Food / Agricultural Inspector
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Food or Agricultural Inspector inspects food, processed food and food containers to be sure they are safe for consumers, or inspects animals, animal feed or crops to check for disease that could affect food supplies. Checks for compliance with private industry standards or federal food safety and agricultural regulations.
Job Outlook
There were 45 Food / Agricultural Inspector job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2255 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Food / Agricultural Inspector industry, which includes the Food / Agricultural Inspector career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Food / Agricultural Inspector jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $40,073.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $40,073.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Food / Agricultural Inspector postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $31,646.
Education and Experience
Posted Food / Agricultural Inspector jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 5.72% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 39.87% |
| Master's Degree | 4.39% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.31% |
| Other | 37.69% |
Posted Food / Agricultural Inspector jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 79.45% |
| 3 to 5 years | 18.92% |
| 6 to 8 years | 0.85% |
| 9+ years | 0.78% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Food / Agricultural Inspector positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (47.36%)
- Management (37.47%)
- Operations (34.24%)
- Sanitation (32.42%)
- Quality Control (30.38%)
- Lifting Ability (30.02%)
- Mathematics (27.89%)
- Sorting (17.87%)
- Fine Motor Skills (16.94%)
- Writing (15.88%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Food Inspection (23.03%)
- Wholesaling (23.44%)
- Poultry (31.22%)
- Agriculture (38.64%)
- Laboratory Testing (22.26%)
- Food Safety And Sanitation (47.81%)
- Biology (32.82%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Animal Health (6.03%)
- Auditing (13.91%)
- Butchering (19.84%)
- Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) (9.89%)
- Animal Science (5.56%)
- Restaurant Operation (21.48%)
- Analytics (19.37%)
- Seafood Preparation (19.73%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (13.19%)
- Meat Cutting (19.84%)
- Food Science (7.26%)
- Methods Of Production (19.42%)
- Food Preparation (19.94%)
- Agricultural Science (21.74%)
- General Mathematics (6.03%)
- Medication Administration (19.32%)
- Anesthesias (19.37%)
- Warehousing (19.58%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Agricultural Commodities (6.13%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Food Safety And Sanitation (79.32%)
- Laboratory Testing (36.92%)
- Poultry (51.79%)
- Food Inspection (38.21%)
- Agricultural Commodities (10.17%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Food / Agricultural Inspector skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Slaughterer
- Produce Inspector
- Recruitment Intern
- Agricultural Commodity Grader
- Agricultural Inspector
- Meat Inspector
- Food Safety Inspector
- Quality Control Inspector
- Food Inspector
- Agriculture Inspector
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Food / Beverage Quality Manager
- Food / Agricultural Technician
- Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Farm / Ranch Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Food / Agricultural Inspector jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Food Safety And Inspection Service (226)
- Usda Food Safety & Inspection Service (131)
- US Foods Holding (79)
- Agricultural Marketing Service (65)
- Medline Industries (40)
- Sysco (36)
- Stoughton Trailers (29)
- United States Department of Agriculture (27)
- State of Missouri (26)
- FL Dept Of Agriculture & Consumer SVCS (26)
North Carolina
- State of North Carolina (10)
- Usda Food Safety & Inspection Service (7)
- United States Forest Service (6)
- Burlington Industries (5)
- Food Safety And Inspection Service (2)
- FirstWave Innovations (2)
- Sloane Realty Vacations (1)
- Nsf International (1)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (1)
- Smithfield Foods (1)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Agribusiness Management Undergraduate Certificates
- Agricultural Business Management Undergraduate Certificates
- Agricultural Business Management Undergraduate Certificates
- Agricultural Education and Human Sciences Master's Degrees
- Agricultural Leadership Undergraduate Certificates
- Agricultural Science Undergraduate Degrees
- Agriculture Data Science Graduate Certificates
- Plant Pests, Pathogens and People Undergraduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.