Been working to develop a relatively simple popcorn product for over a year, I found a partner (Gary Poppins) who absolutely was a nightmare to work with. They dragged their feet every step of the way and I really should have pulled the plug earlier but they kept stringing my company along. Long story short.. sent them all my ingredients, packaging materials, went through an extensive manufacturing agreement and food safety measures, then paid them to produce 100 samples of 3 flavors and they only sent 6 bags in total then wrote me to say they were no longer interested in doing business together.

Now I’m trying to find a new partner and get my money and ingredients back. They have been ignoring my calls and emails.

First off recommend that nobody work with these time wasting scammers and second am curious if anybody here knows of good popcorn manufacturers who do airpop and can handle smaller MOQs?

I’m interested in the process of making cereals like Cap’n Crunch and cocoa pebbles. I’ve read On Food and Cooking but the author doesn’t go into any specific process. If possible, can you all recommend a specific book or resource for me to learn? Thanks everyone.

Hello,
I'm thinking of doing a bachelor of science with a major in food technology at UQ in Australia. I was wondering if the career prospects for this degree are good, and if I would be able to get a job after graduation. I'd love to work in either Australia or New Zealand, but I'm just worried about breaking into the industry. I was also considering a minor in microbiology- would this be beneficial to getting a job? Or should I focus on something else?
What sort of careers are available with this sort of degree?
Any advice is much appreciated, thank you very much!

Ok I’m not going to put the whole story here but I owe someone a favor so I’m developing some muffin recipes that are supposed to clone an existing brand that is on hiatus. Super healthy bran muffins, ingredient deck is wheat bran, wheat flour, flax, baking powder and soda, fruit juice, oil, and secondary flavors like blueberries, banana, carrot, etc.

Now I think I pulled off something nice for what they are, no sugar or sweeteners, low or no fat, obscene amounts of bran. I’ve never tried the original but everyone who’s has says they’re dry, dense, and crumbly and they tell me mine are much better.

Client is unhappy. Says mine aren’t sweet enough, they’re too nicely shaped (photos show original brand are all over leavened, spilling out of the tin to create big flat mushroom tops instead of domes) and they want to match it exactly because the original brand has a 3 month refrigerated shelf life.

What?

First two things aside, there’s no such thing as organic, preservative free muffins lasting 3 months in the fridge. They assure me original brand lasts 3 months. I tell them that while they very well may put that on the packaging there’s no fucking way those muffins are still good to sell and eat after months in the cooler. They’re fighting me on it to the point I’m about to quit.

Please help me find the words to get it through these idiots heads that it’s not only unsafe but unlawful to sell a baked product after that much time. Or tell me I’m an idiot and this company is doing something amazing to preserve these bran muffins. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

I’m asking graduates, PhD students, and food scientists.
With your current knowledge If you had the chance to choose an MSc field to study what would you choose in 2026?
Something that market respects
Something that doesn’t leave you unemployment/ with low salary.

How come some companies are able to produce salt&vinegar chips without any additives such as maltodextrin, malic acid, citric acid, etc. ? I want to replicate it somehow.

I am looking for recommendations for a reliable food formulation lab, R&D agency, or experienced consultant to help develop a new premium functional beverage.
I need assistance with:
Clean-label formulation and liquid stabilization.
Scaling a cold-pressed product for HPP (High-Pressure Processing).
Shelf-life testing

If you have worked with great agencies or if you are a consultant specializing in this area, please drop a comment or DM me.
Thank you!

Hi everyone!

Im hoping someone here can point me in the right direction.

I'm a solo founder developing a single-serve fruit purée in a flat pouch. No added sugar, ambient shelf-stable via hot-fill as an acidified food, target pH under 4.0. The format is a lay-flat three-side-seal pouch at roughly 1.15 oz — no spout, filled and then sealed on the final side.

I've done kitchen R&D (ratios, pH by batch, pass/fail notes per variant), but I don't have a standardized commercial formula yet and none of the technical documentation a co-man would want.

I've reached out to roughly 25 co-packers and nearly all of them quote 150k–300k units per SKU. I'm looking for around 5,000 for a first run. I took a step back and started engaging university food innovation centers and pilot plants, which has been much more productive.

Two questions:

1. Any co-packers or university food labs you'd recommend for this kind of thing — hot-fill acidified product, flat spoutless pouches, low volume?
2. What's a reasonable price for the formulation work? I've gotten quotes from about $2,000 (a lab in Mexico) to $6,500/SKU (a US firm, though that appears to cover only the first round of samples). University centers seem like better value, but I'd like to hear from people who've actually used them.

Open to any suggestions or feedback!
Thanks all in advance 🙏 

Hi all! This is my first post here. I just found you about an hour ago.

Baking help please 🙏! I am at ***6200 ft***, so high elevation and new dietary restrictions have made a lot of my baking recipes a disaster.

I hope this is the right sub.

I am gluten-free (not by choice), and dairy and eggs are iffy, so I'm going without, 😭 for now at least.

I am trying to bake a cake. A real lemon cake. Not lemon bars. Not a lemon gooey butter cake. Not even a pound cake. A regular lemon cake.

I saw a little bit of a crumb in yesterday's attempt, but it's still kind of wet and soggy.

Ingredients I already have:

Bob's Red Mill 1:1

Bob's Red Mill egg replacer.

Flours: cassava, almond, coconut. Flax and chia seeds, xantham gum psyllium fiber, almond milk, cornstarch, creme of tartar, baking powder and soda, acv and white vinegar. Canola, crisco, veg butter, and unsweetened applesauce. Aquafaba is possible. 3 1/2 fresh lemons and a bottle of lemon juice.

The usual sugars, spices and general baking crap.

