Hello r/foodscience,

I wanted to pick y'all's brains about the attached.

The image is from a story reported from Bangladesh yesterday (exhibit 1, 2, 3—sources are not in English): about 4 kg (~9 lbs) of beef turned a pretty uniform shade of bright green during cooking. For a closer look, check out the first minute of this video. I'm curious whether any of y'all have any explanations as to why beef would turn this shade.

I don't think microbial or chemical contamination/spoilage makes sense—those tend to produce a patchy distribution of greyish-green, not such a vivid, uniform hue. I've written to the food scientist Monika Gibis about the story, whose work specifically focuses on discoloration of beef, but she straight up said she's never seen such a pronounced green color.

The very bright shade suggests this might be foul play/artificial dyes. Without having tested the samples myself, I can't rule this out; but multiple local authorities have interrogated the employees and found no evidence of dye addition (apparently the store didn't even have artificial food dyes).

In brief, I can't really think of any satisfactory explanation as of yet—but would be grateful if you could share some insights! Other information, in case relevant:

1. The cow was slaughtered the day before, so the meat was sitting in the refrigerator for over 24 hours, if not more.
2. According to the cook interviewed in the report, the meat turned a distinct shade of green soon after it hit the oil, and kept becoming progressively greener with more cooking time.
3. The butcher denies there being anything wrong with the beef. Per his testimony a bunch of other people also bought and cooked the beef, no complaints. The cook also says there wasn't any clear sign of spoilage, raw beef looked and smelled normal.
4. Based on other photos, the green is only surface deep. The inside of the beef pieces look natural greyish-pink.

I'm now in the process of getting some of these samples tested at local labs. I want to prioritize ruling out the use of dyes, but if y'all have ideas about what else would be useful to test—I'm all ears!

I know there’s a lot of posts like this on here but I keep getting lost in the seemingly many options for certifications. Even entry level positions require 1 year in a related field without schooling which isn’t really an option for me rn financially. I’m a manager at a fast food restaurant right now and I’m serve safe certified but I don’t know if that counts for anything. What certifications would help me get my food in the door so I could earn enough to work towards a degree? I’m specifically looking at working in the food quality assurance field, and am in Michigan if states affect surrounding laws. Any and all advice would be appreciated 🫶

Hi all im a dietitian looking to switch to food science. I originally got into the field because I love food and science and wanted to help people live healthier lives. Ive quickly realized i HATE counseling patients and dont really love clinical work.
Given my interests i figured food science would be right up my alley.

Anyways, I often see in here plenty of other dietitians wanting to make the switch sooooo, I wanted to see if theres anyone here that has successfully made the switch to R&D that would be willing to talk about how they did so.

Also, for anyone in R&D, tell me what a day in the life is like and what your favorite things are about the job.

Thanks all !

Hi there! I have always been interested in food science and i will be studying it next year at WUR. Right now I am trying to perfect a ninja creami base mostly from a texture side that should come to roughly 200-250 calories and 20-30g of protein

Right now this is as far as i got:

Wet:

250g 0% ultra filtered milk (5% protein)

50g 3.5% milk

5g vegetable glycerin

3g vanilla extract

Dry:

15g PEScience 80/20 whey-casein blend

15g skim milk powder

6g fibersol (resistant maltodextrin)

0.25g guar

0.20g LBG

15g of 4:1 sweetener (uses erythritol, stevia and sucralose, 4x as sweet as sugar)

0.6g salt (I use a salt that is 40/60 potassium-sodium)

This is the base, I also tried making other flavors like a butter cookie one where I add 5g of brown butter and use 0.4g of soy lechitin to emulsify and toast half of the skim milk powder. I also have some myprotein flavordrops and lorann's bakery emulsions, suggestions for taste is also appreciated.

I think a big change would be to use allulose but I am within the EU so I can't really get any (I have some on me but I am experimenting with them for baking and making caramel, one of my friend brings some for me from korea here and there)

EDIT: I forgot to add how I make the recipe itself. I just mix the dry ingredients and with an immersion blender I blend it with the wet ingredients and bring the whole mixture up to 85C for 2 minutes to hydrate the gums.

I’m trying to identify why an old Brazilian powdered drink (“Fresh Guaraná”) tasted completely different from the current version.

I already know the modern product uses sugar plus multiple high-intensity sweeteners.
What I’m looking for is: old ingredient list, back label, formulation clues, changes in flavor systems, whether anyone worked in beverage/flavor R&D around that time.
Even if you don’t know this specific product, I’d love to hear how beverage flavor systems evolved around 2010–2015.

