Whipping Up Success in the Flavorful World of Food Science Careers

Ever wondered how a scoop of your favorite ice cream came to be? Reid Ball, a food science whiz and product development technician at the Guelph Food Innovation Center, joined us to stir up the flavors of his educational and professional journey. With a sprinkle of high school courses and a dash of co-op programs, Reid whipped up a career path that proves a love for science and a keen palate can lead to mouthwatering success. From laboratory analyses to scaling products for production, Reid's insights into the world of food innovation are as rich and diverse as the flavors he helps create.

As you savor this episode, you'll be treated to the inside scoop on what it's like to work at the Guelph Food Innovation Centre. Reid shares his experience crafting new ice cream flavors and explains the importance of versatility in the food industry. Our conversation churns through the value of real-world applications and reinforces the notion that food science isn't just about following recipes—it's about creating them. The excitement of flavor chemistry, the satisfaction of client feedback, and the responsibility of sustainable practices combine to create a career as fulfilling as it is flavorful.

Finally, we explore the smorgasbord of career opportunities awaiting food science graduates. Whether you're intrigued by the art of flavor chemistry or the precision of quality assurance, Reid's story illustrates the vast potential in food science careers.

An additional bonus for OFSHEEA members to go along with this episode are two lesson plans you can use with your Foods students.   Check them out here:

The first lesson  - really a 5-day mini-unit - allows students to explore careers in product development and marketing in the food industry. The goal of this lesson is for students to conduct research about innovation in food science and explore the careers and the steps involved in the creation of a new food product.
Find it here: https://ofsheea.education/download/foods-food-product-development-five-day-lesson-plan/

In the second lesson, Students will learn about the field of food science, its various career opportunities, and the importance of staying updated with food trends and sustainability. They will also gain insights into the study program at the University of Guelph and the co-op experience at the Guelph Food Innovation Centre.
Find it here: https://ofsheea.education/download/foods-careers-in-the-food-industry-lesson-plan/ 

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Transcript

Laura Hattayer: 0:08

Hey everyone and welcome to this sixth episode of the second season of what the Family Studies podcast. I'm your host, Laura Haddier.

Catherine Murphy: 0:15

And I'm your co-host, catherine Murphy. Today's episode will be special because it's slightly different from the usual, as our target audience today is students, not teachers.

Laura Hattayer: 0:24

Today we will be interviewing our guest, reed Ball. Reed is a product development technician at Guelph Food Innovation Center, assisting with the development of new food products and the advancement of already existing products. Reed is studying food science at the University of Guelph and is currently in his fifth and final year doing co-op work at the Guelph Food Innovation Center.

Catherine Murphy: 0:44

The Guelph Food Innovation Center is an applied research center that utilizes food science and technology to advance agri-food businesses. They have a team of experts that can provide innovative, consumer-centered solutions aligned with safety as well as market and industry standards. So if you have a food product that you'd like to get to market, reed and the folks at the Guelph Food Innovation Center can help you get it onto grocery store shelves.

Laura Hattayer: 1:06

All right, so welcome Reed.

Reid Ball: 1:08

Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Laura Hattayer: 1:10

We're going to start off with quite a few questions. I want you to just tell me about yourself and your pathway to studying food science, and in this include did you take any courses in high school that led you to this interest? Did your high school experience prepare you properly for your studies? What kind of suggestions do you have for students who might be interested in this field of study, and is there anything that you would have done differently to prepare for what you're doing now?

Reid Ball: 1:34

To start with, I guess, just a little about myself. You guys gave a great introduction. Like you said, I'm in my fifth year of my food science undergrad but I originally did not set out on the path of food science. I actually don't think there was necessarily a course I took in high school that put me on the path of food science. I graduated grade 12 and went into a totally different program at a totally different school, but I quickly realized it wasn't for me. So I decided to take that year off to look into different career options, just pursue different opportunities. And during this year I sort of found this YouTube series called four levels of chefs just cook different types of products and the fourth level chef is actually just a food scientist explaining why those chefs might have been doing what they were doing, and I just thought the way they explained it and just the science behind it was super interesting. So I started to look more into that and the career options in it seemed very interesting to me because I've always felt like a creative person, someone that enjoys solving problems, and that's a big part of food science careers. So I then decided to apply it to the food science program at Guelph and, like I said, there wasn't any courses. I'd say I took that food science on my radar, but I did take a computer engineering course in my high school which really helped me realize that I do like those things like problem solving and being creative that I mentioned.

