Insider Info

The next time you bite into a freshly baked slice of bread, you might think about the people who make sure that the flour used in baking was of good quality. These people are called cereal chemists. And quality control is only one aspect of the work that they do.

Kevin Swallow is a cereal food scientist. Swallow began his career studying agriculture. A professor made food science so interesting that he made the change. Swallow continued on to receive a master's degree and later a PhD in food science.

After graduating, Swallow did research at the university for a few months. Then he moved into his present job.

"From day to day, I never know what I am going to be doing. I enjoy the variety," says Swallow. "I have quite a lot of freedom in what I do daily."

Swallow's job involves helping food processors develop new food products for the market. He works with small, medium and large food companies who are interested in developing components from cereals. His work involves paperwork, writing proposals and reports, working in the pilot plant and doing hands-on research in the laboratory.

Currently, he is working with a company that is interested in developing spring roll wraps. Their machine doesn't work, so Swallow and his colleagues will try to get it working again. "I will be involved in the formulation -- the flour and other ingredients that go into the spring roll wrap." (Note: the formulation refers to the ingredients. It could be somewhat compared to a recipe.)

Swallow enjoys the work very much, although sometimes things can get busy. "There have been lots of little 'eurekas,'" he says. "It's exciting to see your name in print. Then last year, I had an opportunity to go to the Netherlands on a six-month work exchange. That was a very interesting experience."

He highly recommends cereal chemistry as an excellent field to be in. "I find it extremely interesting and well diversified. There are a lot of opportunities to do good work, whether on a technical level or on a higher level."

Swallow believes that a farming background would be an asset, since you would be more in tune with the producers. A business background would be good, too, as would computer skills, interpersonal skills and communication skills.

Cheryl Earp is a cereal chemist. Describing herself as "a farm kid with an interest in 4H, nutrition and cooking," she was influenced by a great biology teacher who encouraged her to pursue an interest in biology and chemistry.

In university, Earp combined both interests and got a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. After she completed her master's degree in food science, Earp's professor offered her a job at the cereal chemistry lab at the university.

"I took the job and worked on my PhD on the side," she says. "It took six years to get my doctorate doing it that way."

Earp thinks of her PhD research as one of the highlights of her career. She looked at the food uses of sorghum. (Sorghum is typically used for animal food in the U.S., but it has potential for other food uses.)

"A lot of work had been done with cereals like wheat and corn, but nobody had looked at sorghum before."

During the 14 years that Earp worked for the university research lab, she did analytical work looking at the component analysis of various cereals -- corn, sorghum and wheat. Much of the work was conducted with international research organizations.

Earp's current job is in the application and product development lab. Her company is involved with packaged aromatic rice and seed rice.

"We analyze the rice from 12 breeders. We use different pieces of equipment and we look at the compound that causes the aroma in aromatic rice. If the rice doesn't measure up to certain levels, we reject the sample." The work also involves quality control -- screening packaged rice to ensure it meets certain standards.

Much of Earp's work involves a procedure called starch analysis. Starch is made up of two carbohydrates: amylase and amylopectin. By selecting and manipulating the levels of these two carbohydrates, it is possible to change the cooking process.

For example, long, medium or short grained rice is defined by the length and width of the kernel. And each type has certain qualities that are associated with a particular amylase level. Long grain rice has an amylase level that makes it cook up dry and fluffy. The round-shaped, medium rice, often used in products such as Rice Krispies, contains amylase levels that make it softer.

"We look at structural analysis. If a breeder is going to sell, the rice must have a certain shape and quality. Our research examines the cooking characteristics -- whether a rice will be firm, sticky -- all those kinds of things."

If you are interested in a career in cereal chemistry, Earp recommends that you take all the science and math courses that you can. "Keep your options open. These subjects are useful in many fields. And talk to cereal chemists and find out what they have to say."

Monisha Bhattacharya is a cereal chemist and a faculty member at North Dakota State University. Bhattacharya calls herself a "jack of all trades" because her background is varied. She got a bachelor's degree in microbiology in India. Then she got a master's in dietetics. Then she moved to Hong Kong and got her PhD in food and cereal technology.

After being awarded her doctorate degree, Bhattacharya was called for an interview for a faculty position at North Dakota State University. She was offered the position, and moved to the U.S. in 1999.

Bhattacharya is in charge of the hard red spring wheat program at the university. Hard red spring wheat is one of the largest classes of wheat grown in North America. Most of it is grown in the northern part of the U.S.

Bhattacharya is responsible for doing a quality evaluation every year, using samples from many different countries. Plus, three master's students under Bhattacharya's supervision are looking at different aspects of frozen dough quality and are trying to identify which lines are most suitable for the Asian noodle market.

"The U.S. exports wheat and wheat products to different international communities -- bread, noodles, specialty wheat products. We test the different lines of wheat for product quality. The end product could be frozen dough, kaiser rolls or Asian noodles," she says.

Bhattacharya is also responsible for conducting her own research related to starch and carbohydrate structure. "I am studying how the different starch structures are translated into different food products, and how the different proteins come together to provide the dough structure that is desirable for bread."

The work can be stressful at times. There is a lot of paperwork, and Bhattacharya must write grant proposals to generate funds to support her research. The time spent writing grants takes away from the actual research time. "Even so, I wouldn't look on it as a negative aspect, although it does involve a lot of working hours."