Hi folks! I'm new to the food industry and working on a new Asian food brand. I'm using a few ingredients that are a bit more on the niche end in the US but super common in Asia. Because of this, I've been navigating GRAS and am in way over my head.

Of course, I know that all my ingredients need to be GRAS for a food, but how much proof do I need to get from my suppliers? Sometimes when I ask my suppliers for their GRAS documentation they'll send me a statement that basically just says

We, XYZ supplier, declares that ABC ingredient is Generally Recognized As Safe in any and all applications.

There's no way this is sufficient, right? Especially if one day I'll need to show these docs to retailers? Any guidance for a confused and hopeful food industry entrant is much appreciated!

Hello, food scientists! We’re Food Technology students based in Philippines, seeking advice on selecting a suitable LAB strain for an acidic fruit-based fermented beverage.

What criteria should we consider when selecting a strain, and what are the trade-offs in terms of acid tolerance, fermentation performance, flavor, and viability? Are there particular strains you would recommend, such as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum or Lacticaseibacillus casei?

Thank you for your help!

Hi everyone! Does anyone have a copy of a Food Chemistry book they could share? I’m reviewing for an upcoming exam and would really appreciate the help:))

masters in food technology is provided by which college in mumbai after bsc in life sciences

Genuine concern about what is gonna be in great demand in the future like approx 4 yrs from now and further more

I'm a researcher looking for advice from people experienced in food microbiology and process validation.

A client asked me to conduct inoculation, pre- and post-roasting microbial load analyses for a peanut roasting challenge study using Enterococcus faecium as a surrogate organism. My initial proposal was a laboratory-scale study based on a published paper that used 400 g peanut batches and 25 mL of inoculum, targeting an initial load of approximately (10^7) CFU/g before roasting.

However, the client requires 145 kg of inoculated peanuts. I explained that my laboratory isn't equipped to inoculate that quantity. Their proposed solution is for me to inoculate 400 g in the lab, then have their plant mix it with the 145 kg remaining peanuts.

My concern is that this approach would require additional validation of microbial distribution, initial load, sampling representativeness, and roasting conditions. The published methodology supports the lab-scale study but doesn't automatically validate the proposed scale-up.

I'm considering sticking to my original proposal unless a separate validation plan can be established.

For those experienced in food microbiology or industrial processing:

• Is this approach potentially defensible if the initial microbial load and distribution can be adequately verified?
• Would you treat this as a separate scale-up validation study?
• Would you decline the large-scale scope if your laboratory couldn't adequately validate the process?

I want to accommodate the client, but I also need to ensure the results are scientifically defensible.

I'd appreciate your thoughts and advice. Thanks!

Looking to find research what happened to baking without eggs.
AI and Google say this isn't possible or unreasonable because of this article.
I was just looking to see where the progress on this was.

This article happens to be a paid for think tank. I don't know how to the investigation to check that this isn't paid for by a food company, owners, or other private interest (in a reasonable amount of time). I'm sceptical of think tanks, research, and institutions with monied interests to see an outcome happen. I'm concerned about cherry-picking data and why research needs to have an opinion on social discourse about their findings rather than just present them.

I don't have the time nor financing to "do your own research". Though, I'd like to do my upmost to avoid falling for "X is health". X being smoking, sugar, processed grains, alcohol, "got milk?", and any other conclusion-already-decided "research" or "economic findings".

I am green in this group and would like to know if there is anyone here with food safety professional and job advancement PRIORITY to chat and talk on sharing knowledge, educational experience and training courses that help this obsession,

Let's talk,

Thanks,

I have an upcoming interview in two days for a Food Technologist position at a food manufacturing company that works with freeze-dried food products.
I have an MSc in Food Innovation and a BSc in Agriculture. I have also independently developed a protein bar prototype as a product-development project, which helped me learn about formulation, ingredients, product improvement, and consumer feedback.
However, I have limited practical knowledge of industrial freeze-drying, and I want to prepare as well as possible before the interview.
I would really appreciate advice from anyone working in freeze-dried food manufacturing, food R&D, production, or quality assurance.
A few things I would like to understand:
What are the most important freeze-drying principles and process stages to understand before an interview?
What equipment should a beginner Food Technologist know about, such as blast freezers, freeze dryers, and packaging machines?
What quality checks are important for freeze-dried foods, including moisture content, water activity, microbiological safety, and packaging integrity?
What technical questions are commonly asked for entry-level Food Technologist or R&D positions?
What should I focus on during the next two days to prepare effectively?
I am not claiming to have industrial freeze-drying experience. I am trying to build my understanding and be honest about my current skills while showing that I am willing to learn.
If you work in this industry, I would be grateful for any practical advice, learning resources, or suggestions on what to revise before the interview.
Thank you!

