Long-Term Prospects

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Job Satisfaction

General quality of life statement

Anything below fifty percent on job satisfaction always looks a little scary. That's less than half. Worse odds than just flipping a coin. Or…flipping a coin that's slightly weighted to the bad side.

That probably doesn't sound much better.

Food science includes a lot of pretty volatile careers. Restaurant ownership is legendary for being difficult to succeed at. Something like 90% of all restaurants fail in their first year. Get hit with a string of those, and you would likely be pretty dissatisfied with your job, too.

However, there are plenty of other corners of the world to explore. Wherever there are humans, there will be food, and where there's food, there needs to be food scientists. Look for the industry you want to contribute to and concentrate your search there. Government, education, and even the corporate world are all options. Or maybe you want to stay in the food industry. You can work on developing the best ways to preserve and prepare food. People appreciate those things.

Bottom line is: you have options.

Not only that, you'll have money. The low end of the salary scale for food scientists is still pretty high, and the high end is downright amazing. If you have a passion for food, you will be rewarded. Don't enter the field just for the cash, though. That's probably where many of the disgruntled majors come from.

So what are you waiting for? As the French say, bon appétit.

That's French for "bone appetite." We're not sure what it means, just that it goes with food. We didn't take French.

25th Percentile Salary

Median Salary

75th Percentile Salary

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