Application
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to inspect poultry.
This unit is applicable to meat inspection and Quality Assurance (QA) staff responsible for performing ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection of poultry.
The unit must be delivered in the context of Australian meat industry standards and regulations.
No occupational licensing, legislative or certification requirements are known to apply to this unit at the time of publication.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Element | Performance criteria |
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. |
1. Identify conditions of poultry | 1.1 Identify anatomical characteristics of poultry 1.2 Identify signs of common conditions and defects 1.3 Make dispositions according to regulatory and workplace requirements 1.4 Identify major exotic and notifiable diseases affecting poultry and their signs and symptoms 1.5 Take appropriate action upon identification of suspect birds, following workplace and regulatory requirements 1.6 Complete reporting and recording requirements |
2. Identify relevant necessary processing standards | 2.1 Identify relevant Australian Standards for poultry processing 2.2 Identify hygiene and sanitation requirements for each step of processing 2.3 Identify QA requirements including monitoring and auditing requirements |
Evidence of Performance
Evidence must demonstrate the candidate's consistency of performance over time at production speed.
The candidate must inspect poultry.
The candidate must:
perform poultry inspection in accordance with regulatory and workplace requirements
work with processing team to inspect poultry and identify suspect birds in an efficient and timely manner
identify symptoms and signs of exotic or notifiable diseases
report exotic or notifiable diseases promptly, accurately and clearly
identify and apply relevant health and safety and workplace requirements
apply mathematical operations in order to establish regulatory compliance
identify and describe the QA programs operating in poultry plants
identify and use relevant workplace information and documentation
identify sources of repeated contamination and work with processing team to rectify the problem
use relevant communication skills
Evidence of Knowledge
The candidate must demonstrate a broad factual, technical and theoretical knowledge of:
steps in poultry processing
major diseases and defects found in poultry
procedures for reporting exotic or notifiable diseases in poultry
symptoms of exotic or notifiable diseases
major food safety hazards at each step of poultry processing
basic anatomical structure of poultry
relevant regulatory requirements including Australian Standards and the various requirements for processing poultry
hygiene and sanitation requirements for poultry processing
Assessment Conditions
Competency should be demonstrated against current Australian Standards and regulations.
Assessment should utilise poultry carcases and actual examples of pathology.
As a minimum, the following three forms of assessment must be used:
quiz of underpinning knowledge
workplace demonstration
workplace referee or third-party report of performance over time
Assessors must satisfy current standards for RTOs.
Foundation Skills
Foundation Skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.