How to become a butcher, fishmonger or related food preparer

Official title: Butchers, fishmongers and related food preparers

Also called: Butcher, Fish filleter, Fishmonger, Slaughterer

Butchers, fishmongers and related food preparers slaughter animals, clean, cut and dress meat and fish, remove bones and prepare related food items, or preserve meat, fish and other foods and food products by drying, salting or smoking.

Main tasks

• Slaughtering animals
• Flaying and trimming carcasses
• Boning, cutting and dressing meat and fish for sale or further processing
• Preparing ingredients and making sausages and similar products using chopping, mixing and shaping machines
• Curing meat, fish and other foods
• Operating smokehouses or ovens to smoke meat, fish and other foodstuffs
• Cooking or in other ways preparing meat, fish and related food items for sale
• Selling meat or fish to customers, including wrapping, weighing and labelling products, and receiving payment

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$21,000 a month
• About 387,500 people in 2025, and about 403,200 projected by 2028. (+4.1%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Tobacco preparers and tobacco products makers
• Fruit, vegetable and related preservers
• Food and beverage tasters and graders
• Bakers, pastry-cooks and confectionery makers
• Dairy-products makers

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Questions people ask

Do you need a degree to become a butcher, fishmonger or related food preparer?

Usually not. Only 8% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a butcher, fishmonger or related food preparer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026