Updated Skills for Future Brewers

^{Information provided by Skills Impact}

Australia’s brewing industry is booming, with continued high demand for a broad range of products, from the latest independent craft brewed beers to classic brands found in many bottle shops and bars. For an industry undergoing growth, national skills standards are an important tool in providing industry with the skilled workforce it needs. Over the past year, industry representatives have volunteered their time and expertise to a national project to update vocational qualifications, skill sets and units of competency for the food and beverage sector. As a result a specialisation in brewing has been added to the Certificate III in Food Processing, along with a range of other specialisations. This will support future learners to gain the skills required to work in craft and large breweries and provides the broader industry with recognition for its expertise.

Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, the updated qualifications, skill sets and units for the food and beverage processing sector are now published on the national training register training.gov.au. They have been endorsed by the Australian Industry and Skills Committee and State and Territory Ministers and are available for use by registered training organisations for industry. The qualifications, skill sets and units were developed as part of the Food and Beverage Processing Project, which was managed by Skills Impact and overseen by the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical Industry Reference Committee.

Specialisations added to the Certificate III in Food Processing include:

1. Brewing
2. Bottling and packaging
3. Confectionery
4. Dairy processing (cheese, powder and/or milk)
5. Distilling
6. Edible oils (refining or cold pressing edible oils)
7. Milling
8. Flour milling
9. Non-alcoholic beverages (fruit juice, cordial)
10. Pet food (companion animals)
11. Quality (for operator roles)
12. Sales
13. Stock feed (cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry, fish – animals that produce for human consumption).