Reid Ball: 2:57

In terms of how I felt high school prepared me for food science, I would say all of the science courses that are common prerequisites for university programs do a really good job at preparing you for your first year of university. My chemistry was especially like a very big build off of grade 12 chemistry. So was the physics. Both of those came very easily because of how well high school had me prepared and I feel like there definitely would have been other courses I could have taken to prepare for a food science undergrad or maybe would have put me on that path sooner. But that's okay. I have no regrets. I wouldn't change anything about my journey.

Reid Ball: 3:35

I think a big part of where I got to where I am was making mistakes and learning from mistakes, just like that's a big part of careers in food science, at least in the product development sphere, because a big part of the job is doing experiments, seeing how a change to a product. You just made changes, the final product. So is it a fail, is it a success? And you just have to learn from those mistakes. So not a big deal that I didn't start earlier.

Reid Ball: 3:58

For any students that are interested in food science, I would say if your school offers any courses that you think would be similar to like a food science course, maybe like the nutrition courses, stuff, like that great place to start, get on it early, but don't feel like you need to. It wouldn't set you behind. I made it through. It's always nice to have a bit of head start, but there's also co-op programs that a lot of high schools might be able to get put into a co-op related to food science, which would be really awesome. I knew a lot of people in my high school experience that enjoyed their co-op opportunities, and then I'd also just recommend going to school open houses and tours for like food science programs. It's a big part of meeting current students and the faculty there and just asking what their experiences and perspectives with the field and seeing why they like it and what drives their passion.

Laura Hattayer: 4:44

Awesome. Yeah, it sounds like you're a very adaptable person and I feel like that is really important and, it's true, Like we don't need to necessarily have our whole life planned out all at once. I think that when we suggest that that's how it is, that really stresses students out. So I definitely feel like that's not our. Our role is just not to stress students out. However, being prepared and obviously like taking programs that you're interested in can always help and trying something new as well. So thank you for those suggestions.

Laura Hattayer: 5:13

Co-op is definitely a great program to take and I definitely want to shout out family studies programs. So I mean, obviously I'm a family studies teacher and I think that they benefit us and it just opens so many different doors. Even if you don't think you're using it still benefits your personal life. So I'm still going to shout out foods programs. Yeah, definitely not necessarily needed and you can definitely adapt and learn things as you go along, but awesome. Thank you so much. The program that you're in right now food science it sounds really interesting. I've never thought about going into food science. I did my undergrad in nutrition and family studies less science, more social science but it sounds like a really cool program and especially for people that like to problem solve. So that's really cool. Can you tell us a little bit more about your studies, specifically and like, what types of courses did you have to take at wealth?

Reid Ball: 6:00

Yeah, totally so. For context, food science is definitely a very multidisciplinary field. You use a lot of different types of sciences in it. You're going to incorporate chemistry, you're going to incorporate nutrition, you're definitely going to have to consider biology, especially like microbiology. So it's a little bit of everything, which I think is really nice. I feel like I can listen to my friends that in the program talk about their program and sort of get the gist of what they're talking about because of the array of different topics I've had to learn about. But it's definitely about taking all these fields and knowing how we can utilize them. Based on the chemistry of food components, reactions these components might undergo, we can design processes, we can create new products, we can create new preservation techniques. Honestly, sky's the limit. There's so much to it which is really fun.

Reid Ball: 6:48

My studies at wealth have definitely really focused on a lot of the food science stuff. So there's a lot of food processing courses, there's food engineering courses, there's a lot of courses where you learn about food regulations, because that's a very big part of it as well. First year you definitely take a lot of more of the general science courses, but those are where you get the multidisciplinary aspects, so they're definitely important. You're going to have to know them. Second year you start getting more advanced with some of the science courses, taking things like biochemistry, some physical chemistry. But that's also when you start to get into introduction to food science and nutrition. But third year is where you rarely get to the thick of it.

Reid Ball: 7:28

For the food science program you start to really learn the food chemistry, the food microbiology, food processing and sensory evaluation, which is a really cool one too, really fun course. But our final year is full of a lot more of the advanced food science stuff. We have a course, all the food analysis and lab techniques for analyzing food, and we actually have a product development course offered in our school, which is really cool. We were able to choose from quite a few different electives in our final year as well, so I personally decided to take a utilization of cereal grains course, which sounds really intense, but it's just learning how to make things like cakes. Essentially a food packaging course, a dairy processing course and a research based course where I'm doing a personal project with one of the professors.

Laura Hattayer: 8:14

Awesome. Yeah, it's really important to take courses that have like that multidisciplinary aspect, because I feel like it's good to know a broad range of things and then that way you can adapt more and learn more. Can you explain a little bit more about the co-op part of your program, because I understand that during your undergraduate degree you spent 12 months as a co-op student at the Guelph Food Innovation Center. So can you just tell us a little bit about that center and the type of work that you did, the tasks you did, what your role was and maybe what were your favorite parts about it?

