Food Safety Manager
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Food Safety Manager is responsible for ensuring compliance with all food safety matters, legislative and regulatory, relating to an organization's day to day operations. Will provide specialist advice to the management and employees of the organization. May organize training to improve employee understanding of best food safety practice.
Job Outlook
There were 84 Food Safety Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2708 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Safety Manager industry, which includes the Food Safety Manager career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Food Safety Manager 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 $71,564.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $74,755.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Food Safety Manager postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $60,639.
Education and Experience
Posted Food Safety Manager 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 | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 69.31% |
| Master's Degree | 7.83% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.41% |
| Other | 7.87% |
Posted Food Safety Manager 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 | 17.44% |
| 3 to 5 years | 70.02% |
| 6 to 8 years | 8.16% |
| 9+ years | 4.38% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Food Safety Manager 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.
- Sanitation (60.27%)
- Management (57.87%)
- Leadership (54.91%)
- Quality Assurance (51.44%)
- Communication (47.27%)
- Operations (46.6%)
- Safety Assurance (30.21%)
- Problem Solving (27.36%)
- Quality Control (23.67%)
- Packaging And Labeling (21.79%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Food Science (48.04%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (45.63%)
- Auditing (73.39%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (41.52%)
- Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) (66.62%)
- Food Safety And Sanitation (98.22%)
- Microbiology (23.83%)
- Quality Management (31.75%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- FDA Regulations (12.14%)
- Compliance Management (1.59%)
- Food Quality Assurance And Control (9.99%)
- Animal Science (11.55%)
- Merchandise Returns (6.74%)
- Supply Chain (9.22%)
- Agriculture (3.96%)
- Food Manufacturing (19.02%)
- Quality Management Systems (15.4%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (13.77%)
- Biology (17.47%)
- Chemistry (16.47%)
- Development Environment (11.47%)
- Data Collection (12.07%)
- Regulatory Compliance (24.72%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (7.88%)
- Occupational Safety And Health (4.96%)
- Food Services (12.07%)
- Environmental Monitoring (8.11%)
- Production Process (4.63%)
- External Auditing (6.29%)
- Project Management (10.4%)
- Risk Management (8.18%)
- Laboratory Testing (9.18%)
- New Product Development (10.36%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (11.4%)
- Lean Manufacturing (3.92%)
- Marketing (2.89%)
- Food Safety Management Systems (6.96%)
- Safety Standards (9.62%)
- Operations Management (5.81%)
- Internal Auditing (15.51%)
- Warehousing (10.95%)
- Hazard Analysis (10.73%)
- Risk Analysis (17.99%)
- Statistical Process Controls (9.96%)
- Manufacturing Processes (5.14%)
- Statistics (3.26%)
- Process Improvement (9.44%)
- Zoning (Networking) (6.74%)
- Pest Control (23.02%)
- Root Cause Analysis (12.58%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (16.88%)
- Suspension (Vehicle) (6.92%)
- Regulatory Requirements (10.33%)
- Environment Health And Safety (4.89%)
- Industry Standards (3.89%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (6.51%)
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.
- Auditing (83.78%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (47.4%)
- Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) (76.05%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Food Safety Manager skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Food Safety Quality Assurance Technician
- Food Safety Supervisor
- Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager
- Quality and Food Safety Manager
- Food Safety and Quality Assurance Supervisor
- Quality Control/Safety Manager
- Food Safety Program Manager
- Quality Assurance and Safety Manager
- Food Safety and Sanitation Manager
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 Safety Specialist
- Quality Assurance Supervisor
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Food / Agricultural Inspector
- Manufacturing Quality Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Food Safety Manager jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- US Foods Holding (207)
- The Judge Group (108)
- Amazon (50)
- Chewy (50)
- GPAC (46)
- Tyson Foods (44)
- Smithfield Foods (42)
- Bimbo Bakeries USA (41)
- Sysco (36)
- Perdue (29)
North Carolina
- Perdue (9)
- Smithfield Foods (5)
- GPAC (5)
- Krispy Kreme (5)
- Harris Teeter (3)
- The Fresh Market (3)
- Tyson Foods (3)
- HMSHost (3)
- Chewy (3)
- Kind Snacks (2)
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!
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.