Also called: USDA Inspector, Plant Protection Inspector, Meat Inspector
Checks farms, meat plants, ports, and food shipments to make sure they meet safety and quality laws.
You might be inspecting carcasses on a meatpacking line, searching shipping containers at a port for invasive beetles, or checking that a grocery warehouse's scales are accurate. You carry real authority: you can stop a shipment.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 2 years after high school. Varies: some roles need a bachelor's in an ag science, others accept experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Animal Science, Food Science, Biology.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). Estimate.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Port X-rays, imaging and AI flag risky shipments; walking plants and farms and enforcing rules in person stay human.
Classes: Biology, Chemistry, Agriculture science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 45-2011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.