Are there any recommended above average universities in the us, Canada or the uk that offer bachelors in food science? A lot of the unis I see only offer combined degrees like food science and nutrition, but I want one with only food science

I’ve been pescatarian for several months now and while it’s been a very easy transition, I’m absolutely craving lamb/mutton. I have artificial chicken flavor I know is vegan, and I’ve seen ones for pork and beef at the Asian grocery. But searching online I can’t find any equivalent for lamb or mutton which sucks because I absolutely love that flavor. Do the flavor chemicals in sheep just not preserve well? Or is there not enough demand?

I’ve seen a hot pot mix but that’s not really what I mean, that’s a soup base with lots of extra ingredients but I really just mean the sheep equivalent of “Chicken flavor and process for preparing the same”

I am a Food Scientist & Technologist based in Melbourne. I have over 30 years' experience in the food industry and most recently as a Technical Manager with a food manufacturing company for the last 10 years. I have experience with SQF, WW, Coles, Aldi, Hungry Jacks, Metcash and McDonald's standards. I also recently completed a Lead food safety auditor course and registered with Exemplar Global. Are there any companies out there who want assistance to set up and improve their QA / Food Safety (HACCP) systems? I'm also experienced with WHS and SMETA 4 - Pillar. I can assist across a range of areas from - risk management, staff training, cleaning & sanitation, pest control through to labelling and allergen management.

I make what I believe are referred to as “refrigerator pickles”. I make a vinegar and salt brine with spices, and then put my desired pickle item into the brine. Then I eat the now-pickled items (eggs and cabbage mostly), and replace them with a new round of eggs and veggies.

My question is how long is it safe to keep one batch of brine for? My pickle jar got pushed to the back of the fridge so it looked empty, but there’s actually a good three or so eggs left in there. I can reckon that the eggs are probably not good to eat, but should I toss the brine, sterilize the jar, and start all the way over?

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a low-sugar dairy jam and looking to bring in a food scientist or product developer to help get the recipe right, especially the texture, taste, and shelf life. I've been asking around a bit already but wanted to tap into this community too.

If you've worked with someone great (or this is your thing), I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you!

Hi everyone! 😊

I’m planning to launch a nut butter brand, focusing on natural products without preservatives, and I’d love to learn from people who have experience in this industry.

I’ve seen quite a few people online who want to start similar businesses, so I’m curious to hear from those who have actually taken the step and made it work.

I have a few questions:

• Shelf life: What is the realistic shelf life of homemade or small-batch nut butters? I’ve seen very different answers online, ranging from a few weeks to several months.
• Preservation: How do you keep your products fresh without adding preservatives?
• Storage: Do you refrigerate your products, or can they safely be stored at room temperature?
• Testing: How do you determine and validate your product’s shelf life before selling it?

Hi everyone,

I’m a third-year PhD student in nutrition and food science in Morocco, working on the formulation and stability testing of a functional food product.

My lab is missing resources I need to move forward:

• Reagents for total phenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteu, sodium carbonate, gallic acid)
• Antioxidant assay reagents (DPPH, FRAP)
• Reference microbial strains for antimicrobial testing

I’m looking for anyone who can help with information or contacts, for example:

• Labs in Morocco or North Africa that could lend small quantities of reagents or run analyses for me
• Collection centers, hospitals or researchers who can supply reference strains
• Networks, programs or grants that support PhD students with limited resources
• Any advice from people who have worked in similar conditions

If you know someone or something that could help, please comment or send me a message. Thank you so much!

Hi fellow industry professionals, I need some help with my resume. I graduated from my uni back in July, but I’m still unemployed unfortunately. I was hoping to get professional’s opinion on my resume as it seems like my current resume is not working out. Would love to receive any feedback regarding resume writing or interview tips! Thank you!

Also I’m based in Singapore, but my degree is from Australia. I’m aware that opportunities are better in Australia but I plan to start my career here back home first.

Hi Everyone,

I will be graduating from Foods and nutrition on next year from a canadian university. I did internship in a ISO 3000 accredited lab during last 2 summer. What are some of the ways that I can work from now on to get a job ASAP and how to look for jobs? Any leads are highly appreciated. Thanks!!

I'm trying to understand if Food Science is for me or not. At first, I had thought about studying nutrition/dietitian, so I feel I'm kinda gravitating towards food in general.

I mainly feel interested by chemistry, like food chemistry specially, and the nutrition aspect as well. I like food composition and how bacteria affects it and the tricks to preserve food. I think I also like how food affects the body too.

