Vocational Programs for Food Scientists and Technologists Career

The role of Food Scientists and Technologists is to 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.

The average annual wage of the occupations is $88,350 and $42 per hour. 8 vocational programs could be taken for the Food Scientists and Technologists career. Based on BLS data, a total of 14,100 employees were employed in the Occupation.

Vocational Programs to Prepare Food Scientists and Technologists Career

The following 8 vocational programs are required or helpful to prepare Food Scientists and Technologists.

The tuition, program length, and completion time program information is average amounts over all schools that offer each program. This information is only for vocational programs (i.e. certificate programs) and not for bachelor's or graduate degrees.

2025 Average Tuition and Time for Preparing Food Scientists and Technologists
Program Name	Number of Schools	Tuition & Fees	Books & Supplies	Program Lengths	Avg. Completion Time
Agriculture	837	$26,272	-	1,206 Hours	14.77 Months
International Agriculture	4	$35,340	-	-	-
Food Science	13	$31,224	-	-	-
Food Technology and Processing	16	$24,847	-	-	-
Brewing Science	18	$45,191	-	-	-
Zymology/Fermentation Science	1	$17,048	-	-	-
Food Science and Technology (other)	5	$27,513	-	-	-
Culinary Science/Culinology	2	$30,424	-	-	-

Related Occupations to Food Scientists and Technologists Career

The following 20 occupations are related to Food Scientists and Technologists.

Related Occupations toFood Scientists and Technologists
Occupation	Total Employees	Annual Wages	Hourly Rate
Industrial Production Managers	223K	$125,900	$61
Architectural and Engineering Managers	208K	$172,290	$83
Agricultural Engineers	1,860	$93,490	$45
Chemical Engineers	21,140	$122,910	$59
Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	22,510	$108,740	$52
Industrial Engineers	333K	$103,150	$50
Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians	73,020	$66,640	$32
Animal Scientists	2,460	$89,450	$43
Soil and Plant Scientists	15,800	$77,080	$37
Microbiologists	21,540	$93,380	$45
Chemists	83,530	$95,560	$46
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health	80,730	$86,710	$42
Agricultural Technicians	13,150	$46,810	$23
Food Science Technicians	15,190	$54,000	$26
Chemical Technicians	55,880	$60,920	$29
Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other	72,230	$62,640	$30
Cooks, Restaurant	1,412K	$36,060	$17
Agricultural Inspectors	12,660	$52,170	$25
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products	23,430	$34,880	$17
Plant and System Operators, All Other	15,370	$59,890	$29

Schools offering vocational programs for Food Scientists and Technologists

The following 629 schools offer the vocational programs and certificate courses for preparing Food Scientists and Technologists. The list includes some 4-year colleges that have certificate or associate programs for the career.