him, I work in RND, we developed the new flavors of jellybeans and new candy products. And it's like he doesn't exist anymore. They're like what? You work at Jelly Belly? And they just get so excited. It's just really, it's very cute. That has not worn off in the 12 years I've been here. I always enjoyed that. >> [SOUND] What's it like to kind of be behind the whole scene, cuz scientists are usually the ones in places like this while all the glorious marketing production's happening? What's that kind of like? >> You know what I'm so that way. I'm a behind the scenes kind of person and I like to make this all that happen but then I don't wanna be that person out there taking all the credit. But I know inside, okay I worked on that. And it's kind of a cool job but if you go to the store and you see candy out there that I've worked on it it's like wow, that's cool. People are buying it, it sounds kinda corny but we help to make people's lives a little bit happier for a little time. >> [LAUGH] >> A little bit of time. It makes all the difference in the world. To have a job where you feel like you're creating something and in its own little way making positive difference in people's lives. It's a good thing. There's enough bad stuff going on in the world so here we're doing something that's good and it makes people happy. >> Yeah. 

Behind The Scenes

What is the process like, and you could get pretty chemical and Jackie might translate for me. [LAUGH] But what is that process like going from conceiving a flavor that might be successful to finished product. >> Okay, well we start out with the idea, the concept. And we'll do tastings, and we'll just have people rate the different flavors. >> It's either green apple or lime. >> Citrus orange. You're very close. >> Citrus orange, okay. >> We tally that all up and decide which version of the flavor it is that we want to use to do our testing in candy. So all this takes place in the lab here, because the smallest that we can do out in the plant is probably anywhere from 200 to 400 pounds. >> [LAUGH] >> It's a CFM kettle. So we need to know pretty well ahead of time kinda the direction we are going to go. So we do all that ahead of time, we've selected the flavor that we are going to use, so we take that, we do a preliminary formula, and we go up to the kitchen. Mix that all up together, heat it up, cook it, and then we add the flavors and colors at the CFM kettle, which is what I was talking about. The big 400 pound kettle. So we'll do that, we'll deposit the centers and let them cure overnight in our dry rooms. So that the water is pulled out to firm up the center. So then, we have our center and then, from there we go to the engrossing process to build up this shell. And we're constantly tasting as we go, you know, do we need to add a little more flavor? Do we need to add a little more color? You know. And that kind of thing. Until we get it to where we think, you know, it's pretty good. We'll see where this goes and then we have to polish the bean to make it presentable, to make it look shiny like this. >> So, at any given time, there's several million beans out here. >> How many? >> Several million. >> A million beans. >> It's a real art. >> Yeah. 

Creating A Jelly Belly

Before working, I guess, in any food science job. Did you get specific classes in high school or- >> Mm-hm, I had a goal in my mind. I knew it was gonna be science, some degree in science, I wasn't sure what. So I took all the prerequisite courses that I knew were gonna be required. So, I knew that I liked food science. I knew that I liked nutrition. And so that's what my degree is in. So then I thought, well, what else can I do? And I have this science background, and I have the nutrition background. And I thought, well, I like the creativity aspect of it. And so, I got a degree from the Culinary Academy as well. And that kinda combined the arts and the sciences together. And then I was fortunate enough to get the job here and it's just great being able to come up with new candy products and new JellyBelly flavors and seeing how much people enjoy it and it's pretty cool. 

I Had A Goal

I'm able to make all my own test samples, which is really cool. I'm pretty proud of those. You should see some of the ones in the very beginning when I started working here they were really pretty scary. >> [LAUGH] >> It would have ended up as belly flops for sure, but and a lot of our test candy does end up as belly flops. Just because we rarely get it right the first time around. I mean we were working on a pizza, we wanted a pizza jelly belly, and it was like oh, we are gonna make this really super tasty pizza and we were throwing all kinds of flavors in there and stuff and then when we tasted it, was so hideous. >> [LAUGH] >> It was like, oh this would be perfect for vomit, you know, for the vomit bean. >> [LAUGH] >> So, it was a mistake, but it wound up being a success. >> Cheers! >> Cheers. >> [LAUGH] Ew. >> Are you kidding? >> [LAUGH] >> I can't. >> She's like, I can't. >> I'm done. >> I'm not gonna give up. >> I can't even smell it. >> That is so awful! >> Every time you buy it a little more it just gets bad again. >> [LAUGH] That is just terrible. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. >> That's the goal. The grosser, the better. >> You have been successful in making the worst tasting jelly bean. >> What you do today, it made a good skit gag. >> [LAUGH] >> So don't be afraid to make mistakes. I feel very fortunate, I really do. I didn't plan this but you need to be open to opportunities, to be able to capture those opportunities when they present themselves. I feel lucky you know I'm at the forefront of developing new candy products and it's like I never thought would be doing that. >> I wanna give you a hug. >> Oh. >> Kind of embrace those new concepts. 

