Description
Operate and tend canning equipment to preserve and package food products for storage and shipment, including filling, sealing, thermal processing, and labeling in compliance with food safety and quality standards.
- • Perform seam checks, vacuum tests, and container integrity inspections.
- • Remove and segregate defective cans, lids, and packaging.
- • Conduct metal detection or X-ray checks as required and document results.
- • Operate and monitor washers, fillers, seamers, retorts, coolers, and labelers on the canning line.
- • Observe operations to ensure cans meet fill, net weight, seal, and quality standards.
- • Adjust fill volume, headspace, syrup or brine strength, and seamer settings to meet specifications.
- • Regulate line flow, conveyor speed, and process temperatures and pressures.
- • Load and unload baskets or racks for retort processing and cooling.
- • Record critical control data such as retort time, temperature, and pressure per HACCP plans.
- • Stop or reset equipment, clear jams, and inform supervisors of malfunctions.
- • Clean, sanitize, and make minor adjustments to canning equipment and work areas.
- • Stock and replenish cans, lids, labels, brine or syrup, and other packaging supplies.
- • Sort, grade, wash, and trim raw product prior to filling.
- • Start up and shut down canning equipment following standard procedures.
- • Apply or print date, lot, and product identification on cans and cases.
- • Case-pack, palletize, and wrap finished canned products for shipment.
- • Count and record finished units, rejects, rework, and downtime.
- • Supply product to hoppers and feeders and remove finished cases from the line.
- • Monitor for issues such as pile-ups, broken seams, underfills, or leaks and correct promptly.
- • Follow food safety, GMP, and workplace safety procedures, including PPE and lockout/tagout.
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Supply Chain & Transportation
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