Reid Ball: 8:49

Totally so. My program has a co-op offering. So during your undergraduate you will do at least three placements. I think they might have recently changed it to you do four, so it was my second placement. During my undergrad.

Reid Ball: 9:05

I did 12 months consecutively at the Guelph Food Innovation Center. It was awesome. So the Guelph Food Innovation Center focuses primarily on research and development, product development, ingredient validation, custom processing analysis, shelf life studies, nutritional back tables for clients of all different sizes. We worked from startups to large organizations, so it was really awesome to be able to experience so many different types of products as well. Because we do focus a lot on ice cream, because the school where the GFIC is has a production grade pilot plant where you can actually do runs of things like ice cream and cheese and then sell it to stores. It's certified biomaphora for that purpose, so a lot of clients will come to us with ice cream more than other products. So during my time there I definitely made a lot of ice cream products, which was really fun. But I got to see so many other things too, which was really important to me and part of why I decided to really stay there and go there, even just not shoehorning myself into one product type for 12 months.

Laura Hattayer: 10:16

Did you get to taste a bunch of products like the ice cream and stuff, or no?

Reid Ball: 10:19

Yes, it was a big part of the job. After every round of a product, we have to taste it. We have to know how those changes affected the taste. That's the most important part of the product. So I probably ate so much ice cream while I was there. I still don't get many cravings for ice cream anymore. But definitely a big part of the job, one of my favorite parts of the job too.

Reid Ball: 10:41

But my daily duties are probably pretty straightforward. Well, I felt like they were pretty straightforward. I get into the office, check my emails, see who I need to reply to. Beginning of the week, we'd usually plan out our week and I would have some time allotted for that day to go do a new round of one of the products we're working on. So I might go down to the pilot plants and make a new batch of ice cream. I might go make some French fries who knows whatever we're working on at the time, but I always assist in the product development there. So my day would pretty much just be in a kitchen.

Reid Ball: 11:15

It's like a formulation lab, is what we called it, and it's a mix of like a science lab in a kitchen. So you're gonna have your ovens, but then you're gonna have pipe edits. So you do a lot of bench top testing. You just make slight changes and tweaks to formulas you used in the previous round of testing until you find out what you like. And then you communicate with clients. That's a really big part of the job too. We had to constantly keep clients informed on the progress of their projects. We gave them updates. We'd answer any questions or concerns they're having. We'd also have to often contact ingredients suppliers, as there's so many different types of ingredients you can use in a food, so you're gonna have to know where to source that for a client. Who's gonna offer you the best deal? What's the difference between their version of an ingredient versus another company's?

Reid Ball: 12:00

And one thing I really liked about my co-op experience was that I was able to do a lot of lab analysis.

Reid Ball: 12:06

So I was doing particle size analysis of fat droplets in ice cream, which sounds pretty intense, but it's just looking at how big fat drops are in ice cream if you let it melt, and that gave me a lot of lab experience.

Reid Ball: 12:21

So now I feel really confident going forward that I'm able to perform in a lab and enjoy that work there. One other thing that was really awesome about my co-op at the GFIC was that the pilot plants I mentioned are essentially like mini food factories and we have so many different types of equipment that people will come to us and be like I want to do a plant trial. Essentially, they don't wanna shut down their own production facility for the day to test out a new product, so they come to us to see if the developed product that they just recently made is gonna be able to scale up, because that's a very big part of the job as well. You can make something on a bench top, but will that product be able to translate to a production line? So they would be able to come do that and that would assist in those plant trials at the GFIC. So that was really awesome as well.

Laura Hattayer: 13:12

Wow, it sounds like there's so much that goes into this job. I've never actually thought about doing this job, but now I'm like very interested in tasting ice cream. Definitely sounds like a plus. Is there advertising involved, or is that later on?

Reid Ball: 13:24

So a lot of the projects we would work on, we weren't necessarily getting involved in the advertising. We'd be making the product for the client and then they would be doing whatever they want with it. I actually found that a lot of the clients I worked with sort of came from the business aspect of things and they might have noticed a gap in a trend or a gap in the market and were like, oh, I just came up with the idea to fill that gap, but I don't know how to make it. So they came to us so we didn't do much of the advertising. They usually would do that themselves.

Laura Hattayer: 13:54

Okay very cool. Thank you so much.

Catherine Murphy: 13:57

Reed, I think you've done a great job selling the program. I think anybody would want to come in there just to taste ice cream and french fries all day Sounds like a great job.

