Food Services Assistant

Food Services Assistant – Central Production Kitchen

Western Health | Health Support Services | Altona

Food & Domestic Services Assistant – Grade 1/2 (IN13 to IN14)

Casual | Day Shifts (Monday to Friday, 6:30 AM – 5:00 PM window)

Award Rates + 12% Superannuation + Public Health Salary Packaging

At Western Health, Food Is Not Just a Function. It Is a Treatment.

When patients in our hospitals or vulnerable community members receiving delivered meals sit down to eat, nutrition is a fundamental pillar of their recovery and dignity.

Operating out of our state-of-the-art Western Central Production Kitchen in Altona, Western Health produces thousands of fresh, nutritionally balanced, and texture-modified meals every single day. As a Food Services Assistant, you are a critical link in this healthcare delivery chain. Working across modern assembly, packaging, and cold-chain dispatch lines, your diligence ensures every meal is safe, accurately portioned, and dispatched on time to hospitals and community programs across Melbourne’s West.

What You Will Do

Joining a supportive, process-driven production team with an operational focus on Dispatch and Assembly, your core duties include:

• Assembly & Quality Control: Portion, plate, and assemble standard and complex dietary meals on active production lines using calibrated check weighers, metal detectors, and tray label printers.
• Cold-Chain Picking & Packing: Pick, pack, and sort bulk food trolleys and customer orders accurately within climate-controlled, chilled storage environments (full thermal PPE provided).
• Food Safety & Compliance: Maintain stringent compliance with the Western Health Food Safety Plan and Critical Control Points (CCPs), ensuring product seals, weights, and temperature logs meet strict audit standards.
• Cross-Functional Operations: Assist across diverse operational stations as needed—including Receivals, Fragilisation, Transformation, and automated crate washing sanitation systems.

Why Join Western Health in Altona?

• Consistent Day Shifts (No Late Nights): Enjoy predictable roster opportunities between 6:30 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday—reclaiming your evenings and weekends.
• Public Health Salary Packaging: Access Victorian public health salary packaging benefits (up to $11,660 tax-free fringe benefits plus meal/entertainment allowances) to increase your real take-home earnings.
• Modern Food Manufacturing Facility: Work in an organised, industrial-scale kitchen equipped with automated washers, check-weighers, and advanced retort systems.
• Meaningful Work: Know that every crate packed directly nourishes patients undergoing critical hospital care and vulnerable citizens across our region.

What You Bring

• Operational Experience: Background in commercial catering, food manufacturing, assembly lines, or FMCG/cold-storage picking and packing.
• Food Safety Knowledge: Certificate I in Food Processing, Safe Food Handling Certificate, or proven practical knowledge of food hygiene, temperature control, and cross-contamination prevention.
• Physical Capability & Reliability: Comfortable performing repetitive manual handling tasks in chilled environments, with reliable independent transport to Altona (limited public transport access).
• Clear Communication & Focus: Strong attention to detail with basic workplace arithmetic skills to ensure precise order fulfillments.
• Compliance Checks: Willingness to complete a National Police Check, Working with Children Check, and Health/Immunisation Clearance prior to start.
• Advantageous: A valid Forklift licence is desirable but not required.

Step Up to Meaningful Production Work That Truly Feeds the Community.

Applications close 11:59 PM on 24 September 2026.