Food Safety Quality Assurance Intern

About the role

Join us at our Corporate HQ as a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Intern and gain hands-on, real-world experience in a 10‑12‑week immersive internship. In this role, you’ll work alongside experienced FSQA professionals on meaningful projects that directly impact our business, including initiatives focused on microbial performance and moisture and retained water optimization. This is a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of food safety and quality systems, contribute to important process improvements, and see how FSQA plays a critical role in delivering safe, high‑quality products every day.

Responsibilities

• Utilize a pre-defined testing protocol for microbiological and moisture/retained water testing, executing the testing parameters in each Perdue Foods Harvest facility.
• Compile data for all facilities and analyze to validate retained water declarations.
• Report compilation of all testing results and facilitate the outcome of testing to the senior leadership team.
• Gain knowledge and expertise associated with microbial interventions, pathogen results, and unavoidable moisture retention as a result of the process to ensure food safety metrics are achieved.

Requirements

• Must be enrolled in a Master’s program focused on food science, food safety, or food microbiology.
• Must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Must have prior laboratory experience in a microbiology or chemistry laboratory.
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office and able to learn new software.
• Possess strong analytical, communication, and time management skills.
• Demonstrated leadership and teamwork skills.

Qualifications

• 3.25 GPA or higher.
• Current PhD student.

Skills

• Strong analytical abilities.
• Effective communication skills.
• Time management proficiency.
• Leadership and teamwork capabilities.
• Microsoft Office proficiency with ability to learn new software.

Benefits

• Hands‑on, real‑world work experience and a dedicated fall mentor.
• Travel to all Perdue locations to conduct microbial and moisture testing.
• Interaction with senior leadership.
• Housing stipend.

Pay

This position has a target wage of $21.90‑$28.13 per hour, based on graduation year. Overtime may be available.

Schedule

Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am‑5:00 pm