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  5. Food Processing Labourers

Exploring Trades and Occupations

Food Processing Labourers

On this page

  • Job description
  • Advancement and mobility
  • Hourly wage
  • Job prospects for 2021-2025
  • Sectors of activity
  • Training and requirements
  • Main skills and characteristics
  • Personality profiles (RIASEC)
  • Additional information

Job description

These individuals perform handling, cleaning, and packaging tasks related to food processing. They work in:

  • Fruit, vegetable, meat, and fish processing and packaging plants
  • Dairy manufacturing plants
  • Mills
  • Bakeries-Pastry shops
  • Breweries
  • Sugar refineries

Environment

  • Controlled ambient temperature
  • Equipment, machinery, tools
  • Odours
  • Noise

Main tasks

  • Cut, weigh, place, and sort food and beverages.
  • Cook food products.
  • Assist process control operators.
  • Check the conformity and quality of products and packaging during production.
  • Pack products in various containers (bags, cans, bottles, etc.).
  • Transport raw materials, products, and packaging materials in the plant and warehouse.
  • Clean work areas and equipment.

Advancement and mobility

  • There is some mobility between jobs in this group.
  • Experience leads to higher positions.

Hourly wage

The hourly wage is calculated by averaging wages from 2019 to 2021.
Minimum
$14.25
Median
$17.00
Maximum
$24.01

Job prospects for 2021-2025

sr.comparaison-region.titre

Les 2 champs de sélection ci-dessous vous permettent de comparer 2 régions. Les données des régions seront automatiquement mises à jour à la sélection. Par défaut, la province de Québec est sélectionnée pour la première région.

Job prospects for 2021-2025

Job prospects

All of Québec

Non available
Limited
Good
Very good
Very good

All of Québec

Non available
Limited
Good
Very good
Non available

Total jobs for 2020

All of Québec

18,000

All of Québec

na

Gender distribution

All of Québec

Not available.
45.1% Female
54.9% Male

Not available.
  • 45.1% Female
  • 54.9% Male

Job types

All of Québec

Not available.
Full time
Part time

Not available.
  • Full time
  • Part time

Yearly wage on 2015

All of Québec

$34,000

All of Québec

Other characteristics

All of Québec

  • None

All of Québec

  • None

Sectors of activity

All of Québec

Not available.
  1. Food, Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing
    NAICS 311, 312
    72% of jobs
  2. Wholesale Trade
    NAICS 41
    9% of jobs
  3. Retail Trade
    NAICS 44, 45
    8% of jobs
  4. Business, building and other support services
    NAICS 55, 56
    3% of jobs
  5. Agriculture and Fishing
    NAICS 111, 112, 114, 1151, 1152
    2% of jobs
  6. Others
    6% of jobs

All of Québec

Not available.
  1. Food, Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing
    NAICS 311, 312
    72% of jobs
  2. Wholesale Trade
    NAICS 41
    9% of jobs
  3. Retail Trade
    NAICS 44, 45
    8% of jobs
  4. Business, building and other support services
    NAICS 55, 56
    3% of jobs
  5. Agriculture and Fishing
    NAICS 111, 112, 114, 1151, 1152
    2% of jobs
  6. Others
    6% of jobs

Training and requirements

Formation

No specific training

Sometimes required

  • A few years of high school education may be required.
  • A Class 5 driver's licence is sometimes required.
  • A Lift Truck Operator’s competency card is sometimes required.

Main skills and characteristics

Skills

  • Data collection
  • Information processing

Abilities

  • Near vision
  • Manual dexterity
  • Core strength
  • Static muscle power
  • Control accuracy
  • Limb coordination
  • Digital dexterity
  • Information organization
  • Awareness of issues
  • Hand-arm stability
  • Oral comprehension
  • Endurance
  • Verbal skills
  • Perception speed
  • Physical flexibility in extension
More Less abilities

Knowledge and attributes

  • Autonomy
  • Capacity to work in a team
  • Rigour
  • Respect standards and regulations
  • Assiduity and punctuality
  • Sense of observation
  • Commitment to quality
  • Tolerance to routine work
  • Timeliness
  • Knowledge of mechanics

