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Food, Drink and Tobacco Process Operatives

Food, drink and tobacco process operatives set, operate and attend machinery to bake, freeze, heat, crush, mix, blend and otherwise process foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco leaves.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£15,316
£24,334
£35,284

New workers start around £15,316. Normal pay is £24,334 per year.
Highly experienced workers can earn up to £35,284.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 172,966 vacancies for this type of job

4.84%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Processes tobacco leaves by hand or machine to make cigarettes, cigars, pipe and other tobacco products.

  • Mixes, pulps, grinds, blends and separates foodstuffs and liquids with churning, pressing, sieving, grinding and filtering equipment.

  • Operates equipment to cool, heat, dry, roast, blanch, pasteurise, smoke, sterilise, freeze, evaporate and concentrate foodstuffs and liquids used in food processing.

  • Attends equipment to make jam, toffee, cheese, processed cheese, margarine, syrup, ice, pasta, ice-cream, sausages, chocolate, maize starch, edible fats and dextrin.

  • Operates machinery to crush, mix, malt, cook and ferment grains and fruits to produce beer, wines, malt liquors, vinegar, yeast and related products.

  • Sets, operates and attends machinery and ovens to mix, bake and otherwise prepare bread and flour confectionery products.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Food Safety And Sanitation

  • Fermentation

  • Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP)

  • Machinery

  • Production Process

  • Auditing

  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

  • Continuous Improvement Process

  • New Product Development

  • Forklift Truck

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Communication

  • Management

  • Operations

  • Packaging And Labeling

  • Customer Service

  • Detail Oriented

  • Sales

  • Quality Control

  • Problem Solving

  • Cleanliness

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.