Quality & Food Safety Manager

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, maintain, and continuously improve the FSSC 22000 Food Safety Management System (FSMS).
• Serve as Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) and oversee the Food Safety Plan.
• Act as the primary FSSC 22000 Management Representative and lead certification and surveillance audits.
• Ensure compliance with FDA regulations for high-acid, acidified, and low-acid foods.
• Oversee thermal processing, hot-fill operations, acidification validation, and scheduled process adherence.
• Ensure compliance with Low-Acid Canned Food (LACF) regulations including process authority coordination and documentation.
• Oversee environmental monitoring, allergen control, sanitation controls, and prerequisite programs.
• Manage laboratory testing including microbiological, chemical, and physical analyses.
• Review batch records, deviation reports, corrective actions, and product disposition decisions.
• Lead root cause analysis and implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
• Develop and maintain SOPs, SSOPs, hazard analyses, validation studies, and verification activities.
• Train plant personnel on GMPs, sanitation procedures, food safety culture, FSSC 22000 requirements, and regulatory standards.
• Manage and develop QA staff and sanitation personnel

Cleaning & Sanitation Management Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain the Master Sanitation Schedule (MSS).
• Oversee cleaning and sanitation programs for processing equipment, powder systems, hot-fill lines, thermal processing systems, and facility infrastructure.
• Validate sanitation procedures including CIP (Clean-in-Place) and COP (Clean-out-of-Place) systems.
• Establish sanitation verification activities including ATP testing, allergen swabbing, microbiological environmental monitoring, and pre-operational inspections.
• Ensure compliance with sanitation preventive controls under 21 CFR Part 117.
• Review and trend sanitation data to identify risks and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Ensure compliance with chemical control, concentration verification, and sanitation safety compliance.
• Lead corrective actions related to sanitation deviations or environmental positives.
• Collaborate with Operations and Maintenance to ensure hygienic design and effective cleaning practices.
• Support food defense and hygienic zoning programs within the facility.

Regulatory & Certification Oversight

• Maintain FSSC 22000 certification including annual surveillance and recertification audits.
• Ensure compliance with ISO 22000, ISO/TS 22002 PRPs, and additional FSSC requirements.
• FDA Food Facility Registration and scheduled process filings (FDA Forms 2541 series as applicable).
• HACCP and Preventive Controls programs validation and verification.
• Validation of acidification processes and critical control points.
• Oversight of low-acid thermal processing systems and documentation review.
• Label review and regulatory compliance verification.
• Customer, supplier, and third-party audit management.

Required Skills/Abilities/Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, or related scientific field (Master’s preferred).
• Minimum 5–7 years of progressive quality assurance experience in beverage or food manufacturing.
• Experience in preserved, powdered, hot-fill, acidified, and low-acid food processing environments.
• PCQI certification required.
• LACF Supervisor certification required.
• HACCP certification strongly preferred.
• Strong working knowledge of FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, sanitation controls, and FDA food safety regulations.
• Experience managing FDA, state, FSSC, and customer audits.
• Strong leadership, communication, and analytical skills.