Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

What the job really is

Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.

At a glance

• Sector: Production
• O*NET-SOC code: 51-3093
• O*NET job zone: 2 — some preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
• Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.
• Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.
• Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
• Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
• Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.
• Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.
• Remove cooked material or products from equipment.
• Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.
• Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.
• Listen for malfunction alarms, and shut down equipment and notify supervisors when necessary.
• Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete.

Tools and technology

Boilers, Bucket belt conveyors, Canners, Chain hoists, Combination feeders, Continuous baking ovens, Cooking vats, Corn cooking systems, Database software, Direct-fired fryers, Electromagnetic vibratory feeders, Grinders

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Food Batchmakers
• Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
• Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders
• Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
• Bakers
• Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 2 (some preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.