Food Safety Specialist
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Food Safety Specialist inspects and monitors food safety. May conduct inspections in agriculture or food harvesting, storage and transportation. Inspects and monitors food imports and commercial food processing facilities. Monitors compliance with government safety regulations.
Job Outlook
There were 53 Food Safety Specialist job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2414 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Safety Specialist / Coordinator industry, which includes the Food Safety Specialist career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Food Safety Specialist 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 $65,424.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $59,325.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Food Safety Specialist postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $48,930.
Education and Experience
Posted Food Safety Specialist 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 | 49.54% |
| Master's Degree | 5.68% |
| Doctoral Degree | 1.04% |
| Other | 23.36% |
Posted Food Safety Specialist 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 | 45.1% |
| 3 to 5 years | 49.44% |
| 6 to 8 years | 2.87% |
| 9+ years | 2.59% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Food Safety Specialist 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 (48.84%)
- Communication (44.95%)
- Management (32.64%)
- Quality Assurance (31.52%)
- Operations (30.24%)
- Leadership (26.26%)
- Detail Oriented (20.38%)
- Microsoft Excel (19.1%)
- Problem Solving (18.31%)
- Influencing Skills (17.36%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Food Science (43.15%)
- Auditing (59.53%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (26.37%)
- Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) (42.88%)
- Food Safety And Sanitation (95.52%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Food Manufacturing (20.05%)
- Quality Management Systems (11.37%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (19.29%)
- Data Analysis (6.8%)
- Biology (17.68%)
- Corrective And Preventive Action (CAPA) (8.82%)
- Chemistry (12.98%)
- Environmental Monitoring (7.12%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (8.46%)
- Regulatory Compliance (10.07%)
- Cooking (12.18%)
- Food Services (17.1%)
- Food Preparation (13.56%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (8.28%)
- Microbiology (20.37%)
- Risk Analysis (9%)
- Statistical Process Controls (3.18%)
- Root Cause Analysis (9.49%)
- Internal Auditing (10.3%)
- Project Management (8.73%)
- Quality Management (12.89%)
- Product Quality (QA/QC) (7.3%)
- New Product Development (6.49%)
- Restaurant Operation (13.97%)
- Pest Control (12.13%)
- Seafood Preparation (7.65%)
- Industry Standards (3.27%)
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.
- Food Science (55.12%)
- Auditing (76.04%)
- Good Manufacturing Practices (33.68%)
- Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) (54.77%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Food Safety Specialist skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Food Safety Quality Assurance Technician
- FSQA Manager
- Quality Specialist
- Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager
- Sanitation Manager
- Food Safety Auditor
- SQF Practitioner
- Culinary Specialist
- 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 Safety Manager
- Quality Assurance Supervisor
- Food and Agricultural Scientist / Technologist
- Meat and Seafood Processor / Packager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Food Safety Specialist jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Steritech (118)
- Rentokil Initial (114)
- Kroger (36)
- Afc Franchise Corp (36)
- GPAC (35)
- C&S Wholesale Grocers (32)
- Mars Incorporated (31)
- Cargill (29)
- Ecolab (28)
- Actalent (26)
North Carolina
- Steritech (6)
- Sysco (5)
- Afc Franchise Corp (5)
- Butterball (3)
- Dole Food Company (3)
- Compass Group (3)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (2)
- Ecolab (2)
- ABM Industries (1)
- Kellogg's (1)
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.