Be Open And Embrace New Challenges

It's always easier to get a job when you have a job. So that was something I always kept in mind before I switched jobs. I always kept the job I had until I got something else. And you have to get to a point where, for whatever reason, you just feel like I'm just not satisfied in this job anymore. There is gotta be more, there is, you'll know. And whether it's the work itself, or it's external factors, or whatever, something will let you know. So then, you prepare in your mind, okay you tell yourself I'm gonna look for something else, and you might not be sure exactly what it is right off the bat, but you have already made the decision that you're gonna move on. So then you start looking at well, what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, what else can I do, what else do I have to offer, do I need more training? So then if you are able to, go get more training, great. More power to you. If you can't, you can find other ways but I think it kind of needs to be a process that you just, for whatever reason, you just don't feel satisfied or happy where you're at. So then, you need to start asking yourself why? And what changes do I need to make in order to be happy again at what I'm doing. What would it take? What do I need to do? So once you have that in your mind, you can make the plans. Doesn't always work out just because you have a plan [LAUGH] But, if you don't try, you won't ever get anything. So, you gotta try. 

Moving Onto The Next Job

Like I say, I didn't exactly know what I wanted to do, but you just kinda have to pick something and kinda follow it. If you have a passion for something, that's great. But otherwise, if you kinda good at something or you enjoy doing something, you should follow that. And don't be afraid to make mistakes, cuz like what I was saying before about when we're working on the vomit bean? I mean, originally, it started out it was supposed to be this, a pizza jelly-belly, and it was like, oh, we're gonna make this really super tasty pizza, and we were throwing all kind of flavors in there and stuff, and then when we tasted it, it was like, it's so hideous. It was like, oh, this will be perfect for vomit, for the vomit theme. So, it was a mistake but it ended up being a success. So, you can capitalize on your mistakes and turn them into successes, which is a good thing. So you shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes, and you never know where something will take you. If you just try something and it doesn't work, you might meet somebody or you might try something and it will steer you in another direction, and then you might find, oh, I'm better at this or I really like this. And so, and you guys are young, so you have all kinds of time, there's so much you can do. You're really lucky that way, you're just starting out. 

Don't Be Afraid To Make Mistakes

How do you know you're super passionate about something? >> I can't say that I'm like, I don't know if I'm necessarily real passionate some people are, just they know exactly from grade school. They know what they wanna do and it's like this is what I'm gonna do and it's their everything. But, you know what you like. And a lot of times what you like, you're good at. And so kinda follow those kinda things. But, I'm sure if you really had a passion for something, you would know. It would be real apparent, I think, right of the bat. I think. [LAUGH] >> We get a lot of people that tell us, well follow your passion. But I think, yeah what is my passion? >> What is my passion, yeah? >> Yeah. >> Well, you probably know what you don't like and so if you know what you do like and if there's things that you just find yourself constantly coming back to all the time, that could be it. A lot of times there's reality that kicks in too. It's like well, are they job opportunities out there for that? I mean you do have to make a living and so you try to find if you can combine what you enjoy or what your passion is with what you do to make a living that's even better. That's great. 

Passion

What Is My Passion?

It's probably really tough nowadays. I'm sure there's a lot more competition. And, you guys have it a lot more difficult, I think. I don't really know, but it seems like it's a lot tougher out there nowadays. But, if you feel good about yourself and what you do, and if you feel you can project that, and people get a good attitude, I always say that a positive attitude will take you a long way. Education and training and all that, it's, of course, an absolute wonderful thing, but if you have a good attitude and people can tell that, you're a good person to work with, a team player, that's gonna really help you a lot. 

Elise Benstein

Food Scientist

Videos

Elise Benstein

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Food

Science

Being Creative

Interviewed By

Potential Possible