Interests

  • Work manually
  • Exercer une activité sportive ou physique

Personality profiles (RIASEC)

Realistic
People with this profile prefer carrying out concrete tasks and being physically involved in what they do.
Conventional
People with this profile prefer specific, well-defined tasks. They like to respect the order of things and follow established rules.
Investigative
People with this profile prefer relying on theoretical knowledge before acting. They like observation, analysis and problem solving.
Additional information

Note about CNP

Occupational information is provided based on the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2016. The 5-digit code of the NOC 2021 is shown in parentheses for information purposes only for occupations that correspond to those of NOC 2016.

Official name of the NOC 9617 (95106)

Labourers in food and beverage processing

Job titles

  • Production helper
  • Cheese factory worker
  • Gambreler - food and beverage processing
  • Chocolate processing helper
  • Dairy helper - food and beverage processing
  • Production helper - food and beverage processing
  • Char filter helper - food and beverage processing
  • Char kiln helper - food and beverage processing
  • Flumer helper - food and beverage processing
  • Bolter helper - food and beverage processing
  • Candy maker helper
  • Industrial butcher helper
  • Butcher helper - meat processing
  • Baker helper
  • Sugar boiler helper
  • Pastry cook helper
  • Cheese maker helper
  • Cocoa bean roaster helper
  • Beet washer helper
  • Custom feed miller helper
  • Grain cleaner helper
  • Liquor gallery tender helper - food and beverage processing
  • Flour mixer helper
  • Cocoa bean press-mill helper
  • Edible oil refiner helper
  • Vinegar maker helper
  • Dough feeder - food and beverage processing
  • Casing shirrer - food and beverage processing
  • Neck skewerer - food and beverage processing
  • Hoof remover - food and beverage processing
  • Stunner and shackler - meat packing
  • Sausage tier - food and beverage processing
  • Lard bleacher - food and beverage processing
  • Milk powder grinder
  • Sugar grinder
  • Egg breaker - food and beverage processing
  • Chicle-grinder feeder - food and beverage processing
  • Cannery packer
  • Meat packer - food and beverage processing
  • Fruit splitter
  • Meat loaf trimmer
  • Gelatin stock cooker attendant
  • Cheese cutter
  • Frozen meat cutter helper
  • Meat mould stripper
  • Bakery products divider - food and beverage processing
  • Sampler - food and beverage processing
  • Butter sampler
  • Beer sampler - food and beverage processing
  • Cream sampler - food and beverage processing
  • Milk sampler
  • Yeast sampler - food and beverage processing
  • Food product sampler
  • Dairy sampler - food and beverage processing
  • Frozen food packer
  • Bakery products wrapper
  • Butter wrapper
  • Candy wrapper
  • Cake wrapper
  • Pastry wrapper
  • Sausage wrapper - food and beverage processing
  • Meat wrapper
  • Meat vacuum wrapper
  • Poultry packager
  • Bottler
  • Butter packer
  • Biscuit packer
  • Candy packer
  • Hand chocolate packer
  • Cigarette packer
  • Liquid packer
  • Salt packer
  • Tobacco packer
  • Machine tobacco packer
  • Meat packager - food and beverage processing
  • Case stacker - food and beverage processing
  • Icing dipper - food and beverage processing
  • Hand candy dipper - food and beverage processing
  • Bagger - food and beverage processing
  • Animal feed sack filler
  • Shrouder - food and beverage processing
  • Tobacco hogshead liner
  • Bread pan greaser - food and beverage processing
  • Casing stripper - food and beverage processing
  • Barrel cleaner - food and beverage processing
  • Beet washer
  • Bottle washer
  • Carcass washer - food and beverage processing
  • Machine container washer - food and beverage processing
  • Fruit and vegetable cleaner - food and beverage processing
  • Meat washer
  • Labourer - food and beverage processing
  • Yeast processing labourer
  • Corn syrup processing labourer
  • Food processing labourer
  • Edible oil processing labourer
  • Cannabis processing labourer
