Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to operate and maintain mincing machinery, select product for mincing and monitor finished product to achieve quality specifications.
This unit is applicable to workers in boning rooms, knackeries, pet food stores, food services operations, smallgoods plants, wholesale or retail butcheries.
All work should be carried out to comply with workplace and hygiene requirements.
This unit applies to individuals who work under general supervision, exercise limited autonomy and have some accountability for their own work.
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 industry 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. Mince meat | 1.1 Operate mincer in accordance with workplace requirements and manufacturer's specifications 1.2 Operate mincer in accordance with workplace health and safety requirements 1.3 Monitor input and output to ensure compliance with Quality Assurance (QA) requirements |
2. Maintain mincer | 2.1 Follow mincer start-up procedures in accordance with work instructions 2.2 Perform routine maintenance and cleaning in accordance with work instructions |
Evidence of Performance
The candidate must operate and maintain mincing machinery, select product for mincing and monitor finished product to achieve quality specifications.
The candidate must:
operate mincer in accordance with work instructions and manufacturer specifications
monitor minced product to ensure compliance with customer or workplace specifications
monitor product to be minced to ensure compliance with QA specifications
consistently follow hygiene and sanitation procedures associated with the operation of the mincer
report equipment faults according to workplace requirements
maintain mincer in accordance with work instructions
apply relevant regulatory requirements
use communication skills relevant to work instructions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a basic factual, technical and procedural knowledge of:
operation and adjustment of the mincer
work instructions for operating the mincer
relevant regulatory requirements
potential workplace health and safety risks
potential sources of contamination
Assessment Conditions
Assessment must be conducted using a mincer in an actual or simulated environment.
Candidate must be able to operate a mincer to produce minced meat products over a period of time under normal operating conditions of the workplace.
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.