Know Your Worth / Food & beverage
Food and beverage careers combine scientific investigation with formulation, manufacturing, sourcing, quality, and customer needs. Work may depend on approved laboratories, controlled samples, traceable records, and qualified decisions about product safety, labeling, and commercial production; research exercises alone do not establish readiness for sale.
1–30 of 30 careers · 1,000 in the directory
All careersEmployee references are annual US median wages for the cited BLS occupation, which may cover several career paths. Freelance examples add $15,000 for benefits and $20,000 for business costs, then divide by 1,200 billable hours a year. Annual figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and hourly figures to the nearest dollar. Figures are before personal taxes, with no percentage fees. Open a guide to see the source or adjust the assumptions in the calculator.
BLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Help food businesses document allergen-related controls across ingredients, handling, production, and labeling. Examine change management and evidence quality without treating a paper procedure as proof of safe production.
View career → Allergen Control SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Develop beverage concepts by studying ingredient interactions, flavor balance, stability, and process suitability. Document the testing required before a formulation can support production or marketing claims.
View career → Beverage Formulation ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Coordinate beverage production capacity, packaging availability, and order requirements. Make schedule tradeoffs visible while accounting for changeovers, product constraints, and the quality approvals needed before shipments can proceed.
View career → Beverage Production PlannerBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Evaluate beverage production consistency through analytical and sensory evidence. Track batch variation, instrument checks, and investigation records while respecting approved laboratory methods and product safety responsibilities.
View career → Brewery Quality ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Review temperature-control evidence across food storage and transport. Evaluate monitoring gaps, equipment records, and excursion investigations while reserving product disposition decisions for appropriately authorized food safety personnel.
View career → Cold Chain Quality SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Study ingredient and process interactions in bakery products through controlled development work. Connect structure, sensory outcomes, and production consistency while recording the evidence needed for commercial validation.
View career → Commercial Bakery Research ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Assess dairy processing workflows with attention to material characteristics, equipment constraints, and required validation. Translate operating records into improvement questions for qualified engineering and food safety teams.
View career → Dairy Process SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Investigate fermentation behavior for food or beverage applications. Use controlled experimental design and careful measurement to understand variability before proposing changes to a commercial production process.
View career → Fermentation ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Chemists
Investigate flavor perception and ingredient behavior within a defined food application. Coordinate analytical evidence and sensory evaluation while documenting formulation restrictions and the limits of proposed flavor claims.
View career → Flavor ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Investigate whether ingredient and product evidence supports identity and origin claims. Combine analytical results, documentation, and uncertainty to flag inconsistencies without overstating what a single method can establish.
View career → Food Authenticity AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Help product teams evaluate an ingredient in a specific food process. Translate supplier information into application trials, measurement criteria, and questions that determine whether the ingredient is suitable.
View career → Food Ingredient Applications ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Buyers and purchasing agents
Support ingredient purchasing decisions through specifications, supplier evidence, and commercial comparisons. Coordinate substitution questions and availability risks without approving material changes that require technical or food safety review.
View career → Food Ingredient Procurement SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Microbiologists
Study microorganisms relevant to food quality and safety in appropriately equipped laboratories. Interpret sampling and analytical evidence while keeping identification, exposure, and validation limits explicit.
View career → Food MicrobiologistBLS · May 2025 · Materials Scientists
Develop packaging concepts that fit food characteristics and distribution needs. Compare barrier performance, usability, production compatibility, and environmental tradeoffs while identifying required food-contact and product validation.
View career → Food Packaging TechnologistBLS · May 2025 · Project management specialists
Coordinate supervised pilot trials that connect development concepts with production learning. Organize materials, approved procedures, observations, and decisions so trial results are useful beyond a successful sample batch.
View career → Food Pilot Plant CoordinatorBLS · May 2025 · Chemical Engineers
Improve the design and operation of food processing systems. Connect material behavior, equipment capability, production constraints, and quality evidence while coordinating required safety and engineering approvals.
View career → Food Process EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Develop food concepts through structured formulation and evaluation. Connect consumer needs with ingredient behavior, process constraints, and evidence needed before a product can be commercialized.
View career → Food Product Development ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Review whether food quality practices match documented requirements and available evidence. Report traceable findings and corrective-action questions while separating an advisory review from accredited certification or release authorization.
View career → Food Quality AuditorBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Organize the evidence and document reviews needed for food product decisions in a defined jurisdiction. Coordinate labels, specifications, and claims with appropriately qualified regulatory and legal reviewers.
View career → Food Regulatory Affairs SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Evaluate evidence used to control food hazards across production and distribution. Translate scientific questions into validation plans and clear records for qualified food safety decisions.
View career → Food Safety ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Create clear technical documents for food products, equipment, or production workflows. Maintain traceability to approved sources and responsible reviewers so simplified language does not conceal operating limits or safety requirements.
View career → Food Technical WriterBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Study how ingredients and processing affect food structure and perceived texture. Connect instrument measurements with sensory questions and practical manufacturing constraints rather than relying on one numerical texture score.
View career → Food Texture ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Logisticians
Connect food ingredient, production, and distribution records so a business can trace product movement. Identify broken identifiers and missing handoffs before an actual quality event demands rapid investigation.
View career → Food Traceability AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Find avoidable food losses through process observation, measurement, and practical trials. Distinguish preventable waste from necessary controls and evaluate improvements without compromising approved handling or food safety practices.
View career → Food Waste Reduction ConsultantBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Evaluate nutrition research and datasets for product or public-information questions. Communicate study design, uncertainty, and population limits while keeping research synthesis separate from personalized dietary or medical advice.
View career → Nutrition Research AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Study how plant proteins behave in food applications. Compare functionality, ingredient variation, sensory characteristics, and processing compatibility while documenting unresolved questions before a formulation is proposed for commercialization.
View career → Plant Protein Development ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Evaluate menu performance using sales, recipe-cost, and operational evidence. Help operators compare contribution and complexity while recognizing that customer demand and kitchen capacity affect practical recommendations.
View career → Restaurant Menu AnalystBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Design studies that describe how people perceive food and beverages. Control sampling conditions and interpretation so product teams can distinguish useful differences from expectation or measurement noise.
View career → Sensory ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Food Scientists and Technologists
Evaluate how product quality and safety evidence changes over storage. Design studies that account for packaging, distribution conditions, and uncertainty rather than assigning dates from a single observation.
View career → Shelf Life ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
Evaluate food-system decisions using explicit resource, waste, and sourcing assumptions. Compare scenarios consistently and explain tradeoffs rather than presenting a narrow footprint metric as a complete sustainability judgment.
View career → Sustainable Food Systems Analyst