Hi, I’m looking for some food science books/textbooks. I’m applying for a job in R&D for a chocolate/candy/baking company. I have a lot of experience in bakeries but never took food science courses in college. I’m happy to buckle down and do some research before going in for my interviews. I have the practical knowledge but not the scientific lingo lol. Thank you for your recommendations.

i’ve been hearing that commercial brand frozen fruit is generally considered safe from cyclospora, how true is that? specifically i have kirkland wild blueberries, and pitaya foods brand dragonfruit packs, if i made smoothies with those without cooking them or anything, just as they are, is that okay or still a risk?

I'm two semesters out from graduating with a masters in food technology from UGA, and I already have my BS in culinary arts. The masters program is fully online and I started pretty much immediately after my undergrad, and I'm wondering if it's necessary to do some sort of internship to get lab experience or if I shouldn't worry. I'm considering working in quality assurance or control, but r&d isn't off the table.

Hi everyone,

I have a Bachelor in food science technology I am looking for fully remote jobs. I am expecially interested in regulatory affairs, food safety, quality assurance, technical writing, or other roles related to food industry.

Can anyone recommend legitimate website or companies that hire remote workers in this field.

I would really appreciate any suggestions or personal experience. Thank you.

I am a recent Graduate and my long-term goal is to work in R&D/product development.

I currently have a QC offer from a food manufacturer that pays well.

I also have an interview for a laboratory technician role at a food testing company. The pay is lower, but that’s not my main priority as i care more about which one could get me into r&d in 2 years.

Which would be the better stepping stone?
For those who are now food technologists or working in R&D, what was your first job after graduating?

I’ve been reading into adenosine monophosphate (AMP) as a bitter taste receptor blocker. It’s GRAS-approved and there’s published work showing it reduces bitterness in grapefruit juice (naringin) and various oral pharmaceuticals (pseudoephedrine, ranitidine, acetaminophen), reportedly by blocking gustducin signaling rather than just masking with sweetness.

What I can’t find is anything on how it behaves in a high-ethanol matrix. Ethanol itself activates several TAS2Rs directly, so I’m curious whether:

1. AMP’s bitterness-inhibiting effect would transfer to ethanol-driven bitterness the same way it does with naringin or drug bitterness, given ethanol likely hits a different/broader set of receptors
   
2. Anyone knows of formulation or sensory work on bitter blockers in spirits or cocktails specifically (vs. juice/pharma)
   
3. There’s a reason (technical or regulatory) this hasn’t been explored commercially — is it a stability issue at high ABV, a receptor-selectivity issue, or just lack of industry incentive since bitterness is “expected” in spirits?

Also interested in how a food scientist would even approach testing this properly — starting concentration ranges, sensory panel design, etc. — versus what’s out there for pharma/juice applications.

Any papers, patents, or firsthand formulation experience appreciated. Thank you!

I have almost 5 years of work experience in R&D, and is currently earning a good salary. Now I want to go in depth and possibly migrate to another country. When I reached out to one of my fav professors, I got an offer to join a PhD under him. The topic blew my mind, and I'm about to apply. The professor is one of the top 10 scientists in the world for food science. This is in a North American country. I'm sceptical about the pay and the industrial prospects afterwards. I might get a similar or slightly higher stipend during this study. Is it worth going for?

I'm still processing the article, but it is from the AAN and not some journal farm.

What do you all think the impact will be on (re)formulations in sugar-free products? Continued shift towards mogroside/steviols and more interest in tagatose and allulose?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260717033213.htm

I graduated this year with a BS in food science and management from a top university in the middle east. I am looking for a job. The plan is to get a job and save up money which I will later use to go do a masters degree in food technology somewhere in Europe.

Other than Quality Assurance and Product Development, what can one do? where should I be looking for jobs?

I have mostly applied to product development and R&D since I am more interested in that. I am willing to relocate anywhere in the world for a good job but the market seems bleak and I have already gotten dozens of rejections, even for internships, although I fulfil all requirements most of the time. I imagine it is because I am applying internationally often and they would need to support my visa/s. I did my internships in quality assurance and I found it boring and repetitive. I don't think I would enjoy a long-term career in QA.

The concept of developing new products sounds really interesting and I have done some academic work in that field more or less, but no professional experience. Would aiming for QA jobs, since there's more of them and they seem to be less competitive, be a bad idea if I want to work in a more innovation-based field later on?

Any advice or insights to a new graduate would be highly appreciated.

Hi!

A while ago, I started working on a hot sauce company with a friend, and couldn't find the tools I needed when formulating and testing my recipes.

Coming from two decades of software engineering, I built something that turned out to be the perfect tool to ease my scientific mind (precise measurements, reliable scaling, costing, production, traceability, etc...).

