NOC 2021 · 94143 · TEER 4
Testers and graders, food and beverage processing
Unit group 94143 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
Check which category draws this code qualifies for
What this group covers
Testers and graders in food and beverage processing test or grade ingredients and finished food or beverage products to ensure conformance to company standards. They are employed in fruit and vegetable processing plants, dairies, flour mills, bakeries, sugar refineries, fish plants, meat plants, breweries and other food and beverage processing plants.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- bacon grader
- beef grader
- beer bottling line quality control tester
- beer tester
- beverage and bottle inspector
- beverage inspector
- bread tester
- brewery tester - food and beverage processing
- butter grader
- butterfat tester
- can inspector - food and beverage processing
- candy inspector
- canned and bottled foods inspector
- capon grader - food and beverage processing
- casing grader - food and beverage processing
- cheese grader
- cigar grader
- cigarette grader
- cigarette tester
- cookie and cracker tester
- cream grader
- dairy cream tester
- dairy grader - food and beverage processing
- dairy moisture tester
- dairy product tester - food and beverage processing
- dairy tester - food and beverage processing
- dressed poultry grader
- feed tester - food and beverage processing
- filter tip inspector - tobacco processing
- fish grader
- food and beverage processing grader
- fruit and vegetable grader - food and beverage processing
- gauger - wineries
- grader - food and beverage processing
- grain sampler - food and beverage processing
- ham grader
- hogshead inspector - tobacco processing
- honey grader and blender
- kosher inspector - food and beverage processing
- lamb grader
- liquor tester - food and beverage processing
- mashgiach - food and beverage processing
- meat grader
- milk grader
- milk receiver-tester
- moisture content tester - dairy products
- moisture content tester - tobacco processing
- pork grader
- poultry grader
- process control checker - food and beverage processing
- produce grader - food and beverage processing
- product tester - food and beverage processing
- quality control checker - food and beverage processing
- seed corn grader
- soybean tester
- starch tester - food and beverage processing
- sugar tester
- tenderometer tender - food and beverage processing
- test baker - food and beverage processing
- tobacco grader
- tobacco leaf grader
- tobacco sample puller
- veal grader
- wine tester
- wineries fermentation inspector
- wineries gauger
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$25.00 an hour
Low $17.00, high $34.00
Where it pays most
- Thompson--Okanagan · British Columbia$27.16
- Montérégie · Quebec$26.64
- Lower Mainland · British Columbia$26.15
- Laurentides · Quebec$26.00
- Bas-Saint-Laurent · Quebec$25.40
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $21.88 | $17.88 – $25.29 | Undetermined |
| Prince Edward Island | $18.50 | $16.50 – $23.50 | Limited |
| Nova Scotia | $21.40 | $16.50 – $25.96 | Moderate |
| New Brunswick | $21.40 | $15.65 – $25.96 | Moderate |
| Quebec | $25.78 | $22.00 – $34.22 | Limited |
| Ontario | $24.00 | $18.00 – $34.00 | Moderate |
| Manitoba | $24.46 | $16.88 – $35.51 | Limited |
| Saskatchewan | $23.36 | $18.93 – $27.91 | Good |
| Alberta | $23.90 | $16.75 – $31.60 | Moderate |
| British Columbia | $26.56 | $21.35 – $34.14 | Limited |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 41 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $22.24 | $18.21 – $28.96 | Undetermined |
| South Coast--Burin Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $21.50 | $17.45 – $25.84 | Undetermined |
| West Coast--Northern Peninsula--Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | $23.49 | $18.57 – $28.62 | Undetermined |
| Cape Breton | Nova Scotia | $21.38 | $16.50 – $28.42 | Moderate |
| North Shore | Nova Scotia | $20.49 | $16.50 – $25.59 | Moderate |
| Annapolis Valley | Nova Scotia | $21.34 | $17.00 – $28.12 | Moderate |
| Southern | Nova Scotia | $22.52 | $16.59 – $28.22 | Moderate |
| Saint John--St. Stephen | New Brunswick | $21.74 | $17.68 – $31.15 | Undetermined |
| Edmundston--Woodstock | New Brunswick | $21.41 | $17.92 – $28.66 | Undetermined |
| Gaspésie--Îles-de-la-Madeleine | Quebec | $23.31 | $19.88 – $26.28 | Undetermined |
| Bas-Saint-Laurent | Quebec | $25.40 | $21.55 – $29.28 | Undetermined |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $24.91 | $20.33 – $28.88 | Undetermined |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | $24.63 | $20.58 – $29.59 | Limited |
| Estrie | Quebec | $23.45 | $19.77 – $26.74 | Undetermined |
| Centre-du-Québec | Quebec | $24.07 | $19.95 – $28.54 | Moderate |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $26.64 | $20.50 – $33.00 | Moderate |
| Montréal | Quebec | $24.31 | $19.19 – $29.88 | Limited |
| Laval | Quebec | $24.25 | $19.49 – $28.77 | Limited |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $24.44 | $20.15 – $30.23 | Limited |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $26.00 | $20.98 – $33.50 | Limited |
| Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean | Quebec | $25.04 | $21.30 – $30.36 | Undetermined |
| Ottawa | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | $24.71 | $18.68 – $31.81 | Undetermined |
| Toronto | Ontario | $23.00 | $17.60 – $34.00 | Moderate |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $25.00 | $20.00 – $30.40 | Moderate |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $24.00 | $18.44 – $32.00 | Moderate |
| London | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | $22.50 | $17.60 – $32.00 | Limited |
| Stratford--Bruce Peninsula | Ontario | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| South Central | Manitoba | $23.80 | $18.51 – $32.12 | Limited |
| Southwest | Manitoba | $25.32 | $21.11 – $33.42 | Limited |
| North Central | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $22.17 | $19.24 – $38.06 | Moderate |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | $23.67 | $20.04 – $29.02 | Undetermined |
| Yorkton--Melville | Saskatchewan | Not published | Not published | Very good |
| Lethbridge--Medicine Hat | Alberta | $25.14 | $21.46 – $30.27 | Moderate |
| Calgary | Alberta | $25.16 | $19.01 – $31.75 | Moderate |
| Edmonton | Alberta | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | British Columbia | $25.29 | $22.23 – $35.22 | Undetermined |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $26.15 | $20.90 – $35.49 | Limited |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | $27.16 | $21.24 – $36.70 | Good |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.