Catherine Murphy: 14:05

It was pretty fun I bet so Reed in our family studies curriculum when we're teaching students especially our grade 12 course nutrition and health, students learn about food science. They learned about trends in food and innovation and sustainability with food as well too. Do you think that that kind of knowledge would have prepared you better for your undergraduate studies and your work at the Guelph Food Innovation Center?

Reid Ball: 14:25

Oh, 100%, absolutely. I think any background knowledge is always going to be a big asset. I didn't have any before my undergrad, besides maybe some YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles, but knowing how to understand trends is a big part of the product development process, as I just sort of mentioned. Well, I might not have been doing the trend analysis. I still sort of pay attention to trending foods and flavors and in my head I'm like, oh, this could be a really fun new flavor for an ice cream or this could be a fun new flavor for something else, and just stuff like that. So it's definitely worth it to know or understand how transform like why they're forming, how you can incorporate that into the product development process. So that would definitely be a really big thing.

Reid Ball: 15:08

I know right now to staying on top of current innovations is really big, because that is always going to give you new tools in your toolbox. You're going to be able to take different approaches to the same problems you've been having. That might now yield you a success. You might be able to totally change a process. You might be able to make a brand new food if you keep up with those current innovations.

Reid Ball: 15:30

There's a lot of food innovations going on globally, so it's always good to know what's going on. That sounds like a very intimidating thing to stay on top of, but once you're just sort of involved in the food industry and you get to be able to go to things like food conferences I had the opportunity to go to a couple of big like conferences during my co-op you're just able to see it and take it in. So definitely big to know about current innovations too, and the sustainability aspect is very big, especially with just the current states of the world. So knowing sustainable approaches to old problems is a very big thing, and a lot of what companies do and why they may come to us is because they want to change a pre-existing formula to maybe be more sustainable, maybe be more eco-friendly, maybe they want to change it to have animal products. So knowing sort of what is sustainable, how sustainability works, that's a big thing as well.

Catherine Murphy: 16:25

It sounds like there's definitely a lot of important things happening there, and I think as a consumer, we sometimes don't delve that deeply into it. We don't think that deeply. So I'm glad that you guys are doing that work as well too, and I think it's important for our students to learn that. Those students that we have in grade 11 and grade 12 that might be thinking about going into food sciences do you have any advice for them? What do you think that they can do either inside or outside of school to better prepare them for a program like yours at Guelph?

Reid Ball: 16:52

I would say just trying to get involved with food science if you can. I think I sort of briefly mentioned earlier that going to tours and open houses of schools that offer a food science program is really big. You'll be able to meet a lot of different people there and hear about their experiences, which is really good. I think. Recently myself, since I've been coming up to graduation and I'm considering career opportunities, I like hearing about the career paths of people in the food industry. It's always so interesting to hear how they got from point A to point B to point C. So that's a big thing is just sort of talking to people in the industry. It sounds daunting.

Reid Ball: 17:28

When I was in grade 11 and 12, I definitely wouldn't have thought I would send a random email to someone I've never met, but it honestly is amazing how nice people are in this industry and how supportive they are of learning. If you told someone you were interested in what they do and maybe asked to shadow them for a week or a weekend if they happen to work on weekends, whatever works with your schedule I'm sure they would be thrilled. They would probably be over the moon that someone thinks their new product is super interesting. That would definitely be a good start. I think, I think that's interesting.

Catherine Murphy: 17:58

A lot of students maybe don't realize how reaching out to someone who's in the working world can actually work in their favor for those sorts of things. People like it when you take an interest in what they're doing 100%. Read my last question for you. I have a tendency to not like asking this question of people often, but I'm gonna throw it out there for you. I know pressure right no matter what your answer is, but what are?

Catherine Murphy: 18:19

your plans after you graduate in the spring, and what kind of future plans do you think you have?

Reid Ball: 18:24

Nothing. That definitely is like a heavy question. It is sure been getting that a lot. That's okay, though I know the first thing I've planned is a trip to Tokyo. So, oh, graduation treat. Very much looking forward to that, but once I get back I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do.

Reid Ball: 18:42

I feel like what I've been talking about so far has very much been focused on the product development aspect of food science. But food science is so much more than that. There's so many types of jobs in this industry. It's very multifaceted. You could do product development Sure, that's very fun. That's what a lot of people in my program want to do.