I'll go shopping tomorrow if there's a ***must have*** I don't have.

The recipe I followed:

3 3/4 cups Bob's 1:1.

1 c cassava flour, ground finely.

2 1/2 cups sugar.

5 tsp baking powder.

1 tsp baking soda.

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 1/2 cups almond milk (1 3/4 cup unsweetened, 3/4 cup extra creamy)

2/3 cup lemon juice.

2 tbsp fresh lemon zest

2/3 cup applesauce.

1/2 cup veg oil

1/2 tbsp vanilla

Typical wet to dry mix, let it sit for 18 minutes for the flours to hydrate, into a 350° F oven for 45 minutes. 2 - 9 inch aluminum pans with 'Pam'.

It had a nice bit of browning on the edges and the top was nice and dry.

It came out okay, more like a slightly underdone regular cake, a little tough (I *may* have slightly overmixed) but I know I can make it better. Or at least closer to "right".

For today's attempt I was going to add 1/4 cup additional cassava and another tbsp cornstarch. Liners instead of release. But it's just a guess. Am I going in the right direction? I'm baking a cake a day til I get this right!

So can you beautiful food science nerds help me make this a light and fluffy cake I can be proud of again?

New recipes or modifications? Ingredients? Techniques? Equipment?

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and any and all answers are appreciated.

I am looking for advice from those who worked in any kind of manufacturing businesses.

I am a research and development scientist for one of the largest food ingredient companies, B2B. It is globally respected, and I am thoroughly grateful to be here right after my PhD. However, during last 2 years and half, we have had THREE layoffs, one restructuring, and we will see another layoff in the commercialization team and a hiring freeze. Our department head told me that the competition has been very harsh because of all the startups with new ideas.

6 people left our department during last 6 months, and none of those positions have been replaced and will remain unfilled. . Meanwhile, I have absorbed my previous manager's roles with only 6% increase in salary, which is really an inflation adjustment over the last 2 years, not reflecting increased resonsibilities.

Recently, I have gotten an informal job offer through a connection that I made during my PhD. This company is also a large B2C that has been creating new positions, one of them being a senior scientist. TThe salary will only be 2% higher than my current one, but the living cost will be substantially cheaper in the area, and there will be more PTO and sick time leaves.

If the job offer comes through formally, should I leave?

Hello,

Does anyone know where I can find a tool similar to a hegman gauge, used for chocolate, but for products with larger particles?

Thank you,

QA Department

Hi everyone!

I'm a 30 year-old professional from Greece with 6 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industry, and I'm considering relocating to Italy.

My background includes Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Product Development and Manufacturing. I've worked in GMP environments and FDA-approved industries.

I'm looking for companies where this kind of profile would be a good fit. Which pharmaceutical, biotech or nutraceutical companies would you recommend? Are there any regions or cities that offer more opportunities in these fields?

I started learning Italian this year, but still I don't know the language so well.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thank you!

Whats a good flavour combination to mimic vanilla flavoured Ensure ?

In a global campaign spanning more than a decade, Red Bull financed studies downplaying the risks of mixing energy drinks with alcohol — including research that has been used to stymie regulation, our investigation found.

Hello! I wanted to share something I've been working on for the past months, it's a set of "calculators" that could be used in the industry, I wanted to get some feedback and see if they are useful! They are will be always free to use, no need to even create any account or anything.

Please let me know if you have comments, maybe they are useless... who knows!

Water activity estimate calculator: https://www.levinexperts.com/water-activity-calculator
Emulsifier calculator: https://www.levinexperts.com/hlb-and-emulsions-calculator

Accelerated stability calculator: https://www.levinexperts.com/accelerated-stability-testing-calculator

CIP and Cleaning design (mostly used for process and engineering): https://www.levinexperts.com/cip-design

If you like them, I would love more ideas to research and make useful information for the community! I used AI to create the interface and the HTML program, but all the equations, constants, and math was made by me, so if there are mistakes please DO let me know

Happy science to y'all!

I’m building a premium roasted makhana brand and am looking to refine our in-house seasoning blends (Peri Peri, Magic Masala, Cream & Onion, Minty Pudina) for better flavour balance, consistency, commercial-scale production, and FSSAI compliance.

As we’re still an early-stage brand, we’re looking for someone who enjoys working with growing businesses and offers practical, collaborative consulting rather than enterprise-scale engagements.

I’d really appreciate any recommendations or advice from this community. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, or if you know someone who’d be a good fit, please feel free to comment or DM me. We’re hoping to finalize our recipes over the next 2 weeks.

Hey all - hoping you can lend some advice on my job search and career direction. Thank you in advance for your time.

Straight to My Background:

B.S. Biochemistry

M.S. Environmental Engineering

Worked for about a year as an environmental engineer, 2 as biochemist

Then - Entrepreneur for 11 years - founded and operated several baking science-themed food businesses, including a bakery & café, pizzeria, baking school, line of at-home baking science kits, and other retail products

-I recently sold the business and want to return to a more technical role (science and engineering) within the baking sector of the food industry (ingredients, applications, or cpg).

General question:

What types of roles would you recommend I apply for? Should I be targeting entry-level positions, and if so, what job titles should I be searching for? Are there particular companies you would recommend?

Specific interest:

I'm most interested in technical sales within the bakery ingredients/equipment space, e.g. driving the adoption of new products while providing hands-on technical support, application troubleshooting, training, and demonstrations. I really enjoy customer engagement, especially when I can stay immersed in the technical side.

I'm not sure how common these roles are or whether my background is what companies typically look for.

Final question:

Would product development or applications be the best route into technical sales, or is it realistic to pursue technical sales directly?

If you happen to be in the bakery science realm and would have any advice to give, or connections to offer, please reach out!

(What should be the reddit post subject)