As a Principal Development Scientist for ConAgra Foods Company, Meredith Bishop plays a pivotal role in some of the food most commonly found on the shelves of any grocery store.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my current role, I develop flavors and seasonings that improves our product\u2019s taste and reduces sodium and sugar content,\u201d she says. \u201cYou name it, and I\u2019ve probably had a hand in it: soup, nuts, gummy bears, cookies and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has worked with brands such as Hunt’s\u00ae and Orville Redenbacher’s\u00ae but specializes in salt reduction in savory products and sugar reduction in baking products. A science lover from a young age, Meredith always knew she\u2019d want to pursue a career in the sciences but was unsure of the exact field, until she pursued an independent study while at Montclair State.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn one of my last semesters, I took a microbiology class and a food course with Professor John Specchio from the Health and Nutrition Sciences department,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThis is where I was introduced to the food sciences and what\u2019s involved with giving something a particular taste.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her first job out of college was as a lab technician at a flavor company. While this experience provided her with additional insight to the food industry, she\u2019s spent the last 25 years building her expertise. She went on to work as a food technologist where she prepared flavor tests, conducted sensory evaluation of food prototypes and participated in consumer testing that included Campbell\u2019s Soup\u00ae, Pepperidge Farms\u00ae, Frito Lay\u00ae and Bestfoods\u00ae. As she moved into the principal development scientist role, she also became a mentor to research technicians and interns, which was a role she was already familiar with, thanks to her time spent at Montclair State.<\/p>\n
As an undergraduate student, Meredith worked as a residence assistant for three years in Webster, Bohn and Blanton Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking on campus was a great experience,\u201d she says. \u201cI learned skills that I continue to draw upon every day. I\u2019m also happy to say that I made friendships with other resident assistants that have lasted to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with her friends and classmates, Meredith is gearing up to celebrate her 25th Class Reunion on October 3, and is looking forward to spending some time back on campus with friends and classmates.<\/p>\n
She returned to campus in June 2015 to participate at The International Conference on Culinary Arts and Sciences. She, along with fellow alumna, Meriterese Racanelli MS \u201908, Nutritionist and Food Consultant, Goya Foods\u00ae, served on an alumni panel, \u201cThe Industry Perspective on Food Careers\u201d. The conference \u2013 the first of its kind to be held in the United States \u2013 brought together food scholars from around the world, local and national chefs, food scientists, food enthusiasts and members of the food trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Principal Development Scientist, ConAgra Foods Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":114747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}