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Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

Typical education: High school diplomaHigh pressure Bright Outlook

What they do

Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood.

Kinds of work

  • Realistic: Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals, often outdoors.
  • Conventional: Organizing information, following clear procedures and working with data and details.

High pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $38,300 Median per year · $18.41/hr Most earn $29,980–$48,150

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.
  • Clean, trim, slice, and section carcasses for future processing.
  • Clean and salt hides.
  • Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat.
  • Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
  • Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.

Job outlook

Bright Outlook Rapid Growth

United States
6% more jobs by 2035, faster than average · about 17,000 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Animal slaughtering and processing70.5%
  • Grocery and specialty food retailers13.5%
  • Seafood product preparation and packaging6.0%
  • Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods4.2%
  • Temporary help services2.8%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 1 to 3 months

Some people start through an apprenticeship: paid training on the job, often with classes. Search apprenticeships on Apprenticeship.gov (opens in a new tab) ↗

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: High school diplomaExperience before this job: 1 to 3 monthsEntry-level

This is an entry-level job. Most people start with a high school diploma and learn the work on the job, usually in about 1 to 3 months.

  1. High school diploma

    4 years

    Finish high school, with strong focus on math and hands-on classes, since the job needs accurate measuring and careful handling of tools.

  2. Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

    1-3 months of on-the-job training

    Learn to trim and cut meat, poultry, and seafood by hand under a supervisor, following food safety and knife safety rules. Steady, careful work over time can lead to more skilled cutting roles.

Where it can lead

  1. Butcher

    1-2 years of experience first

    Butchers cut larger pieces of meat into retail cuts, prepare custom orders, and work with customers, which takes more skill and knowledge of different animals and cuts than trimming alone.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take math and science classesStrong math helps with weights, portions, and measurements, and biology helps you understand how meat and fish are structured.
  • Take a family and consumer sciences or culinary classHands-on food classes teach kitchen safety, knife skills, and food handling, which are useful on any cutting line.
  • Get a part-time job at a grocery store or restaurantWorking in a food setting, even bagging or prep work, builds experience with safety rules, teamwork, and fast, careful hand work.
  • Learn food safety basicsMany schools and towns offer food handler courses; completing one shows employers you understand hygiene and safe handling.

In college

  • Take food science or animal science coursesThese classes explain how meat, poultry, and fish are processed and kept safe, which gives you a strong background for this work.
  • Earn a food handler or food safety certificateA recognized certificate, often available through local health programs, shows employers you know safe food handling.
  • Work at a meat counter, processing plant, or food warehousePart-time or summer work gives you real experience with cutting tools, equipment safety, and production speed.
  • Complete a workplace safety courseTraining in workplace safety, such as a basic OSHA course, shows you understand how to avoid cuts and repetitive-strain injuries on the job.
  • Join a campus food or agriculture clubClubs connected to food, animal science, or agriculture let you meet people in the industry and hear about job openings.

Tips for getting started

  • Ask about part-time jobs at grocery store meat counters or local food processing plants; even a few months of experience helps you stand out.
  • Take any food safety or knife-handling course your school or local health department offers, so employers see you already know the basics.
  • Pay attention to how much your job pays and what the work is like in your area by checking this career's page on the app, since it shows typical pay near you and nationally.

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

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