Fruit and vegetable canner

Fruit and vegetable canners tend machines to prepare industrial products based on fruits and vegetables for storage or shipping. They perform a wide range of tasks  such as sorting, grading, washing, peeling, trimming, and slicing. Moreover, they follow procedures for canning, freezing, preserving, packing food products.

All food processing plants have strict regulations and regular inspections to see that sanitary conditions, good lighting, and cleanliness requirements are met. They provide special clothing for workers who work in rooms with low temperatures. Workers are also exposed to high temperatures and high levels of noise from the machinery.

Smaller plants do their canning only during harvest time and therefore only provide temporary employment. Plants that can fish, meat, or other processed foods throughout the year provide full-time employment.

The following job titles also refer to fruit and vegetable canner:

fruit and veg canner
fruit and veg canning operative

No formal educational credential is generally required to work as a fruit and vegetable canner. Other requisites are good eyesight and manual dexterity to operate machinery and to perform certain jobs by hand.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Fruit and vegetable canner is a Skill level 2 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to fruit and vegetable canner.

fruit and vegetable preserver
fish canning operator
fish trimmer
blender operator
extract mixer tester

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of fruit and vegetable canner. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of fruit and vegetable canner with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

green coffee coordinator
animal feed supervisor
green coffee buyer
dairy processing technician
water treatment systems operator

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of fruit and vegetable canner.

• Blanching machine process: Machines which heat food with steam or water in order to kill bacteria, preserve colour and remove trapped air.
• Food canning production line: Steps in the canning process line from washing, conditioning and weighing food products, washing and preparing cans, filling cans, as well as other operations in order to obtain the end product.
• Food storage: The proper conditions and methods to store food to keep it from spoiling, taking into account humidity, light, temperature and other environmental factors.
• Food preservation: Deterioration factors, controlling factors (temperature, additives, humidity, pH, water activity, etc., including packaging) and food processing methods to preserve food products.

These skills are necessary for the role of fruit and vegetable canner.

• Maintain cutting equipment: Maintenance of the cutting equipment (knives, cutters, and other elements).
• Tend canning machine: Tend canning machine powered by electricity or batteries in order to can various types of food.
• Mark differences in colours: Identify differences between colours, such as shades of colour.
• Perform detailed food processing operations: Perform precise food processing operations with great attention and detail to all steps in the creation of a qualitative product.
• Clean food and beverage machinery: Clean machinery used for food or beverage production processes. Prepare the appropriate solutions for cleaning. Prepare all parts and assure that they are clean enough to avoid deviation or errors in the production process.
• Apply HACCP: Apply regulations regarding manufacture of food and food safety compliance. Employ food safety procedures based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).
• Check quality of products on the production line: Check products for quality on the production line and remove defective items before and after packaging.
• Administer ingredients in food production: Ingredients to be added and the required amounts according to the recipe and the way those ingredients are to be administered.
• Execute chilling processes to food products: Carry out chilling, freezing and cooling operation processes to food products such as fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, catering food. Prepare food products for extended periods of storage or half prepared food. Ensure safety and nutrition qualities of frozen goods and preserve products in accordance with specified temperatures.
• Work in conveyor belts in food manufacturing: Work in rotating conveyor belt systems in food manufacturing.
• Process fruits and vegetables: Process fruits and vegetables refer to all kinds of methods and techniques used to prepare food products using fruits and vegetables as raw materials.
• Follow hygienic procedures during food processing: Ensure a clean working space according to hygienic standards in the food processing industry.
• Apply requirements concerning manufacturing of food and beverages: Apply and follow national, international, and internal requirements quoted in standards, regulations and other specifications related with manufacturing of food and beverages.
• Apply GMP: Apply regulations regarding manufacture of food and food safety compliance. Employ food safety procedures based on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
• Exert quality control to processing food: Ensure the quality of all factors involved in a food production process.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of fruit and vegetable canner. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

• Care for food aesthetic: Convey presentation and aesthetic elements into the production of food. Cut products properly, manage right quantities into the product, care for the attractiveness of the product.
• Operate a heat treatment process: Apply heat treatment aimed at preparing and preserving half-finished or finished food products.
• Set up equipment for food production: Set up machinery and equipment for food production. Make sure that controls, settings, and input requirements are according to the required standards.
• Act reliably: Proceed in a way that one can be relied on or depended on.
• Operate equipment for food homogenisation: Tend equipment and machines such as extruders that exert extreme pressure, sheer, turbulence, and acceleration to foodstuffs in order to stabilise and give them a homogeneous texture.
• Liaise with colleagues: Liaise with fellow colleagues to ensure common understanding on work related affairs and agree on the necessary compromises the parties might need to face. Negotiate compromises between parties as to ensure that work in general run efficiently towards the achievement of the objectives.
• Manage fruit juice extraction processes: Use presses and filters to extract juice from fruit.
• Carry out checks of production plant equipment: Carry out checks of the machinery and equipment used in the production plant. Ensure that the machinery is working properly, set machines before usage, and assure continuous operability of the equipment.
• Dispose non-food waste within the food industry: Dispose non-food waste within the food industry applying environmentally accepted procedures to dispose it.
• Dispose food waste: Dispose or collect food waste with the purpose of recycling or throwing away from the production process. Follow established procedures for their disposal taking care of the environment and the safety matters according to legislations.
• Neutralise sugar liquors: Add acids or bases to neutralise converted sugar liquors. Verify the concentration using a pH meter.
• Work in a food processing team: Collaborate in a team with other food processing professionals in service of the food and beverages industry.
• Analyse characteristics of food products at reception: Analyse characteristics, composition, and other properties of food products at reception.
• Liaise with managers: Liaise with managers of other departments ensuring effective service and communication, i.e. sales, planning, purchasing, trading, distribution and technical.
• Ensure compliance with environmental legislation in food production: Make sure to comply with environmental legislation in food production. Understand the legislation related to environmental matters in food manufacturing and apply it in practice.
• Label samples: Label raw material/ product samples for laboratory checks, according to implemented quality system.

8160 – Food and related products machine operators

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References

1. Fruit and vegetable canner – ESCO
2. Food Canning and Freezing Worker – StateUniversity.com