Agricultural Inspectors
Description
Inspect agricultural commodities, processing equipment, and facilities, and fish and logging operations, to ensure compliance with regulations and laws governing health, quality, and safety.
Job tasks
- • Inspect agricultural commodities or related operations, as well as fish or logging operations, for compliance with laws and regulations governing health, quality, and safety.
- • Inspect or test horticultural products or livestock to detect harmful diseases, chemical residues, or infestations and to determine the quality of products or animals.
- • Verify that transportation and handling procedures meet regulatory requirements.
- • Collect samples from animals, plants, or products and route them to laboratories for microbiological assessment, ingredient verification, or other testing.
- • Interpret and enforce government acts and regulations and explain required standards to agricultural workers.
- • Write reports of findings and recommendations and advise farmers, growers, or processors of corrective action to be taken.
- • Inspect the cleanliness and practices of establishment employees.
- • Monitor the operations and sanitary conditions of slaughtering or meat processing plants.
- • Inspect food products and processing procedures to determine whether products are safe to eat.
- • Take emergency actions, such as closing production facilities, if product safety is compromised.
- • Monitor the grading performed by company employees to verify conformance to standards.
- • Label and seal graded products and issue official grading certificates.
- • Examine, weigh, and measure commodities, such as poultry, eggs, meat, or seafood to certify qualities, grades, and weights.
- • Compare product recipes with government-approved formulas or recipes to determine acceptability.
- • Provide consultative services in areas such as equipment or product evaluation, plant construction or layout, or food safety systems.
- • Testify in legal proceedings.
Abilities
Verbal Abilities
- • Oral Comprehension
- • Written Comprehension
- • Oral Expression
- • Written Expression
Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities
- • Problem Sensitivity
- • Deductive Reasoning
- • Inductive Reasoning
- • Information Ordering
- • Category Flexibility
Perceptual Abilities
- • Speed of Closure
- • Flexibility of Closure
- • Perceptual Speed
Attentiveness
- • Selective Attention
Visual Abilities
- • Near Vision
- • Far Vision
Auditory and Speech Abilities
- • Auditory Attention
- • Speech Recognition
- • Speech Clarity
Skills
Content
- • Reading Comprehension
- • Active Listening
- • Writing
- • Speaking
Process
- • Critical Thinking
- • Active Learning
- • Monitoring
Social Skills
- • Coordination
- • Instructing
Complex Problem Solving Skills
- • Complex Problem Solving
Technical Skills
- • Operations Monitoring
- • Quality Control Analysis
Systems Skills
- • Judgment and Decision Making
- • Systems Analysis
- • Systems Evaluation
Knowledge
Business and Management
- • Administration and Management
- • Administrative
- • Customer and Personal Service
Mathematics and Science
- • Mathematics
Arts and Humanities
- • English Language
Law and Public Safety
- • Public Safety and Security
- • Law and Government
Interview options
Interviewee gender
Interviewee accent
Interview time
Source
Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026