meatcutting1

How to be a Meat Cutter

Introduction

Meat cutters are necessary in both retail and wholesale meat packing plants and in grocery stores. Meat cutters are responsible for dividing large pieces of meat, poultry, and fish into smaller cuts. The best way to enter the meat cutting industry is through an apprenticeship. Aspiring meat cutters will learn by working with a practiced meat cutter. After about two years, you will be a full-fledged meat cutter. Here are the steps to become a meat cutter.

Difficulty: Moderately Difficult

Things You'll Need:

0. Various knives

0. Cleaver

0. Stitching needles

0. Sharpening steel

Instructions

Step 1

Earn your high school diploma. Be sure that you have a good understand of problem solving skills and basic math. Your employer will be responsible for educating you further through on-the-job training.

Step 2

Find a job at a meat processing plant, grocery store, or institutional food service facility. The best opportunity for an aspiring meat cutter is to be hired as an apprentice by a company that has an arangement with the Joint Apprenticeship Committee. Apprentices receive around 4,000 hours of on-the-job training over two years. New workers are responsible for buying their own tools.

Step 3

Learn how to cut large pieces of meat into smaller sections. Additional skills that you will master include trimming, boning, tying, and grinding large cuts of meat, poultry. and fish into pieces suitable for cooking. You will also be taught how to shape, lace, and tie roasts.

Step 4

Inspect meat when it is received and store it appropriately. When supplies are running low, determine how much and what kind of meat needs to be re-ordered. Complete the purchases timely and efficiently.

Step 5

Apply your new skills while working with customers. You will be responsible for wrapping and weighing meat for consumers. You will also collect money during transactions and give shoppers back appropriate change if necessary. Employers are likely to shorten the apprenticeship period of reliable and able staff members so work hard and show how much you have learned.

Tips

Clean and sanitize your equipment and work surfaces often in accordance with health and sanitation regulations to avoid spreading diseases.

Present meat in eye-catching displays to attract customers.

Warning

Be aware that because of their work with sharp knives on slick flooring, meat cutters sustain more injuries than nearly all other employees in the economy.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Food Processing Occupations

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos219.htm

California Occupational Guide: Butchers and Meat Cutters

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/occguide/butcher.pdf