Minnesota has an abundance of food scientists. What exactly do they do?

With so many major food companies headquartered in Minnesota, it's no surprise the state has three times the concentration of food scientists and technologists as the national average.

That must make for some great dinner parties.

"All of my friends in Minneapolis work in food in some way or another, and everyone is an amazing cook," said Cassee Cain, a senior R&D process engineer at Cargill. "The potlucks are incredible, because everybody understands the reactions that need to take place so the food tastes good."

Yet outside those circles, there remains an aura of mystery around food science, especially as social media overflows with misinformation about food and health that can lead to hostility toward the industry.

"Food scientists can sometimes get a bad rap, and don't get me wrong, there is a lot of Frankenfood out there," said food scientist and industry veteran Jeni Ellick, founder and CEO of Artisan Row. "But food science is what keeps products safe, tasty and meeting specific needs for all kinds of eaters."

The broader food industry's ultimate goal — selling more food — is often at odds with public health goals, however. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to go after food additives and ultra-processed food as the head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Yet without some processing, and certain ingredients, the safety and affordability of the nation's food supply would be at risk.

"We've gotten used to a steady supply of diverse and relatively affordable foods that are readily available around the clock," said Job Ubbink, head of the Food Science and Nutrition Department at the University of Minnesota. "We're exceptional. That was not the case even 70, 80 years ago around the U.S., and as a society, we've come to take that for granted.

"There are hundreds of thousands of people working to make that happen every day."

'It's just playing'

As a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Cain was surprised to see General Mills at a chemical engineering career fair. Soon enough she was a Yoplait intern, being dazzled by an intricate array of pipes carrying yogurt.

"I was working with pumps. I was working on these complex reactions," she said. "And at the end of it, I was getting a cup of Yoplait yogurt, a brand I've grown up eating my entire life."

Now 30, Cain has worked in food processing for eight years. She started out fine-tuning Totino's pizza rolls at General Mills, playing with ways to adjust the product and manufacturing process to save money but maintain taste and quality. She later worked on frozen dough products at the Golden Valley-based food giant, prototyping recipes and processes and seeing how the latest technology might play a role.

Today, she works as a process engineer for alternative proteins at Minnetonka-based Cargill, the nation's largest private company and a major food ingredient supplier.

"A lot of my time is spent in our facilities, testing small changes on the equipment," Cain said. "At the end of the day, we're making food, and so we have to be smart about the changes we're making so that we're not affecting the product."

Brian Andrews, who holds a master's degree in meat science and has been with Hormel Foods for more than 20 years, also works on testing and tweaking in progressively larger batches to deliver more cost-effective and convenient foods.

Andrews, a manager of R&D product development at Hormel, took home ribbons at his county's 4-H cooking contest for his no-bake cookies and coconut cream pie when he was younger. Now his eyes light up when he sees his recipes on shelves.

"While I was shopping in a local grocery store one weekend, I witnessed someone choose my product and put it in their cart," he said. "I'll never forget that feeling of pride and excitement."

Food scientists probably aren't buying a lot of their own food, however. Not because it's not good, but because they know what it tastes like. Intimately.

"Because you taste your product every single day, there's a joke in the food industry that you'll stop eating the product you work on," Cain said. "There's so many tools to scientifically analyze the texture or color or other aspects that go into food development, but at the end of the day, the best analysis we have is just eating it."

Cain said the best parts of her job are being able to "play and try new things, see it fail, or maybe at the end, discover something really cool and new."

"I love the days when there's not an end goal, when you're there to test and just learn," she said. "And, I mean, that's how so many innovations are created, right? It's just playing."

From the kitchen to the plant

Inside a well-stocked commercial kitchen in northeast Minneapolis, Peeyush Maheshwari and his team have thousands of ingredients at their disposal to help clients create the next Clif Bar or Rao's pasta sauce.

"The three basic tenets of food science are: Can you make it? Can you sell it? And can you make money?" said Maheshwari, founder of Food 4 Thought. "We help companies or entrepreneurs passionate about launching their new idea, and they bring us a partially baked idea they want to make better."

Maheshwari founded Food 4 Thought to work on product development and commercialization after 20 years in food science at General Mills. He said unlike the big consumer packaged goods companies that are slow and deliberate about introducing new products, food startups move fast and with purpose.

"The areas we have the most fun is when clients bring their own successful ideas from the kitchen, like a microwaveable keto bowl, a healthier alternative to what's already available," he said. "There are a lot of mission-driven companies in this space."

Food development, the cook-in-the-kitchen part of food science, is all about satisfying consumer demand for a constant stream of new and different products.

"We want to be excited and delighted by our food," said the U's Ubbink. "Food developers work toward what consumers want with what is possible to create."

Minneapolis-based Artisan Row works with food companies to develop and tweak recipes and figures out how to bring products from the kitchen to the factory and onto the shelf. On a recent morning, founder Ellick and fellow food scientist Kenzie Taylor were preparing to try their latest batch of allergen-free cookies and drizzled popcorn.

"We have the coolest job," Ellick said. "We get to play with food all day."

Health in mind

Dave VandenEinde calls it "nudging nature."

The R&D lead for Cargill Food Solutions Americas was talking about the ability to create stevia from corn, but it's an apt description of food science overall.

Stevia, the sugar-free sweetener Cargill brought to market more than 15 years ago, has been a major focus for Corey Scott, principal nutrition scientist at Cargill.

"Even though it's been out that long, there's a number of research gaps, like, how does stevia affect your gut microflora?" Scott said. "Or, if I drink a beverage with stevia, and I save 100-150 calories, am I going to eat 100-150 calories throughout the day to compensate for that?"

He says clinical studies keep showing stevia "can help you reach your sugar-reduction goals. It's safe, and it's effective."

Scott, also a General Mills alum with 23 years of experience in the industry, focuses his research on sugars and carbohydrates. It's a lot of reading, he said, but it also makes for great conversation.

"One reason why I chose this career is I can talk to anyone about foods and diets and sugars, and they already know what they're talking about," he said. "People have their own personal plans, and it's very relevant to them."

As more consumers demand "health and wellness" from their food — yet still primarily shop with their taste buds and wallets — food scientists are increasingly grappling with keeping products tasty while reducing nutritional negatives like excess sugar.

Ubbink said the profession is in transition to meet dietary demands, but it has been happening for years now.

"One product my students almost unanimously like is hummus," Ubbink said. "Twenty years ago, maybe the coasts would have it, and it's not so available in the Midwest. But today, even the smallest store carries it. And it replaces less healthy dipping options."

Scott said his charge as a food scientist is to "make what people like, make what they're familiar with and make it healthy."

"I like to think food science melds art and science," he said. "The challenge is using the science to put different food ingredients together, to make it shelf-stable, to make it palatable, to make sure some ingredients will stay together. The art behind it is making it look good, making it taste good, making someone want to buy it again."