Application
This unit covers the skills and knowledge required to prepare semi-dried and fermented products such as salami, mettwurst or prosciutto in a smallgoods manufacturing establishment.
This unit is applicable to workers manufacturing fermented meat products in smallgoods processing plants or smaller specialist smallgoods producers.
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. Ferment product | 1.1 Sanitise maturation area according to workplace requirements 1.2 Correctly place product in greening room for adequate air circulation for processing according to product specifications and hygiene requirements 1.3 Space product according to product and manufacturer's specifications 1.4 Monitor maturation process regularly and take appropriate corrective action according to product specifications 1.5 Smoke product if required by product specifications 1.6 Ferment and mature a variety of products to workplace and regulatory requirements and customer specifications, at a speed similar to production requirements |
2. Finish maturation process | 2.1 Store product according to product specifications 2.2 Identify and stack product according to product specifications and workplace requirements |
Evidence of Performance
Candidates must prepare semi-dried and fermented products such as salami, mettwurst or prosciutto in a smallgoods manufacturing establishment.
Candidates must:
follow the requirements of the work instruction
work at production speed
ferment and mature product to workplace requirements, and product and customer specifications, within workplace time frames
apply communication and mathematical skills relevant to work instructions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
demonstrate familiarity with the regulatory requirements related to fermenting product
apply relevant workplace health and safety requirements
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a factual, technical, procedural and theoretical knowledge of:
possible effects on health of inadequate finishing of maturation process
possible effects of temperature fluctuations, relative humidity and air circulation on product
effect pH has on the maturation process
purpose and effect of smoking salamis
air circulation requirements of specific products
impact of Aw on the shelf life of fermented products
relevant workplace health and safety requirements
importance of check-weighing at the end of drying
relationship between pH, Aw and humidity
requirements of product spacing for specific product
various types of fermented products
Assessment Conditions
Competency must be demonstrated over time and under typical operating and production conditions for the enterprise.
Assessment must occur in the workplace under normal production conditions.
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.