Also called: USDA Dairy Grader, Cheese and Butter Grader
Tastes, smells and inspects butter and cheese to give official quality grades, and checks that dairy plants are clean.
At a cheese plant, the grader pulls a core of cheddar with a steel trier, smells it, checks the texture with their fingers, and tastes a bit. They score flavor, body and color for an official grade. Then they walk the plant floor checking sanitation and paperwork.
Federal pay scale for USDA graders.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor’s in dairy, food or animal science; USDA trains graders.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Dairy Science, Food Science, Animal Science.
Growing slowly. Small federal workforce; dairy plants keep needing grades.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. Lab instruments measure fat and moisture, but official grades still rely on a trained human taster.
Classes: Chemistry, Biology, Agriculture CTE class.
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.