  • Tobacco processing labourer
  • Starch factory labourer - food and beverage processing
  • Bakery labourer
  • Brewery labourer
  • Confection labourer - food and beverage processing
  • Meat-packing plant labourer
  • Syrup-processing plant labourer
  • Yeast-processing plant labourer
  • Beef marker - food and beverage processing
  • Bin cleaner - food and beverage processing
  • Cocoa bean cleaner
  • Food-processing equipment cleaner
  • Starch centrifuge tender
  • Gluten settler - food and beverage processing
  • Freezing worker - food and beverage processing
  • Ice cream worker - food and beverage processing
  • Popcorn maker - food and beverage processing
  • Singeing machine tender
  • Pellet mill worker - food and beverage processing
  • Linking machine tender - food and beverage processing
  • Banding machine tender - tobacco products
  • Cigar-wrapping machine tender
  • Carton-packaging machine tender - food and beverage processing
  • Snuff-packing machine tender
  • Washing and waxing machine tender - food and beverage processing
  • Potato-peeling machine tender
  • Meat-rolling machine tender
  • Tobacco baler
  • Corn starch neutralizer
  • Production labourer - food processing
  • Chewing gum production attendant
  • Chilling worker - food and beverage processing
  • Carton package stapler
  • Food-cooling pan tender
  • Cigar bander
  • Bakery products bander
  • Dumping machine tender - food and beverage processing
  • Cigar wrapper
  • Machine cigar wrapper
  • Centrifuge tender - meat packing plant
  • Centrifuge tender - food and beverage processing
  • Freezer worker - food and beverage processing
  • Tumbler tender - food and beverage processing
  • Label coder - food and beverage processing
  • Noodle paste mixer tender
  • Seasoning mixer - food and beverage processing
  • Soft drink mixer
  • Juice blender
  • Tea blender
  • Blender and wrapper - food and beverage processing
  • Blender and packer - food and beverage processing
  • Fruit peeler - food and beverage processing
  • Poultry cooler worker - food and beverage processing
  • Hogshead filler - tobacco products
  • Meat dryer
  • Cannery worker - food and beverage processing
  • Bottling line worker
  • Carcass weigher - food and beverage processing
  • Dough weigher
  • Tobacco weigher
  • Tare assessor - food and beverage processing
  • Glucose transferrer - food and beverage processing
  • Fruit preparer - food and beverage processing
  • Chewing gum batch mixer
  • Cocoa powder mixer
  • Smoked meat preparer - food and beverage processing
  • Tobacco-packing machine tender
  • Bottle-washing machine tender - food and beverage processing
  • Film-coating machine tender - tobacco products
  • Bottle caser - food and beverage processing
  • Box stitcher - food and beverage processing
  • Carton bander
  • Cigar brander
  • Cellophaner - tobacco products
  • Caser - tobacco processing
  • Tank attendant - food and beverage processing
  • Meat press tender
  • Filler - food and beverage processing
  • Tub filler - food and beverage processing
  • Barrel filler - food and beverage processing
  • Dough roller
  • Dry curer - food and beverage processing
  • Casing salter - food and beverage processing
  • Sausage casing curer
  • Meat mould sealer
  • Nut-chopping machine feeder
  • Skinning machine feeder - food and beverage processing
  • Coffee-blending machine feeder
  • Sorting machine feeder - food and beverage processing
  • Potato chip sorter
  • Nut sorter - food and beverage processing
  • Bottle checker - food and beverage processing
  • Ticket checker - tobacco processing
More Less job titles

Skill type

Manufacturing and utilities

WAP

This occupation is targeted by a Workplace Apprenticeship Program

  • Dairy processing equipment operator This hyperlink will open in a new window.

Related occupations

  • Labourers in fish and seafood processing
  • Process control and machine operators, food and beverage processing
  • Supervisors, food and beverage processing

See also

  • Glossary (PDF 229 Kb)
  • Québec emploi This hyperlink will open in a new window.

Last update: December 22, 2022

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