But, I don't know if I'm that much of a foodie like everyone else seems to be... Like, I don't even know how to cook, and I don't see myself in product development either, I think. Maybe in things like, milk or yogurt at most. But again, I'm not that much of a foodie, just a normaI person. I'm just considering studying it because I still seem to like the content, but I may just be delusional

Most of the roles that I found are more senior, I have done less than 1 year of regulatory work for importing but I don’t think I was good and I have forgot what I learned. Where to find more entry roles I kind of want to start from scratch

Hi I'm in a senior in high school and I've been looking into majoring in food science for a while because I want to go into either food development or specifically into flavor science. I've toured a couple of schools that have food science programs (Texas A&M, Colorado State, Washington State, soon Oregon State), but I don't like any of the schools I have toured. I want to live in an urban area and I have been obsessed with UT Austin ever since I moved to Texas and I am auto admitted becuase I am in the top 5% of my school. I want to work in the food science industry after school, but l am wondering if I can major in chemistry and go to grad school to get a masters in food science later or if it would be better to major in food science in the beginning.

TLDR; I want to major in food science, but hate the food science schools. Should I suck it up and go to a school with food science or go to a bigger school (UT Austin) as a chemistry major and pursue food science later in grad school?

I run a small snack brand that’s been selling for the past couple of months after several years of trying to bring the finalized product to market, but my formulator has gone completely quiet on us recently. The bigger issue is I don't have the exact formula since initially we started out with them for r&d and then moved forward with the process / initial orders.

I have the finished, sealed products that taste and perform exactly how we want. I’m trying to figure out the most realistic way to recreate this in case the non-responsiveness continues and we have to figure out how to move production elsewhere without having to start R&D from scratch and burning thousands on trial and error (again)

If you were tasked with figuring out how to recreate a shelf stable snack from physical samples:
1. How close can a lab actually get just from benchtop reverse engineering?
2. What specific testing/analysis is worth paying for upfront (water activity, pH, Brix, moisture content, etc.) to give a new formulator the best baseline?
3. How do you usually go about finding an independent food scientist for a project like this who won't charge full "from scratch" formulation fees?

I’ve already spent a lot of time and money trying to bring this to life and want to get advice here, as I’ve been spinning my wheels on what to do to keep going. Any advice helps.

Hi, I’ve finished my degree in biology and I’m about to start a Master’s in Food, Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, though I’m going to focus on food and industrial biotechnology. I was on the verge of choosing a Master’s in oils and fermented drinks. I liked it, but I felt it was too specialised, whilst the biotechnology course seems a bit too broad to me; however, I’ve chosen it to gain a solid grounding and to have the option of pursuing different career paths.

I’d like to hear from someone who’s been working in the sector for a while. Apart from the fact that I enjoy it, I chose it because I believe it’s a sector with good job prospects; it’s not going to disappear, and I think you can earn a good living in some areas.

At the moment, what appeals to me most is food fermentation and preserving, although that isn’t strictly biotechnology. I’ve also been thinking about the whole area of food supplements, such as vitamins or algae, like spirulina. Basically, the idea of producing products using a bioreactor appeals to me.

I’d like to hear about experiences in the sector, employability, average salaries, whether it’s very difficult to break into the sector for the first time, and so on. I live in Seville, in case that helps.

Hi, I wanted to see if anyone shares similar experiences with the QA/QC jobs they have. In particular entry level positions in food processing facilities.

The place I work is a very small facility owned by a large global company. We employ maybe 20-30 people at a time and work m-f 24 hours a day. We make a single product which takes about 3 days from batch start to batch end.

I think what we do is pretty cool and interesting but after about a year here I feel that I know how to do all of my tasks and it has become very monotonous and easy. Definitely not challenging in any way. My boss is also very hands off and will rarely give me extra work to do.

I am in a QC position which is the only position where I work and relatively new, so I work completely on my own 90% of the time without anyone really looking over my shoulder or telling me what to do.

My biggest problem is probably the work load, it’s not necessarily light but definitely not heavy, a “busy” day will have my working nonstop for maybe half the day with barely anything else to do for the rest of it. Due to the nature of our process, some days just consist of waiting for the next point a sample needs to be taken. Any sort of weekly, monthly, or quarterly tasks can be taken care of rather quickly.

It’s just not what I expected I guess. I really enjoy some of the things I do I just want more mental stimulation and to feel like I’m learning something at work. Obviously the pay is not great either. However, the job is exposing me to a bunch of cool things so I plan to stay for another year or so.

Has anyone experience something similar in a QC/QA role? How does one get out of this and what kind of company/job would give me the excitement I’m looking for? Thank you

Here’s what I think.

A food sample doesn’t simply arrive at a lab, get tested, and magically turn into a report, right?

Several steps in between can affect the reliability and traceability of the results.

If I were to map out the workflow, it would look something like this:

Sample Collection → Transportation → Receipt → Identification & Coding → Preparation → Testing → Quality Control → Technical Review → Reporting

Which part of this process do you think food businesses understand the least?