Food Scientists and Technologists
Also called: Food and Drug Research Scientist, Food Scientist, Food Technologist, Research ChefUse 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.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 10 of its 13 tasks, yet jobs are projected to grow 6.2% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 3.1% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Agricultural and food scientists”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 8.4 hires for every 10 job openings in nondurable goods manufacturing, which employs about 57% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.8.4 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $97,480 | $82,730 to $113,640 | 60 |
| Arizona | $90,450 | $80,950 to $91,240 | not published |
| Arkansas | $84,330 | $62,410 to $133,450 | 310 |
| California | $93,950 | $74,660 to $120,100 | 2,210 |
| Colorado | $99,580 | $74,830 to $130,830 | 320 |
| Florida | $101,160 | $73,380 to $118,230 | 170 |
| Georgia | $86,050 | $47,420 to $119,940 | 560 |
| Idaho | $77,440 | $47,840 to $84,970 | 140 |
| Illinois | $94,340 | $72,470 to $129,500 | 780 |
| Indiana | $69,350 | $49,460 to $92,060 | 300 |
| Iowa | $82,010 | $65,170 to $103,940 | 380 |
| Kansas | $85,130 | $65,040 to $110,170 | 380 |
| Kentucky | $98,710 | $70,850 to $122,320 | 170 |
| Maine | $89,480 | $63,560 to $107,010 | 30 |
| Maryland | $93,330 | $73,680 to $131,580 | 270 |
| Massachusetts | $103,580 | $87,480 to $149,830 | 420 |
| Michigan | $76,940 | $63,030 to $100,270 | 430 |
| Minnesota | $99,280 | $80,810 to $134,370 | 670 |
| Missouri | $105,930 | $78,630 to $126,680 | 390 |
| Montana | $52,230 | $48,350 to $62,520 | 30 |
| Nebraska | $72,230 | $55,570 to $99,100 | 230 |
| Nevada | $80,580 | $74,690 to $89,890 | 50 |
| New Jersey | $104,340 | $80,020 to $132,150 | 630 |
| New Mexico | $79,130 | $56,970 to $93,870 | 30 |
| New York | $94,070 | $75,790 to $113,220 | 660 |
| North Carolina | $79,840 | $67,760 to $105,780 | 230 |
| Ohio | $76,780 | $49,670 to $95,140 | 270 |
| Oklahoma | $84,750 | $72,340 to $99,860 | 50 |
| Oregon | $81,660 | $68,150 to $98,630 | 270 |
| Pennsylvania | $83,380 | $64,460 to $101,230 | 400 |
| Rhode Island | $87,970 | $78,560 to $89,990 | 40 |
| South Carolina | $108,660 | $70,310 to $152,250 | 90 |
| South Dakota | $71,330 | $59,650 to $137,250 | 90 |
| Tennessee | $81,760 | $69,150 to $95,210 | 70 |
| Texas | $90,610 | $63,330 to $107,610 | 840 |
| Utah | $73,280 | $61,520 to $111,530 | 120 |
| Virginia | $93,590 | $73,970 to $129,730 | 70 |
| Washington | $94,990 | $77,170 to $128,890 | 250 |
| Wisconsin | $83,020 | $66,860 to $107,000 | 410 |
Nationally: $88,720. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 10 of its 13 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Inspect food processing areas to ensure compliance with government regulations and standards for sanitation, safety, quality, and waste management. | Not published |
| Not much | Check raw ingredients for maturity or stability for processing, and finished products for safety, quality, and nutritional value. | Not published |
| AI + software | Study methods to improve aspects of foods, such as chemical composition, flavor, color, texture, nutritional value, and convenience. | Not published |
| AI alone | Develop food standards and production specifications, safety and sanitary regulations, and waste management and water supply specifications. | Not published |
| AI + software | Stay up to date on new regulations and current events regarding food science by reviewing scientific literature. | Not published |
| AI + software | Study the structure and composition of food or the changes foods undergo in storage and processing. | Not published |
See all 13 tasks
| AI + software | Confer with process engineers, plant operators, flavor experts, and packaging and marketing specialists to resolve problems in product development. | Not published |
| Not much | Test new products for flavor, texture, color, nutritional content, and adherence to government and industry standards. | Not published |
| AI + software | Evaluate food processing and storage operations and assist in the development of quality assurance programs for such operations. | Not published |
| AI + software | Develop new food items for production, based on consumer feedback. | Not published |
| AI alone | Develop new or improved ways of preserving, processing, packaging, storing, and delivering foods, using knowledge of chemistry, microbiology, and other sciences. | Not published |
| AI + software | Demonstrate products to clients. | Not published |
| AI alone | Seek substitutes for harmful or undesirable additives, such as nitrites. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 0 of the 13 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 13 tasks fall under 10 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
- #4 Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- #15 Evaluate the characteristics, usefulness, or performance of products or technologies
- #27 Research technology designs or applications
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research technology designs or applications | |||
| Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise | |||
| Evaluate the characteristics, usefulness, or performance of products or technologies | |||
| Confer with clients to determine needs or order specifications | |||
| Coordinate with others to resolve problems | |||
| Develop operational or technical procedures or standards | |||
| Develop technical specifications for products or operations | |||
| Test characteristics of materials or products |
Show all 10 activities
| Inspect facilities or equipment | |||
| Evaluate production inputs or outputs |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- A document or report27%
- A chart or visualization13%
- Data or a spreadsheet13%
- An explanation or answer13%
- An analysis or summary7%
73% of these conversations were about work. Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026.
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for food scientists and technologists specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 1,864 moves out
- 1 Industrial Production Managers High +2.6% 9%
- 2 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 8%
- 3 Operations Research Analysts Very high +11.9% 7%
- 4 Marketing Managers Very high +6.9% 5%
- 5 Management Analysts Very high +10.1% 4%
Where people moved in from
of 2,031 moves in
- 1 Operations Research Analysts Very high +11.9% 14%
- 2 Managers, All Other (2010 group) an older group BLS has since split; no exposure group today 5%
- 3 Management Analysts Very high +10.1% 5%
- 4 Industrial Production Managers High +2.6% 4%
- 5 Marketing Managers Very high +6.9% 4%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 9% postsecondary certificate
- 5% associate's
- 82% bachelor's
- 5% master's
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 22 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 65% bachelor's
- 24% master's
- 11% doctorate
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Agricultural and food scientists” · 355 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Agricultural and food scientists”
9 programs, such as Agriculture, General, International Agriculture and Food Science.
See all
- Agriculture, General
- International Agriculture
- Food Science
- Food Technology and Processing
- Brewing Science
- Viticulture and Enology
- Zymology/Fermentation Science
- Food Science and Technology, Other
- Culinary Science/Culinology
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
16.7% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| an educational certificate | <0.5% | 2.8% |
| a license | not published | |
| a certification | not published |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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