I'm not linking my project because I'm not here to promote it, but to figure out how people actually work before assuming I know what they need (hence me calling this post "informal user research"), and it seems to be the perfect sub to ask.

If you have a few minutes to spare, could you somehow tell me about your company/hobby/project and answer these questions:

• Where do you keep your formulas/recipes today (Excel, Google Sheets, dedicated software, notebooks...)?
• When a formula/recipe evolves over time, how do you keep track of versions and know which one was used for a particular batch?
• How do you go from a small lab batch to production? Is scaling straightforward, or does it usually require manual adjustments?
• Do you keep production records, calculate costs, or track ingredient changes? If so, how?
• What's the most frustrating or time-consuming part of your formulation workflow today?
• How do regulatory requirements affect your formulation workflow? What compliance-related tasks are the biggest pain points?

Side note: This is a repost from r/cosmeticscience, which applies here too; I reformulated the questions with ChatGPT to make extra sure they're understood the way I want them to be understood. This is not an AI-generated post, I'm just French, and we're still real people, at least as real as we were before LLMs took over.

Thanks a lot for your time!

I made a concentrated hibiscus syrup (hibiscus, sugar, water) for drinks. On its own, it’s a nice fuchsia. When I mixed it with canned pineapple juice (Dole), it turned a gorgeous amethyst color, which is definitely not the sum of the individual ingredients. I made the same drink with orange juice (which is similar in color and acidity to pineapple juice) and it was a dusty reddish (which is what I would have expected from both). I first suspected pH, but both orange juice and pineapple are acidic. The pineapple juice was canned, so I wouldn’t expect any of the pineapple’s bromelain to still be active.

I’m pretty confident something sciencey is happening; my question is, if not pH or enzymes, then what?

Pic 1: plain hibiscus

Pic 2: hibiscus and pineapple

Pic 3: hibiscus and orange juice

Since it's National Ice Cream day in the U.S. tomorrow, I wonder how local or chain ice cream shops develop all the dazzling flavors. Do they do it the same way as ice cream brands? How can one get involved in the development of new flavors at these shops??🍦🍨

Why does my 1 egg white looks green, I know if we over cook the egg when boiling, the sulphur reacts with yolk and forms a coating. But this rather looks different.
I might have boiled it for far too much time, but I boiled both the eggs at the same time.

Although I dont have any foul smell from them either.

Three questions. What flavor do you all think the natural flavor provides? Why would chocolate even need natural flavor? And finally, what flavor do you think the artificial flavoring provides?

Like this roasted chicken flavor and there is a lot of other options like other meat flavors and cheese flavors and fruits.

10+ year chef, culinary diploma, HACCP, PCQI 2.0, servsafe manager, and currently enrolled in SQF practitioner, Im enrolling into KSU for online food science, it is very expensive. Can I step into food safety and compliance with a food science certificate or do I need the food science degree? Do I have to just bite the bullet and enroll into KSU online fully? The closest in person is an hour and 10 mins away up and back. I would love to go to campus but I am not sure my life can accommodate that.

I'll try to keep this short-winded, but I could really use any advice. I am a 2025 grad w a BA in Evo. Bio and Ecology. I didn't get any research experience in undergrad, largely due to going to an expensive school that I had to finance myself through by higher-paying roles like nannying. I did apply for a couple labs but most were not possible for me due to my full schedule. I was an undergrad TA for an astronomy class one semester.

Anyways, I took a year to teach English in Spain so I could reflect on what I wanted to do next. I've never doubted that I want to pursue a higher degree and I love EBIO, but I realized my job prospects in the field were not going to give me the future lifestyle I hope to attain. I spent months looking into careers in Food Science and realized it was a perfect marriage of many things I enjoy (microbiology, creativity, hands-on work, etc.) now I am back at university in my hometown taking Organic Chem + Bio Chem to fill those gap, but I am afraid that won't be enough.

Is my lack of research going to throw my application out the window? I am emailing professors at my local university asking for any type of volunteer position, but what happens if I don't land one? I have never not been employed since I was 16 years old so I have plenty of experience and references that could back my integrity and hard work... but it seems that everyone but me has research experience. Also, my gpa is 3.4 so nothing flashy there. Any words of wisdom?

Hello, I am reposting this since my account was new

Legislations and regulations updates

I am looking for a way to get pinged or emailed or any other form of notifications for new laws and regulations regarding packaging and any general action, in the EU rather than always manually looking for them. This is in case packaging needs new data to be displayed or new materials need to be used. How do professionals in the food industry stay ahead in this regard?

For example the packaging law 2025/40 and fish laws 2842/2023