Application
This unit describes skills and knowledge required to operate a batch cooker.
This unit is applicable to workers in rendering plants.
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. Load batch cooker | 1.1 Load batch cooker to correct quantity in accordance with workplace requirements 1.2 Explain implications for product quality and productivity if cooker is incorrectly loaded 1.3 Identify effect on outcome of different types of raw materials |
2. Cook raw materials | 2.1 Monitor and control flow into cooker 2.2 Monitor and adjust temperature in accordance with workplace and health and safety requirements 2.3 Monitor outflow for workplace requirements 2.4 Apply pressure (if appropriate) in accordance with workplace and regulatory requirements |
3. Unload batch cooker | 3.1 Test product to ensure batch is cooked to workplace requirements. 3.2 Identify effects of overcooking 3.3 Empty cooker in accordance with workplace requirements 3.4 Identify and comply with workplace health and safety requirements for the operation and unloading of a batch cooker |
4. Monitor environmental controls | 4.1 Monitor vapours to ensure they are condensed in accordance with regulatory requirements 4.2 Monitor non-condensed emissions to scrubber, bio-filter and/or after burner in accordance with regulatory requirements |
Evidence of Performance
The candidate must operate a batch cooker.
The candidate must:
load and unload cooker to specifications, workplace and regulatory requirements
manage quality and flow of raw materials
test product samples to ensure cooked specifications
monitor environmental emissions in accordance with workplace and regulatory requirements
apply mathematical skills to monitoring procedures
apply communication skills relevant to work instructions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a factual, technical, procedural and theoretical knowledge of:
workplace health and safety requirements of operating batch cooker
operating principles and requirements of cooker
Quality Assurance (QA) aspects of cooked product
effects of overcooking
implications on product quality and productivity of incorrect load in cooker
Assessment Conditions
Assessment must be conducted in a registered, operating meat rendering plant.
Competency must be demonstrated at the normal rate of production for that rendering 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.