Reid Ball: 19:00

That's like the core of it, for sure, but there's also tons of jobs and, like food safety, quality assurance you have to make sure the food that's reaching customers is safe, that people aren't going to get sick, that these processes aren't contaminating food. That's a very, very big aspect of it as well. You might be able to get a job with the government doing food inspection, or even like a private inspection company and going around and making sure manufacturers are sticking with their regulations. There's also food process engineering, where people have to design these big Manufacturing facilities and the line equipment and stuff like that. There might also be like very focused product development. So maybe you've taken extra courses to become very good at knowing how to make pastries. Maybe you become like a pastry product development pro.

Reid Ball: 19:49

Then there's also things like being a food epidemiologist, being someone that tracks foodborne illness outbreaks, or flavor chemistry. Which is something that I think is very, very interesting is the chemistry and science behind the flavors that go into food and just the how different flavor compounds on your tongue and in your mouth are perceived to taste like fruit. That stuff is really cool. There's also jobs related to sales and Distribution importing, exporting like so many opportunities that I don't know where to start because so many of it seems like a good path. You talk to someone in that field and they they enjoy it, they tell you what they like about. You like oh, that does sound really nice. So right now, like I mentioned, sort of leaning towards that flavor chemistry side, which sounds really interesting. But I also am very interested in going into the wine industry. I find wine making to be a really interesting job and I have been reaching out to professors to actually do a Masters project related to combining flavor science and wine making. So that's about where I'm at with my plans for the future.

Catherine Murphy: 20:53

It's so amazing how many pathways and opportunities that you have opening up to you after doing this program. So that's, that's amazing. I mean we wish you all the very best and whatever you choose to do and whatever pathway you choose to take, and I think you'll do great in it because you definitely have a passion for your chosen career. So that's awesome. Read Laura's gonna take over and she's gonna go to our really fun rapid-fire questions session Awesome.

Laura Hattayer: 21:16

I just wanted to say quickly, before I do that, that I just wanted to encourage you a little bit. That sounds like an overwhelming list of very great things to do and You're probably gonna change what you want to do multiple times during your career path and I think that's totally okay and to be expected and I think that you just have to jump into whatever opportunity comes your way and be ready to like Just give it. Your all see if it's for you, if it's not, that's okay. There's so many other opportunities and then you know that it wasn't for you. So I think just take every opportunity that comes to you that feels right and go for it. So let's do our rapid-fire questions first. One is Kind of related what would you say would be your dream job? It doesn't even have to be related to food science.

Reid Ball: 22:03

I feel like that's a really tough one. I think I would, right now, really like to be a winemaker in a warmer country where I don't have to bear these winters.

Laura Hattayer: 22:12

Oh, that sounds really fun. Actually, if you were to order a toast with breakfast, would it be white, brown or rye?

Reid Ball: 22:17

Usually I go with rye, but it also just depends on the restaurant. If they have a good sourdough, I'll go with that.

Laura Hattayer: 22:24

Okay, we're on the same page there. Dog or cat, if you had to choose at 100%. Okay.

Reid Ball: 22:29

I have two cats. I love them.

Laura Hattayer: 22:31

I love both, but I will say I favor my dog. What's your favorite season?

Reid Ball: 22:36

Probably summer. I used to be a big winter person but, like I said, I'm done with these winters. I'm liking the warm weather.

Laura Hattayer: 22:42

I agree, I used to be a winter person too, and now I feel like there is no snow and that's the only thing I liked about winter, and now it's just gloomy and gray. I'm gonna get you to shout out your favorite small business.

Reid Ball: 22:53

My favorite small business. Wow, this feels like big. I would love to show the well food innovation center. I think they qualify then. Oh, I'd also really like to show Some at station milk. I think Catherine asked one of my favorite projects I sort of worked on during my co-op and I worked on a flavored milk beverage alongside summit station milk and that was a really fun project. They let us go see their farm. I got to see their cows. They are super kind. If you're ever near the Hamilton area, summit station milk has some of the best chocolate milk, strawberry milk and regular milk you will ever taste.

Laura Hattayer: 23:28

That is such a cool experience. I would love to go to someone's farm and hang out with the cows, like that is top tier.

Reid Ball: 23:34

You know, it's pretty fun.

Catherine Murphy: 23:36

Reed, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you sharing your passion with us and telling us all about what it's like to be creating new food products.

Reid Ball: 23:45

It was my pleasure.

Catherine Murphy: 23:47

And to our listeners. Thank you for joining us on this, our sixth episode of season two of our what the family studies podcast. Tune in next time when we talk to stacey green, author of the cookbook. You'll eat it and you'll like it, and the brains behind her awesome website, stacey green living comm.

Cassandra MacEachern: 24:02

What the family studies is brought to you by the ontario family studies home economics educators association. Special thanks to our producer, michelin gallant, tech support and podcast editor Cassandra mckacken, and our co-hosts kathryn murphy and laura hadier.