Does it ever occur to you when you go shopping in the food section in your favorite supermarket, “where do all these weird combinations of flavor but delicious taste come from?”

From the sourly sweet, fresh, and mildly spicy sambal Bangkok to the creamily purple and unique taste of taro yogurt, all these new flavors are invented by a wizard. A wizard with a professional scientific background and knowledge, called a Food Technologist.

A Food Technologist also goes by many names, such as Food Tech and food scientist. But what exactly is a Food Technologist? A food technologist is a professional who researches food to gain a better understanding of potential improvements to agriculture, food processing, food production, food storage, and food shipment. They also study and develop healthier, safer foods. Some food technologists focus on product development. Designing packaging, writing product specifications, and enforcing labeling regulations. Some food technologists assist in developing food processing plants to ensure compliance with laws and promote efficiency and safety.

5 Fun Facts about Food Technologists

To add more flavor to the mix, here are some fun facts about Food technologists:

A broad range of educational backgrounds.

Like a good dish has many spices and ingredients to make it perfectly tasty, so do Food Technologists. They have a wide range of educational backgrounds, which include nutrition, food science, chemistry, engineering, and culinary arts. Some professionals even have a two-year diploma in technology programs offered by institutes of technology and colleges, while others have four-year degrees.

Having technical, practical, and scientific knowledge 

They need to know the technical details of how these functional ingredients work, the practical details of working with them in the lab, and the scientific details of how they apply to their product. Product development combines the scientific disciplines, including chemistry, engineering, microbiology, and nutrition, to improve processes, preserve food, and package it.

Making new food products.

A chocolate banana chips, Citrusy and spicy cassava chips, red velvet milk to Klepon mochi ice cream, this new mix and match of flavorous food is the work of a food technologist. They develop new food products, prototypes, and processes from initial conception through well beyond commercialization. These products must meet performance, sensory, shelf-life, and safety/regulatory requirements. Food scientists research current consumer market trends and the latest technologies to develop new product concepts.

Problem solvers.

Whether it is finding out their formulation doesn’t work or the taste isn’t right, they need to adapt and problem-solve. They use their creativity to come up with unique solutions that come to mind intuitively.

Mastering various sets of skills.

If a Food technologist is a chef, then these are the essential ingredients that make a Food technologist skillful :

• Organizer- An essential skill that any product developer needs is the ability to organize their time and projects.
• Persistence- Sometimes products take a long time to develop, and over time, enthusiasm can diminish. When a product developer believes in their product, they keep going.
• Creative- To stay relevant in potential markets, businesses must stay one step ahead of the competition. They need to come up with ideas that haven’t been thought about or explored before.

Sounds delicious. So, are you interested in tasting that profession and becoming a food technologist?