Hire a food processing labourer in Greater Montreal
A food processing labourer is hired on what the job requires before the first box: the dress and hygiene rules of Quebec’s Règlement sur les aliments, lockout for cleaning, and the shift. Put them in the posting, along with the product. This page gives a job description to copy, the requirements that come from regulations and eight interview questions.
Job description to copy
Replace what is in brackets, then post it as is.
Food processing labourer
Location: [city], Greater Montreal · Schedule: [day / evening / night], [number] h per week
Pay: [to be set] (benchmark: median $20.05/h in Quebec, $18.56/h in Montreal (Job Bank))
Responsibilities
- Measure and load ingredients into hoppers, and feed processing machines according to the production sheet
- Take filled containers off the conveyor, pack into bags, boxes or cases, stack the cases and build the pallets
- Place flattened boxes into the forming machine and keep the line supplied with packaging materials
- Check products and packaging, and remove any that show a defect
- Clean and sanitize work areas and equipment according to the plant’s program, including lockout
- Assist the machine or process operator, and report any jam or line stoppage
- Move raw materials and finished products between the warehouse, the line and the cold storage room
- Follow the dress and hygiene rules of the Règlement sur les aliments: hairnet, beard cover, work-only clothing, handwashing, no jewellery
- Apply WHMIS instructions for the hazardous products used in the plant
Requirements
- No diploma required; able to read instructions, labels and production sheets
- Acceptance of the rules in section 2.2.3 of the Règlement sur les aliments, including no jewellery, no watch and no nail polish
- Able to stand, bend, handle loads and repeat the same motions throughout the shift
- Age 16 or older if the job includes driving a forklift
- Commitment to complete the plant’s WHMIS and lockout training before the first shift
- Available for the posted shift
Assets
- Experience in a food or beverage plant, ideally with a similar product
- Food handler certificate, which counts toward the trained staff the Règlement sur les aliments requires
- AEP Food Processing Equipment Operation, or interest in becoming an operator
- Sanitation and lockout experience
- Forklift training taken elsewhere; the practical training under section 256.3 of the occupational health and safety regulation is completed in your own work area
- Working French and English if production sheets are bilingual
What we offer
[benefits, insurance, shift premiums, training]
Food processing labourer pay benchmark
| Region | Median | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $20.05/h | — |
| Montérégie | $21/h | $20 (143) |
| Montréal | $18.56/h | $18.20 (29) |
| Laval | $19/h | $19 (13) |
| Lanaudière | $21/h | $19 (22) |
| Laurentides | $19.66/h | $19.40 (46) |
Median published by Job Bank (NOC 95106) and median offered in job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings.
Eight interview questions
- What food or beverage plant have you worked in, and at which station on the line?
- What did you do, and in what order, between the locker room and your station on the floor?
- You see a badly sealed package go by on the conveyor. What do you do?
- Have you done sanitation work? How did you lock out the machine before cleaning it?
- You cut your hand the day before. What do you do when you arrive for your shift?
- How do you measure an ingredient before loading it, and what do you do if the quantity does not match the sheet?
- A product falls on the floor near the line. What do you do with it?
- Which shift can you work, and do you need a job that lasts all year?
Timelines and difficulties
According to Job Bank, several experienced workers are looking for work in NOC 95106, and the outlook is rated “Very limited” in four of the five Greater Montreal regions (“Limited” in Lanaudière): there is no shortage of applicants. Five points need attention. First, the title: “food production labourer” does not say whether the person will pack meat, wash bottles or work on sanitation; name the product and the station on the line. Next, hygiene: the hairnet, the beard cover, the ban on jewellery and handwashing come from the Règlement sur les aliments. Put them in the posting, so that a person who will not accept them does not come to the interview. Then onboarding: WHMIS, your lockout procedure and, for a forklift, the training under section 256.3 of the occupational health and safety regulation are given before the first shift. Finally, the Règlement sur les aliments requires either a trained person on site during operating hours or at least 10% of preparation and cleaning staff holding the food handler certificate, recorded in a register: check that register before hiring, and say in the posting whether you will pay for the training. One last point: 44% of people in this group in Quebec work only part of the year. If your job is permanent, say so.
We run this search for employers in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore. Our recruitment service: manufacturing and production
If the placement does not hold six months, we replace it.
The replacement is on us. You do not pay twice for the same role.
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