Foster grew up in poverty on a small cotton farm in East Texas.[2] At North Texas State Teachers College (now named the University of North Texas), he graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree and in 1937 with a master's degree in biology. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UWM), he graduated in 1940 with a Ph.D. in agricultural bacteriology.[3] His Ph.D. thesis The bacteriology of brick cheese during ripening.[4] was supervised by William Carroll Frazier.[2] From 1940 to 1941 Foster was an instructor in agricultural bacteriology at UMW. From 1941 to 1942 he worked as a bacteriologist in Texas.[3] From 1942 to 1943, he was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Sanitation Corps. From 1943 to 1945 he was a U.S. Army captain in the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS).[3] During his CWS service, he was stationed at Camp Detrick and worked on biowarfare. The 2007 PBSAmerican Experience documentary The Living Weapon mentions his CWS service.[2][5] In late 1945 he became an assistant professor of agricultural bacteriology at UWM. There he was promoted to associate professor in 1946 and full professor in 1952, retiring as professor emeritus in 1987.[6] In 1966 he arranged for the Food Research Institute to move from the University of Chicago to UWM. He was the institute's director from 1966 to 1986 and expanded its size and scope. In 1975 the institute became its own department, named the Department of Food Micriobiology and Toxicoloy, at UWW. The new department was chaired by Foster from 1975 to 1986.[7][2][6]
Foster did research on the bacteriology of cheese and the microbiology of several important subjects in food science: meat products, refrigerated foods, and the bovine rumen.[3] He was a leading expert on the bacteriology and biochemistry of sodium nitrate in meat products. His research in the 1950s and 1960s on the bacteriology involved in vacuum-packaging and plastic-packaging of meat products enabled meat processors to greatly extend the shelf life of ready-to-eat meat products.[6]
He was an internationally recognized expert on food microbiology.[8] His directorship of the Food Research Institute established UWM as a world-class center of food research.[6]
Steinke, P. K. W.; Foster, E. M. (1951). "Effect of Different Artificial Casings on the Microbial Changes in Refrigerated Liver Sausage". Journal of Food Science. 16 (1–6): 289–293. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1951.tb17382.x.
Kirsch, R. H.; Berry, F. E.; Baldwin, C. L.; Foster, E. M. (1952). "The Bacteriology of Refrigerated Ground Beef". Journal of Food Science. 17 (1–6): 495–503. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1952.tb16795.x.
Allen, J. R.; Foster, E. M. (1960). "Spoilage of Vacuum-Packed Sliced Processed Meats During Refrigerated Storage". Journal of Food Science. 25: 19–25. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.1960.tb17931.x.
Foster, E. M.; Sugiyama, H. (1966). "Latest Developments in Research on Botulism". Journal of Milk and Food Technology. 29 (11): 342–347. doi:10.4315/0022-2747-29.11.342. 1966
