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Manufacturing & Production · Updated Aug 2026

Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
57/100
Moderate

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
46/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence84/100
Task coverage90%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.High
69
Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.High
69
Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.High
64
Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.High
69
Activate agitators and paddles to mix or stir ingredients, stopping machines when ingredients are thoroughly mixed.High
67
Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.High
67
Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.High
67
Admit required amounts of water, steam, cooking oils, or compressed air into equipment, such as by opening water valves to cool mixtures to the desired consistency.High
66
Turn valves or start pumps to add ingredients or drain products from equipment and to transfer products for storage, cooling, or further processing.High
67
Operate auxiliary machines and equipment, such as grinders, canners, and molding presses, to prepare or further process products.High
60
Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete.High
70
Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.High
31
Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.High
31
Place products on conveyors or carts, and monitor product flow.High
32
Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.High
24
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete.70
  2. Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.69
  3. Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.69
  4. Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.69
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.01
  2. Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.02
  3. Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.03
  4. Place products on conveyors or carts, and monitor product flow.04
  5. Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

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AI risk 48

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Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency64
Physical dependency65
Adoption pressure52
Labour-market resilience64
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence84/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →