How to become a butcher or Fishmonger and related food preparer

Official title: Butcher/Fishmonger and related food preparer

Also called: Butcher, Carcass washer, Cattle slaughterer, Domestic livestock butcher, Domestic livestock slaughterer, Fish curer, Fish dresser, Fish filleter, Fish salter, Fish smoker, Fishmonger, Gut stripper

Butcher/Fishmonger and related food preparer slaughters animals, cleans, cuts and dresses meat and fish, removes bones and prepares related food items or preserves 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

Ways in

• Polytechnic or ITE: ITE course (Nitec or Higher Nitec). Related ITE courses: Higher Nitec in Applied Food Science. Peernovo matched these from course names; ITE does not publish which jobs each course leads to.; Polytechnic diploma. Related diplomas: Diploma in Food Science & Nutrition (Nanyang Polytechnic); Diploma in Food & Beverage Business (Nanyang Polytechnic). Peernovo matched these from course names; polytechnics do not publish which jobs each course leads to.

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: $33,264 a year. The middle half earn $31,116 to $37,704 a year.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Baker
• Pastry/Confectionery maker
• Food and beverage taster/grader

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Questions people ask

How do I become a butcher or Fishmonger and related food preparer?

Ways in include: ITE course (Nitec or Higher Nitec); Polytechnic diploma.

How much does a butcher or Fishmonger and related food preparer earn in Singapore?

Median full-time pay is $33,264 a year (Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg)). The middle half earn $31,116 to $37,704.

Will AI change the work of a butcher or Fishmonger and related food preparer?

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

Sources

• Ministry of Manpower (via data.gov.sg): Resident Occupational Wages (Occupational Wage Survey) (June 2024 (data.gov.sg update 2026-04-01)), Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0, 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