Let me start with my typical day at work - 70% of the time is spent in the lab and 30% of the time is spent in system work (predominantly documenting the lab work). I plan my lab work for the day as I work on a list of projects. I list down the tasks at the end of the day, which I prioritise the next day.

Let us take for example a client wants to manufacture a sports nutrition product. The first step in the process is to do market research. I visit the supermarket to understand what kind of the products are available in this category. I take pictures of the ingredients, shelf life declared and packaging. The next step is to build a recipe based on the ingredients which consist of a trial and error method. After an iteration (which consists of multiple trials) you might want to improve the taste to meet the client's requirement. There are constraints when working on a nutrition product. 90% of nutrient products taste bad because one nutrient dominates which changes the taste. You need to know the theory that when you replace whey protein with egg protein, and then you shake the beverage (which consumers usually do) it will cause foam. The above process is termed as formulation development.

Parallel to formulation development is process development. For example, the first step is to dry the ingredients, and then you need to mix it with water. If there is a change in the sequence, then the product would be different if the taste doesn't match the requirement in a trial need to find whether the root cause is in process phase or not.

Sensory evaluation is an important skill. You need to have sound sensory organs to evaluate taste, texture, visual appearance and odour. There are certain genetic factors at play, but these skills can be developed. You won't know what a consumer would feel when they taste your product.

There is an internal evaluation team who score the different iterations of the product. In some cases, there would be a benchmark product which is used to compare with the product developed. After approval, the first set of samples are sent to the client. The client might have some suggestions or feedback which would be followed by a shorter improvement cycle (which consists of formulation and process development).

There is a standard maintained by the regulatory authority which needs to be adhered to make a claim. For example, if a product has under 3g of fat for 100g of the product only then can claim that it is a low-fat product. Shelf-life study consumes the most amount of time where we put the product in accelerated condition. For example, for a particular product, 3 months in accelerated condition would be equal to 6 months in regular condition, and in parallel, we test the actual shelf life too.

The last few steps consist of helping the marketing team develop the product story, finalising the packaging details (includes nutrient labels and ingredients) and working on factory trial before commercial production. The final step involves building a technology transfer document which contains trail history, final formulation, final process, claims etc.

I learnt that you need to have empathy when working with multiple stakeholders. When you are talking with factory workers, you need to be friendly towards them and understand that they don't know what ingredients can be changed. When working with clients, you need to be patient and be mentally ready to work on multiple iterations as only some iterations would meet the client's requirement.

For me, food technology happened by chance. In school, my inclination was towards medicine, which was the only thing I knew apart from engineering. When talking with professors at universities, I understood I had to get high, it would be expensive to pursue dentistry, and I was also thinking about job opportunities available. I did BSc in Food Science and Management, followed by MSc in Food Technology and Management. During the initial days, I figured it was a multi-disciplinary field with a blend of science, chemistry, biotechnology, merchandising, advertising, etc.

You could learn the concepts taught on the job (when you start working), but it would take a lot more time. Most of my learnings happened during my internship. I learnt a lot of terminologies when I interned at a flavour company. There is a dictionary of terminologies in sensory language. Every flavour company has a flavour school, and you need to be employed by at the company to get access to resources. I worked in a factory where I learnt a lot, and I have done straight 24 hours (double shift) to meet the client's requirements.

After studying food technology, you can pursue quality testing of the product. There are multiple avenues like chemical analysis, microbiological analysis, research, product development or even production line.

The first day of University, I wanted to drop out since they asked me to write an essay about an ingredient. Don't be like me, please do research and don't choose a course just for the sake of it. There is lesser competition in this field, and it is usually a 9-5:30 job and provides me with ample opportunities to travel. You might not get paid much, but there are other benefits, so it is up to you!

The perception is that food technology is so much fun, you can keep eating, develop some random product etc. Maybe you don't need to be part of the heard and do not worry about different stereotypes. If you are interested in this field, then just do it, ultimately it matters whether you are happy or not!