Dairy Products Factory Worker
A dairy products factory worker operates production equipment and performs manual tasks in a dairy processing facility to manufacture milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter, and other dairy products. They monitor production lines, handle raw and processed dairy materials, and ensure products meet food safety and quality standards.
What this job is
A dairy products factory worker operates production equipment and performs manual tasks in a dairy processing facility to manufacture milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter, and other dairy products. They monitor production lines, handle raw and processed dairy materials, and ensure products meet food safety and quality standards. The role operates within strict hygiene protocols and temperature controls required by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) regulations.
Are employers advertising this role?
Falling, down 28.9% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Operate and monitor pasteurisation equipment to heat milk to specified temperatures and hold times in accordance with food safety standards. Load raw milk or ingredients into mixing vessels and fermentation tanks using manual handling techniques and mechanical lifts. Monitor temperature gauges, pressure dials, and digital displays on processing equipment to maintain critical control points. Perform cleaning and sanitisation of production equipment, pipelines, and work surfaces using approved cleaning agents and following hygiene protocols. Separate cream from milk using centrifuge equipment or adjust separator settings to achieve required fat content levels. Weigh and measure milk, cream, cultures, rennet, and other ingredients according to recipe specifications and production orders. Add starter cultures, enzymes, salt, and other additives to vats at specified times during cheese or yoghurt production. Monitor pH levels and acidity using test strips or calibrated pH meters to ensure product consistency.
Who does this now
About 2,400 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5)
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Jobs and Skills Australia defines an occupation-ready qualification as:
Completing this qualification will provide the skills and knowledge to undertake this occupation. Further training and experience may be required to meet specific industry requirements including licensing and registration.
Jobs and Skills Australia, Training Occupation Pathways dataset, March 2026, version 1.0
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
The work is physically demanding with repetitive manual handling, long shifts often starting at 3 to 4am to process milk when it arrives, and strict hygiene rules that mean constant cleaning. Pay is modest and doesn't rise much with experience. Automation may reduce the number of line workers needed, so job security isn't guaranteed.
Where the jobs are
Most work is at major processing plants like Bega, Lion, and Fonterra facilities. Very little remote work. Regional towns with processing plants offer more opportunities than cities, but fewer jobs overall as the sector consolidates.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 8311, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
- Administer ingredients in food productioncore
- Attention to Detailcore
- Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
- Clean food and beverage machinerycore
- Goods Receipt Processingcore
- Incident Reportingcore
- Inventory Trackingcore
- Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
- Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
- Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Stock Counting and Stocktakecore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Act reliably
- Adhere to organisational guidelines
- Carry out checks of production plant equipment
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- ERP and Inventory Systems
- Multitasking
- Problem Solving
- Process Improvement Identification
- Verbal Communication
- Workload Self-Management
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
What Dairy Products Factory Worker move into, from ten years of tax records.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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