Career
Food batchmakers
Mix and make food in batches.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Record production and test data for each food product batch, such as the ingredients used, temperature, test results, and time cycle.
- Clean and sterilize vats and factory processing areas.
- Set up, operate, and tend equipment that cooks, mixes, blends, or processes ingredients in the manufacturing of food products, according to formulas or recipes.
- Mix or blend ingredients, according to recipes, using a paddle or an agitator, or by controlling vats that heat and mix ingredients.
- Follow recipes to produce food products of specified flavor, texture, clarity, bouquet, or color.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Record production and test data for each food product batch, such as the ingredients used, temperature, test results, and time cycle.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operations Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Operation and Control.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $42,290 a year and 23,100 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Brewing ScienceCIP 01.1003
- Zymology/Fermentation ScienceCIP 01.1005
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders$41,590 · -0.3%
- Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders$44,810 · +0.4%
- Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$48,990 · -6.1%
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$51,610 · -5.7%
- Bakers$37,160 · +5.5%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.