Float Packager & Curing Operator (1st Shift)

Lactalis USA; Town of Belmont (WI); On-site; USD 25,401 - 36,177; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid Time Off

Education Reimbursement

Comprehensive insurance benefits

Job summary

Lactalis USA in Belmont, Wisconsin, is seeking a Float Packager & Curing Operator. This role involves monitoring product quality, handling cheese, and ensuring compliance with safety protocols. The position offers a starting pay of $22.35 with additional weekend premiums and a strong benefits package supporting career growth.

Applicants should have a high school degree and ideally 2+ years of experience in a food industry setting. The company values attention to detail and teamwork, providing a supportive environment for professional development.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in a food industry setting is preferred.
• Knowledge of best practices and good industrial practices.

Responsibilities

• Monitor the quality of packed cheese.
• Load inners/cases and monitor to keep full.
• Inspect and monitor product quality specifications.

Skills

Attention to detail

Dependability

Teamwork

Safety awareness

Education

High school degree

Job description

Ready for more than just a job? Build a career with purpose.

At Lactalis in the USA, we’re committed to providing meaningful opportunities for our people to learn, grow, and thrive—whether you’re just starting your journey with us or looking to take the next step in your career. From day one, we offer the tools and support to help you succeed.

As the world leader in dairy, Lactalis is a family-owned company with over 85,000 pragmatic and ambitious professionals across the globe. Each day, we’re proud to produce award‑winning dairy products that bring people together.

In the US, we proudly offer an unrivaled house of beloved brands, including Galbani Italian cheeses and ricotta, President specialty cheeses and butters, Kraft natural and grated cheeses, Breakstone’s cottage cheese, Cracker Barrel, Black Diamond cheddar, and Parmalat milk. Our yogurt portfolio includes siggi’s, Stonyfield Organic, Brown Cow, Oui, Yoplait, Go‑Gurt, :ratio, Green Mountain Creamery, and Mountain High, along with a growing family of ethnic favorites like Karoun, Gopi, and Arz.

At Lactalis, we live by our core values—Ambition, Engagement, and Simplicity. We foster a workplace where innovation thrives, diverse perspectives are celebrated, and everyone’s unique background and ideas are valued.

Even if you don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We want to hear about your PASSION, your STORY, and how your EXPERTISE can help us shape the future of dairy.

From your PASSION to ours

Lactalis, Belmont, Wisconsin, is part of the Lactalis family of companies and is currently hiring a Float Packager & Curing Operator. As a Float Packer & Curing Operator, this position is responsible for supporting both packaging and curing operations by performing a variety of tasks related to cheese handling, curing processes, packaging, labeling, and product movement within a manufacturing environment. This role ensures product quality, operational efficiency, and compliance with company standards, food safety requirements, and workplace safety protocols.

Responsibilities

• Monitor the quality of packed cheese, weighing cheese as required, labeling, print quality, and the accuracy of printed codes.
• Place cheese onto conveyors and/or pack cheese into master cartons.
• Remove cheese from racks and place it into the crumbler, inspecting each piece for foreign material to ensure product quality.
• Oversee the crumbler for jams or clogs and perform necessary clearing to maintain continuous operation while following proper safety measures.
• Hand‑stack substandard cheese onto separate racks, and stack empty racks for retrieval.
• Load inners/cases and monitor to keep full, ensuring no downtime.
• Apply labels to products, ensuring proper placement and alignment in accordance with company standards and product specifications.
• Tape cheese cases securely, ensuring proper sealing and adherence to packaging standards.
• Stack cheese cases onto pallets according to specific pallet configuration guidelines to ensure proper organization, stability, and efficiency during storage and transport.
• Turn the cheese in the curing rooms to support proper aging and inspect each piece for foreign material to ensure product quality.
• Maintain accurate cheese counts and report downgrades/dumps.
• Support the cheese extrusion and cutting processes.
• Inspect and monitor product quality specifications and report deviations and/or foreign material to ensure product quality.
• Perform sanitation duties.
• Comply with all Lactalis policies, programs, procedures, and documentation requirements to ensure an ethical work environment.
• Champion a safe work environment by performing tasks safely to avoid unsafe acts and unsafe conditions, and take necessary measures if observing unsafe acts.

Qualifications

Education

• A high school degree is preferred.

Experience

• 2+ years of experience in a food industry setting is preferred.

Competencies

• Best practices and good industrial practices.
• Safety awareness.
• Teamwork and collaboration.
• Dependability and Reliability.
• Attention to detail.

Schedule & Pay

The position is 1st shift, either 5:30 am - 1:00 pm or 6:00 am - 2:30 pm depending on department scheduled in.

Starting rate of pay is $22.35, and weekend Premium an additional 20% ($4.47).

Benefits

At Lactalis, we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards Program with a variety of affordable benefits and coverage options. We support insurance costs significantly, contribute generously to retirement plans, and offer Paid Time Off from day one. We are committed to your professional growth, providing training and development opportunities, including Education Reimbursement. Join us and grow your career.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Lactalis is an equal employment opportunity employer. We will not discriminate against applicants with regard to any legally-recognized basis including, but not limited to: veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities. Further, any division of the Company that is an Affinity Action Employer will comply with all related legal obligations.

Salary Description

$22.35