Food Cooking Machine Operator / Tender

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

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Cooker Operator; Food Production Worker; Fryer Operator; Kettle Fry Cook Operator; Machine Operator; Mogul Operator; Oven Operator; Peeler Operator; Retort Operator; Thermo Processor

Tasks

• 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.
• Turn valves or start pumps to add ingredients or drain products from equipment and to transfer products for storage, cooling, or further processing.
• Admit required amounts of water, steam, cooking oils, or compressed air into equipment, such as by opening water valves to cool mixtures to the desired consistency.

Knowledge

• Production and Processing
• Food Production
• Administration and Management
• Mechanical
• Education and Training

Skills

• Reading Comprehension
• Monitoring
• Active Listening
• Critical Thinking

Abilities

• Problem Sensitivity
• Oral Comprehension
• Written Comprehension
• Near Vision
• Information Ordering
• Selective Attention
• Control Precision
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Manual Dexterity
• Finger Dexterity
• Reaction Time