Description
Cut, trim, and prepare meats for retail or wholesale sale, producing standard and custom cuts, making sausages and ground meats, and packaging products while maintaining quality, safety, and sanitation in butcher shops, groceries, or wholesale operations.
- • Break primals into subprimals and retail cuts.
- • Remove bones and cartilage; trim fat to specifications.
- • Cut, slice, saw, and portion meats to order.
- • Grind meat and prepare trimmings for sausages and burgers.
- • Mix and stuff sausages; tie or link as needed.
- • Weigh, wrap, label, and price products for sale.
- • Inspect and sort meats for quality, freshness, and defects.
- • Maintain and sharpen knives, saws, and grinders.
- • Follow HACCP, food safety, and sanitation standards; clean equipment and work areas.
- • Arrange, rotate, and restock meat cases and displays.
- • Take customer orders and advise on cuts, quantities, and cooking methods.
- • Prepare value-added items such as marinated, seasoned, or stuffed meats.
- • Receive, store, and track inventory; monitor temperatures and shelf life.
- • Saw, split, or scribe larger sections to facilitate handling.
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Agriculture
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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Sources & Standards:
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
