What Can You Do With a Food Science Degree?

Quality assurance managers are about as close as you can get to a police role in the food industry. Individuals working in quality assurance ensure that food products meet the correct standards set out in the regulations and comply to all internal and external requirements.

The role also requires you to collect and interpret data on current standards and procedures, reporting any findings to senior management with suggestions on how to improve them.

This career requires you to have a logical mindset, and be very organised and strategic, with excellent problem-solving abilities. As you get higher up in your career, leadership skills are essential, and you must be able to work well in a team in order to solve any multitude of problems that may arise!

Those who thrive in a fast-paced, busy environment may want to consider being a chef. Beware, the hours may be long and often unsociable, but for those who love to cook, this can be an incredibly rewarding career.

Although a food degree isn’t essential for this role, it can be incredibly useful to gain an understanding of the industry. Experience here is a necessity, and anything you can do to get your foot in the door will help.

Try to get as much experience as you can in the hospitality industry, be it in waiting, dishwashing etc. Being in the environment can teach you a lot about the industry and will look great on your CV!

You will most likely start off as a trainee chef/apprentice/commis when you start, where you will learn the tricks of the trade, such as how to correctly use knives and prepare food. You’ll also be expected to assist the chef de partie (section chef).

As you gain more experience you will move on to become a chef de partie yourself, then on to a sous chef (the second in command) and then finally (if you’re lucky) a head chef!

The good thing about this career is that there’s a clear progression path and most of the time and hard work really pays off.

For those looking for a more creative role, a career in food marketing might just cut the mustard.

Whether you focus on packaging, social media, consumer research or advertising, marketing encompasses many different aspects of building and maintaining the company’s brand and image, as well as marketing new and existing products on a specific selling point.

Food marketing can be quite challenging, as you’re dealing with perishable products that are often reliant on supplier conditions and changing consumer trends. However, it really is a career you can shape to your creative interests and is an excellent way to use the knowledge you have gained from your degree in a slightly unconventional way.

Procurement is about obtaining and buying items at the best price possible. In a food business this may mean purchasing ingredients, materials for packaging, or operational (e.g. electricity, machinery) or corporate (e.g. insurance, phone contracts) requirements.

In this role you must have excellent interpersonal skills, as you will be liaising with suppliers constantly to ensure that goods and services are delivered on time and at the correct price.

You should also be good at negotiation, very organised and able to adapt well to changes, as these are all skills that are frequently used in the job.

Toxicologists study toxic materials and how they affect humans, animals and the environment. They conduct studies on food, air, water and soil to determine how different chemicals and biological substances alter them and assess any risks or potential harmful effects.

To become a toxicologist, a strong science-based background is vital – there are a lot of hypotheses to test and lab reports to write! You also need to be a logical thinker with excellent written and oral communication skills, but with a background in food science, this won’t be a problem.

Having a graduate degree can open many doors for you beyond the obvious ones within the food industry, although many food companies such as Premier Foods, Tesco, Kraft and Nestle offer graduate schemes.

For the more business-minded among you, there will also be roles available in sales, HR, supply chain, legal and even finance!