DETAILED OCCUPATION DATA
51-3093 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Occupational Description:
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products. Excludes ?Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders? (51-3091).| Percentiles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geography | Employment | Emp SE* | Mean | Mean SE* | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
| Central Minnesota | 80 | 11 | $20.09/hr | $1.43/hr | $14.36/hr | $16.41/hr | $18.69/hr | $25.01/hr | $28.99/hr |
| Minnesota | 380 | 71 | $18.66/hr | $0.63/hr | $12.99/hr | $15.52/hr | $18.17/hr | $21.98/hr | $25.33/hr |
| U S | 30,030 | 1,201 | $15.77/hr | $0.16/hr | $10.83/hr | $12.64/hr | $15.18/hr | $18.42/hr | $21.98/hr |
| *SE = Standard error, a measure of the statistical reliability of the estimate. | |||||||||
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| Occupation (click title for details) | OES | Projections | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | Median Wage | % Change 2020 - 2030 | |
| Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | 880 | $18.18/hr | -5.1% |
| Bakers | 430 | $13.90/hr | 4.1% |
| Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service | 160 | $16.70/hr | -8.2% |
| Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders | 110 | $16.60/hr | N/A |
Tasks for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
- Starts conveyers, machines or pumps and sets temperature, pressures and time controls.
- Records production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.
- Cleans and washes equipment, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions or rinses.
- Removes cooked material or products from equipment.
- Notifies or signals other workers to operate equipment or when processing complete.
- Examines sample of product, tests color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity, and removes impurities from product.
- Pours, adds or loads prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using hoist.
- Measures or weighs prescribed ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
- Listens for malfunction alarms, shuts down equipment, and notifies supervisor.
- Places products on conveyor or cart and monitors flow.
- Observes gauges, dials and product texture or color and adjusts controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure and flow of ingredients.
- Admits required amounts of water, steam, cooking oils or compressed air into equipment.
- Turns valves or starts pumps to drain product from equipment and transfer to storage, cooling or further processing areas.
- Reads recipes or formulae to determine ingredients or quantities of ingredients needed.
- Operates auxiliary machines and equipment such as grinders, canners and molding presses, to prepare or further process products.
- Operates and controls equipment such as, kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
- Activates agitators and paddles to mix or stir ingredients and stops machine when ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
