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What They Do
About This Career
Uses hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood.
This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.
A person in this career:
- Uses knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
- Weighs meats and tags containers for weight and contents.
- Inspects meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and removes them along with any excess fat.
- Cuts and trims meat to prepare for packing.
- Separates meats and byproducts into specified containers and seals containers.
- Processes primal parts into cuts that are ready for retail use.
- Prepares ready-to-heat foods by filleting meat or fish or cutting it into bite-sized pieces, preparing and adding vegetables or applying sauces or breading.
- Cleans, trims, slices, and sections carcasses for future processing.
- Removes parts, such as skin, feathers, scales or bones, from carcass.
- Prepares sausages, luncheon meats, hot dogs, and other fabricated meat products, using meat trimmings and hamburger meat.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
- Work in this occupation involves bending or twisting your body more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
- Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
- Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
- Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
- Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
- Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Beef Trimmer
- Breast Trimmer
- Chicken Cutter
- Deboner
- Fish Processor
- Meat Trimmer
- Seafood Processor
- Trimmer
- Wing Scorer
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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