Food Safety and Quality Assurance Technician

About the Role

Monitor Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) support, evaluation programs, and inspection/audit procedures to ensure compliance of products and processes with corporate and regulatory requirements at a Sysco Specialty Meat and/or Seafood Company.

Responsibilities

• Monitoring of FSQA programs including HACCP Program, sanitation standard operating procedures, pest control, good manufacturing practices, approved supplier program, foreign material control, plant sanitation, chemical control, product quality assurance, FSQA Customer complaints, food defense, and security.
• Assist in employee training of FSQA programs, policies, and procedures.
• Assist in implementation of Independent FSQA Audit Program – SQF Audits.
• Assist with product evaluations, plant visits, and supplier/customer communication to support other staff members.
• Provide assistance as needed during emergencies determined by the plant President or General Manager to be critical for the business.
• Frequently interact with SSMC/SSSC personnel, operations, sales, transportation, maintenance, Sysco Operating Companies, and supplier/customer personnel at the line level.

Qualifications

Education

• Formal job training in TQM principles, SPC, HACCP concepts, and CFIA/FDA regulations would be beneficial.
• Formal quality and sensory analysis training would be helpful.

Experience

• One to 3 years of meat and/or seafood industry experience at a federal CFIA/FDA meat and/or seafood processing plant (as appropriate).
• Raw meat or seafood industry experience will be accepted instead of combined experience.

Professional Skills

• Ability to write reports, basic business correspondence, and effectively present information and respond to questions from managers.
• Ability to perform arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, and establish facts.
• Ability to interpret basic technical instructions.
• Proficiency in using personal computers, lab equipment, food preparation equipment, and office communication equipment.

Certifications, Licenses, and/or Registrations

• Valid driver’s license.

Physical Demands

• Regularly required to talk or hear.
• Frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls.
• Occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, reach with hands and arms, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl, and taste or smell.
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 100 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Plant audits and inspections may require lifting products up to 100 pounds and working in a production environment on a moving line, lifting cartons, and visual inspection.
• Corrected vision required for sensory analysis to identify color and clarity.
• Warehouse and plant audits require close and distance vision to judge GMPs; peripheral vision and depth perception are mandatory for safety.

Work Environment

• Frequently exposed to fumes or airborne particles.
• Occasionally works near mechanical parts and in high, precarious places.
• Occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, extreme cold, and risk of radiation.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate, and operating in a refrigerated environment is common.
• Plant audits/inspections and working at remote in-transit processing facilities and Sysco Operating Companies involve both moderate/loud noise and exposure to fumes and mechanical hazards.