Slaughterer jobs in Finland
Slaughterers slaughter animals and process carcasses for further processing and distribution.
Slaughterer – how much is the pay in Finland?
What the trade paid in 2024
| Median | 20.76 €/h |
|---|---|
| Bottom tenth | 14.90 €/h |
| Top tenth | 29.16 €/h |
| Employees | 2,406 |
Pay by sex, 2024
| Sex | Median | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Women | 18.77 €/h | 684 |
| Men | 22.04 €/h | 1,722 |
Slaughterer - Which skills are essential?
Sever the carotid artery or stab through the heart of an animal to kill it. Allow all the blood to drain from the animal. Collect blood for food, feed or other industrial purposes.
Maintenance of the cutting equipment (knives, cutters, and other elements).
Tolerate strong smells expelled by the goods being processed during the production of goods.
Keep workspaces and equipment free from dirt, infection, and disease by removing waste, trash and providing for appropriate cleaning.
The applicable legal rules on temperature, waste materials, traceability, labelling, trading, and the transport of animal origin products.
Monitor the identification of animals that come in the slaughterhouse. Assure the correct procedures for legal, quality, and administrative procedures in order to maintain identification and traceability during the manufacturing process.
Identify differences between colours, such as shades of colour.
The difference between white and red organs of warm blooded animals and their position in the body. A white organ can be the stomach, red organs can be the heart, the liver, or the lungs. The norms to treat these organs properly.
Respect the needs of livestock and apply the regulations regarding animal welfare in the meat and meat products manufacturing sector. Respond correctly to animal issues from unloading until stunning of the animals.
Remove organs, fats sticking hole, spinal cord, and diaphragm from carcasses. Perform cleaning of the carcass following established procedures in order to obtain a final carcass presentation.
Understand legal identification documents and marks which cover animal movement, identification, and health status. Understand information in commercial books of meat production.
Apply regulations regarding manufacture of food and food safety compliance. Employ food safety procedures based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).
Cope with the process of slaughtering and handling carcasses without distress.
Process livestock organs and other byproducts for meat manufacturing processes. Remove organs from carcasses and perform activities such as cutting or dividing parts, washing organs, execute specific treatments, packaging, and labelling.
Skin animals in an appropriate manner considering the end purpose of the skin. Strip off the hide of an animal to prepare for processing the carcass, or to use the skin or fur. Use case skinning for smaller animals, where an incision is made around the feet and the skin stripped off like a sock. If a non-invasive slaughter method like gassing or beating was used on a fur animal, take care to ensure that the animal is dead prior to skinning. Use open skinning for large animals, where an incision is made along the abdomen. Use the required equipment for skinning.
Cope with blood, organs, and other internal parts without feeling distressed.
Operate slaughterhouse equipment for slaughtering warm-blooded animals, such as stunning equipment and gut room equipment. Use the equipment according to the requirements.
Ensure a clean working space according to hygienic standards in the food processing industry.
Prepare carcasses, edible meat products, and non edible offal by weighing, packaging, labelling and loading on meat wagons for shipping.
Control distressed or panicked animals safely and without harm to the animal to be slaughtered.
Lift heavy weights and apply ergonomic lifting techniques to avoid damaging the body.
Operate production equipment and tools to process meat and meat products.
Weigh and classify bodies of animals and assign the carcass to a slaughterhouse customer.
Apply and follow national, international, and internal requirements quoted in standards, regulations and other specifications related with manufacturing of food and beverages.
Apply regulations regarding manufacture of food and food safety compliance. Employ food safety procedures based on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
Cope with excrements, strong smells, and animal waste without feeling overwhelmed.
Monitor and control required temperatures in the different phases of production until the product reaches suitable properties according to specifications.
Understand cultural or religious rules and traditions regarding the slaughter of animals.
Suspend animals for food processing and move the carcasses around the slaughterhouse on an animal processing line.
Push and put carcasses in and out the cooling room as specified. Use equipment specific to this room to handle meat and meat products.
Use various types of knives and cutters for slaughtering processes. Use techniques for the usage of the knives. Select the right knives for the job at hand. Care for the knives.
Inspect the animal carcasses for non conformities such abscesses or contamination, and correct them if possible. Takes samples for laboratory inspection. Makes registrations of non-conformities and/or findings.
Separate animal carcasses and organs into larger subsections such as head and limbs, debone and cut them.
Stun animals for slaughter according to the type of animals, and following regulations regarding animal welfare. Strive to minimise the incidence of consciousness recovery within time limits.
Operate in slaughterhouse installations where skinning, opening, removing organs, splitting, and carcass processing are performed.
The anatomy of animals, their organs and their functions, as well as the usage of these organs for food production after slaughtering.
Slaughterer - Which skills are useful but not essential?
Operate cutting equipment specific to the activities undergone in this phase of slaughtering and meat processing. Use machinery, chainsaws, knives, and separators to open animal carcasses and separate these into parts for processing.
Administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation or first aid in order to provide help to a sick or injured person until they receive more complete medical treatment.
Handle stressful and challenging work conditions in a limited time frame to ensure qualitative food and beverage products are created in time.
Proceed in a way that one can be relied on or depended on.
Slaughter livestock complying with religious and cultural practices.
Keep inventory of goods whether they are goods in the front end (i.e. raw materials), intermediate, or back end (i.e. finished products). Count goods and store them for the following production and distribution activities.
Assure an environmental-friendly policy when working with natural resources like meat, fruits and vegetables. This means handling resources in the most efficient and nature-friendly way while trying to minimalise pressure on the ecosystem.
Liaise with fellow colleagues to ensure common understanding on work related affairs and agree on the necessary compromises the parties might need to face. Negotiate compromises between parties as to ensure that work in general run efficiently towards the achievement of the objectives.
The proper conditions and methods to store food to keep it from spoiling, taking into account humidity, light, temperature and other environmental factors.
Ensure to adapt the most efficient production techniques to accomplish food processing tasks with the least amount of time, effort and costs.
Utilise computers, IT equipment and modern day technology in an efficient way.
Develop proposals and take appropriate decisions taking into account economic criteria.
Work in cold storage and deep freeze facilities. Cooling rooms are around 0°C. Resist temperatures of -18°C in meat processing freezer facilities as required by law, except for the slaughterhouse, where room working temperatures are below 12°C by law.
Dispose or collect food waste with the purpose of recycling or throwing away from the production process. Follow established procedures for their disposal taking care of the environment and the safety matters according to legislations.
Collaborate in a team with other food processing professionals in service of the food and beverages industry.
Liaise with managers of other departments ensuring effective service and communication, i.e. sales, planning, purchasing, trading, distribution and technical.
Make sure to comply with environmental legislation in food production. Understand the legislation related to environmental matters in food manufacturing and apply it in practice.
Label raw material/ product samples for laboratory checks, according to implemented quality system.