Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Time Management
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Food Production
- Public Safety and Security
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Mechanical
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Transportation
What the work involves
- Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
- Cut and trim meat to prepare for packing.
- Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat.
- Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.
- Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.
- Clean, trim, slice, and section carcasses for future processing.
- Remove parts, such as skin, feathers, scales or bones, from carcass.
- Produce hamburger meat and meat trimmings.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (62.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (32.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (46.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 99% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “No contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 50% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Higher on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 99% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 94% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 63% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 94% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 75% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 52.63%
- Occasional contact with others: 1.36%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0%
- Constant contact with others: 46.01%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 4.87%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 23.46%
- Very important: 3.29%
- Extremely important: 39.28%
n = 17, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 5.47%
- Important: 1.44%
- Very important: 49.37%
- Extremely important: 43.72%
n = 17, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very little freedom: 3.59%
- Limited freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Some freedom: 11.63%
- A lot of freedom: 10.13%
n = 16, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 8.53%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 1.13%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.33%
- Every day: 86.01%
n = 17, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.88%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.43%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.13%
- Every day: 31.76%
n = 17, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 2.89%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.75%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.79%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 40.81%
n = 17, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 5.44%
- Fairly serious: 15.48%
- Serious: 6.02%
- Very serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely serious: 14.79%
n = 15, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 51-3022.00 · SOC 51-3022 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8