How to become a dairy-products maker

Official title: Dairy-products makers

Also called: Butter maker, Cheese maker

Dairy products makers process butter and various types of cheese, cream or other dairy products.

Main tasks

• Boiling or pasteurizing milk to achieve specified butter fat content
• Separating cream from milk and churning cream into butter
• Dumping measured amounts of starter and other ingredients into milk
• Curdling milk, heating curd until it reaches desired firmness, draining curd and placing cheese into moulds to press it into shape
• Salting cheese and piercing or smearing cheese with cultured wash to develop mould growth
• Placing and turning cheese blocks on shelves to cure cheese
• Monitoring product quality before packaging by inspecting, taking samples and adjusting treatment conditions when necessary
• Recording amounts of ingredients used, test results and time cycles

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
• Butchers, fishmongers and related food preparers
• Bakers, pastry-cooks and confectionery makers

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Questions people ask

Do you need a degree to become a dairy-products maker?

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

Will AI change the work of a dairy-products maker?

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