Beverage Applications Intern – St. Louis, Missouri

Job Summary

Are you ready to take your skills to the next level and make a real impact?

IFF is a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients and health & biosciences. We deliver sustainable innovations that elevate everyday products.

Food Ingredients: Innovating improved nutritional profiles, better taste and texture, and greater cost efficiency to meet the needs of global food and beverage manufacturers.

The role is based in St. Louis, Missouri (onsite). Be part of a dynamic, diverse and passionate team where together we can achieve greatness and make a real impact. Your potential is our inspiration.

Where You’ll Make a Difference

As a Beverage Applications Intern, you’ll gain hands-on experience supporting beverage innovation and product development in a laboratory and pilot plant environment. You’ll learn how ingredients influence beverage formulation, processing, stability, texture, nutrition, and sensory characteristics while contributing to real technical projects.

You’ll work alongside beverage application scientists and gain exposure to the product development process from initial formulation and benchtop testing through pilot-scale processing, analytical evaluation, and technical reporting.

The St. Louis internship also provides an opportunity to learn how other technical groups contribute to successful product development, including Food Engineering, Analytical, and Product Development, giving you a broader understanding of how cross-functional technical teams work together to solve challenges and bring innovative solutions to life.

Your responsibilities may include:

• Assist Beverage Applications scientists with a selected technical project from experimental design through completion, including formulation, sample preparation, processing, testing, data collection, and evaluation.
• Support the application and evaluation of various IFF food and beverage ingredients in beverage systems.
• Prepare formulations and ingredients for laboratory and pilot plant trials.
• Operate small-scale laboratory and pilot plant equipment, with appropriate training, to produce beverage prototypes and trial samples.
• Use laboratory equipment and analytical methods to evaluate beverage samples and collect relevant technical data.
• Organize, analyze, and summarize experimental data, observations, and trial results.
• Participate in sensory and physical evaluation of beverage prototypes as appropriate.
• Collaborate with Beverage Applications scientists and gain exposure to other technical functions, including Food Engineering, Analytical, and Product Development.
• Maintain accurate experimental records and help maintain a safe, clean, and organized laboratory and pilot plant work environment.
• Present the final internship project, findings, and recommendations to the Beverage Applications team.

What Makes You the Right Fit

• Currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. degree program in Food Science, Food Engineering, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Nutrition, or a related scientific or technical field.
• Interest in beverage formulation, food ingredients, product development, or food processing.
• Strong time-management and organizational skills.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• Basic computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Comfortable working in a hands-on laboratory and pilot plant environment.
• Ability to follow safety procedures, experimental protocols, and instructions.
• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.

How Would You Stand Out?

• 3.0 GPA or higher.
• Coursework or previous experience in food science, beverage science, food chemistry, food engineering, product development, or related disciplines.
• Previous laboratory, pilot plant, research, or product development experience.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and interpersonal skills.
• Curiosity about how food ingredients influence beverage performance, including taste, texture, stability, nutrition, and processing.
• Strong work ethic and the ability to collaborate across technical disciplines to deliver project objectives.
• An interest in learning beyond your primary project and understanding how different technical functions contribute to product innovation.

Why Choose Us?

• Gain hands-on experience in beverage formulation, ingredient functionality, processing, and product development while contributing to real-world beverage innovation.
• Work alongside experienced scientists and technical professionals in a collaborative laboratory and pilot plant environment.
• Gain exposure to multiple technical disciplines, including Beverage Applications, Food Engineering, Analytical, and Product Development, providing a broader view of careers within the food and beverage industry.
• Build experience planning experiments, producing prototypes, analyzing results, troubleshooting formulations, and communicating technical findings.
• Develop a final technical project and present your work to the Beverage Applications team.
• Competitive pay.
• Flexible schedule.

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more