What does a butcher do?
A butcher is a professional who works with meat and poultry in various forms. Butchers’ duties vary depending on the place of employment, but typically include cutting meat off the bone, mincing and further processing meat, curing or smoking meat and turning meat into sausages and cold cuts.
Butchers work with machinery in a fast-paced environment on a daily basis and need to be comfortable handling carcasses and meat. In processing plants, butchers can work on production lines to perform routine cutting work. In a retail environment, butchers also need to manage their stocks and budget to reduce costs, and engage with their customers to provide excellent customer service. This includes weighing and packing meat and cold cuts and creating attractive in-store displays.
Detailed knowledge of and adherence to hygiene practices and food safety standards is a must, especially when it comes to safe meat storage in chiller rooms, and butcheries can be subject to random government food hygiene inspections.
Butcher skills and qualifications
While a qualification is not a mandatory requirement for becoming a butcher in Australia, most butchers complete a certificate III as part of an apprenticeship. A successful butcher has the following skills and aptitudes:
- knowledge of animal anatomy
- awareness of hygiene and food safety standards
- good hand-eye coordination
- ability to physically handle meat and machinery for long hours as required
- ability to work both independently and as part of a team
- good customer service skills.
Butcher experience requirements
In Australia, butchers typically start their career with an apprenticeship. This enables them to get first hands-on experience and acquire skills like precise cutting and trimming of meat, as well as the ins and outs of running a butchery and dealing with customers in-store.
Initial trainee experience can also be at large meat works or commercial meat-processing plants, where the focus of their training will differ and be more on food safety standards, meat processing and packaging, and dealing with suppliers.
Butcher education and training requirements
Entry requirements for the occupation of butcher vary in Australia. Generally, however, a butcher should have completed at least Year 10 schooling and completed an apprenticeship at a butchery, processing plant or meat wholesale company.
Butcher salary expectations
According to Indeed Salaries, the average salary for a butcher is $74,060 per year. Butcher salaries may vary depending on each applicant’s level of experience and on your geographical location, with some significant differences between different cities. Visit the Indeed salary page to look for the average butcher salary in your location.
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