Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to slice and trim relevant cuts of meat from small stock legs, including sheep, pigs, goats, game animals such as kangaroos, wallabies and other small stock processed for human consumption or pet meat.
This unit is applicable to workers in boning rooms, food service operations, smallgoods plants, wholesale and retail operations.
All work should be carried out to comply with workplace procedures, customer requirements and product specifications.
This unit applies to individuals who work under broad direction and take responsibility for their own work including limited responsibility for the work of others. They provide and communicate solutions to a range of predictable problems.
No occupational licensing, legislative or certification requirements are known to apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit must be delivered and assessed in the context of Australian meat processing standards and regulations.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Element | Performance criteria |
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Identify specifications for cuts | 1.1 Determine specifications for cuts using cut descriptions according to regulatory requirements, customer specifications and workplace requirements |
2. Slice and trim primary meat cuts | 2.1 Slice primary meat cuts into finished meat cuts according to specifications and work instructions 2.2 Meet workplace health and safety requirements including the safe and effective use of knives and safe manual handling techniques 2.3 Follow dropped meat procedures in accordance with workplace requirements |
3. Identify and remove defects | 3.1 Identify, remove and report defects according to government regulations and workplace standards 3.2 Report persistent defects to supervisor in accordance with work instructions |
Evidence of Performance
The candidate must slice and trim relevant cuts of meat from small stock legs, such as from sheep, pigs, goats, game animals such as kangaroos, wallabies and other small stock processed for human consumption or pet meat.
The candidate must:
slice and trim the legs according to specifications and work instructions
check the accuracy of cutting lines
identify contamination and take corrective action
identify contamination or abnormalities and handle according to workplace and regulatory requirements
identify finished cuts
comply with workplace health and safety requirements
apply relevant communication skills when reporting to supervisors and interacting with team members
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a factual, technical, procedural and theoretical knowledge of:
primal or sub primal cutting lines as they relate to workplace specifications and regulatory requirements
basic anatomy of small stock relevant to cutting lines
how yield is calculated and why it is important
regulatory requirements as they relate to carcase cutting lines
relevant specifications for meat cuts sliced and trimmed from legs
Assessment Conditions
Assessment must be conducted in an operating and registered meat processing plant or premises.
Competency must be demonstrated at the normal rate of production for that plant.
As a minimum, the following three forms of assessment must be used:
quiz of underpinning knowledge
workplace demonstration
workplace referee or third-party report of performance over time
Assessors must satisfy the current standards for RTOs.
Foundation Skills
Foundation Skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.