J. Scott Smith is a professor of food chemistry on the faculty of the Animal Sciences Department and Food Science Institute at Kansas State University with a 70% research and 30% teaching appointment. He is a native of Owensboro in western Kentucky with degrees from Brescia College (BS, Biology), Kansas State University (MS, Biochemistry) and the Penn State University (PhD, Food Science). He been a faculty member at K-State since 1989. Before he was a faculty member at Penn State in the Food Science Dept.

He is a member of IFT including chair of Toxicology and Safety Evaluation division, and chair of graduate student poster competition for the Food Chemistry Divisions. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division), AOAC International, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Phi Tau Sigma Honorary Society.

His research programs are in the areas of food analysis and toxicology. He is studying methods to evaluate irradiation dose exposure in irradiated meat products, toxicity of unique radiolytic products (the 2-acylcyclobutanones), ammonia contamination of foods from refrigeration leaks, grain Fusarium mycotoxin contaminating of food, and the formation of heterocyclic amines (HCA) in cooked muscle foods products. Recent research on rosemary inhibition of HCA formation in grilled beef has received worldwide coverage in over 50 news reports, including several radio interviews.

He currently teaches courses in Food Toxicology, Food Chemistry, Advanced Food Chemistry, Food Analysis, and has several offered by Distance Learning.