Facts You Need To Know About Food Technologists

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 amazingly good taste comes 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. Wizard with professional scientific background and knowledge called Food Technologist.

Food Technologist also goes by many names like Food Tech, food scientist. But what exactly Food Technologist is? 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 research and develop foods that are healthier and safer to consume. Some food technologists focus on product development. designing packaging, writing product specifications, and enforcing labeling regulations. some food technologists assist with designing food processing plants to ensure they comply with regulations 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 food has a lot of spices and ingredients to make them perfectly tasteful, so do Food Technologist. 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 knowledge of how these functional ingredients work, the practical knowledge of working with them in the lab, and the scientific knowledge to know they apply to their product. Such as Product development combines the scientific disciplines including chemistry, engineering, microbiology, and nutrition in order to improve a process, preserve, and package food.

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 starting from the initial conception to well beyond the commercialization of the product. These products must satisfy product performance, sensory, shelf life, and safety/regulation requirements. Food scientists research current consumer market trends and the latest technologies to develop new product concepts.

Problems solvers. 

Whether it is finding out their formulation just 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 which can be thought of intuitively.

Mastering various sets of skills. 

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

• Organizer- An essential skill that any product developer needs is the ability to organize their time and project.
• Persistence- Sometimes products take a long time to develop and over time enthusiasm can diminish. When product developer believes in their products they keep going.
• Creative- In order 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.

Sound delicious, isn’t it? so are you interested to taste that profession and become a food technologist?