Food Processing Technicians
"Sugar+butter+apples=caramel apples. How?" Julia Pasqualucci
Basic information about your career
2. Food Processing Technicians have to make sure that the food has the right proportions, so they weigh and separate products.
3. Food Processing Technicians have to make sure the foods taste, texture, look, and shelf life is right, so they run tests on the food.
4. They usually work in laboratories that are well equipped and lit.
5. Food Processing Technicians work about 40 hours a week including when samples are ready.
6. This is a hot occupation right now so in the next ten years this occupation will have 27% more job openings.
7. The nation entry level salary for this job is $22,410.
8. You at least need an associates degree in food processing or biological science from a technical college, but all options are open.
9. Some important courses you could take in college would be food science, biology, chemistry, and algebra.
10. A lot of Food Processing Technicians are proud of their work that they can help food quality.
Pros and cons of this career
1. Improve the quality of food products
2. Help people that have diabetes or things like that by making sure the proportions are right
3. This is a hot occupation so job openings will be higher in the next few years
4. This job has to do with food and the quality and I really enjoy cooking so it would be cool compare things when I am cooking.
5. Cool to learn about the science of food.
Con's:
1. Not a very high salary.
2. Many times Food Processing Technicians will have to work evenings and weekends.
3. Not a lot of contact with other people.
What do you need to do to succeed in this career?
You will need to take helpful courses in high school and some specific courses you could take would be agricultural management, agricultural science, algebra, biology, chemistry, food and nutrition, food science, and probability and statistics. When I looked on the Bay Port course listing book, the classes that they for sure had that I could take are biology, chemistry, and food science.
College:
The least you will need is an associates degree in food processing or biological science from a technical college. Most employers look for two years of work experience too. When I looked at some possibilities of colleges, my top ranked one was University of Wisconsin-Madison. I picked this as my top rank because in the United States, the department of food science at UW Madison ranks as one of the best, they have special knowledge in a lot of areas like flavors, processes for crystallizing, freezing, and more. Finally it is not the cheapest college but it is also not the most expensive. It adds up to about $20,000 per year. The only My second college was University of Wisconsin-River Falls but I would not peruse this college because it only has food science as a minor, one of the most important topics. The final college I chose was Cornell University in New York. They have the basic courses that I need and because it is private it is very hard to get into plus very expensive because it is out of state.
Associations/Professional organization for this career
1350 Eye (I) Street
NW Washington, DC 20005
(202) 255-5900
Midwest Food Processors Association, Inc.
4600 American Parkway, Suite 210
Madison, WI 53718-8334
(608) 255-8334
Job Advertisement
Picture Sources: #1 http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/agricultural-and-food-science-technicians.htm#tab-1
#2,3,4 http://micefa.org/?portfolio=university-of-wisconsin-madison
#6 http://www.sscc.edu/academics/associate/food-processing-technology.shtml
#7 http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/international/visitingfellows/incomingvf.html