FSQA Technician

Summary

A Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) Technician ensures that products meet company and customer specifications by monitoring critical control points and assuring products are within company and regulatory standards for quality and food safety. Position is responsible for supporting various programs such as SQF, HACCP, through work in lab, on-the-floor processes, and product auditing.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The FSQA Technician identifies and assists in the elimination of product concerns; maintains accurate, detailed laboratory and compliance records; makes decisions and provides guidance regarding food safety as well as product quality; supports initiatives to drive and monitor continuous improvement; and supports programs including:

Food Safety:

Ensure Compliance to the following:

• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
• Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP)
• Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)
• Environmental Sampling/Swabbing
• Other relevant Food Safety Procedures (i.e. Allergen, Foreign Material Programs)
• Safe Quality Foods (SQF), RSPO, Kosher, Internal & External auditing, Army (Military) Audit, State & Federal Audits

Quality and Regulatory:

• Monitor ingredient storage in warehouse for proper rotation & usage of materials.
• Capable of performing Trace/Recall on all materials for potential recall.
• Verification of adherence to product and material specifications including allergen validation.
• Verification of manufacturing activities.
• Incoming inspection of raw materials/ingredients (bulk, bagged, etc.)
• Collection of samples to support programs including microbial monitoring, product analysis and product audit.
• Auditing (temperature checks, checks, Metal Detector/X-Ray verification, Net weight, label verification for primary & secondary packaging, lot code verification, sensory evaluation etc.)
• Monitor all Pre-requisite programs for SQF such as Sanitation, Allergen verification program etc.
• Cross-training in other QA functions as needed.
• Collect data for capability studies for the plant.
• Develop capabilities in the shelf life and product evaluation programs.
• Review and approval of incoming packaging materials.
• Actively participate in Safety & CI teams as needed.
• Performs pre-operational and operational inspection of equipment as described in the SSOP program and performs calibrations as needed.
• Pre-shipment review of all operations in area of responsibility
• Conduct detailed product audits as assigned to assure conformance of product and package details to specifications.
• Conduct daily product panels and document results.
• Appropriately isolate non-conforming product
• Perform COA reviews – for release of new or existing ingredients & packaging materials in NetSuite.
• Participate in Food Safety, Food Fraud, Lab Methods, and Recall programs.

Research and Development

• Assist in New Product Qualifications and processing of finished product specs & photo standards.
• Product Improvement

Education and Experience

• High School Diploma or Equivalent required.
• Associate degree or bachelor’s degree in microbiology, food science of related field preferred.
• Certified SQF Practitioner, preferred.
• In lieu of degree, two (2) years of related experience/training food manufacturing and/or QA required.
• Two (2) years firsthand experience developing systems to ensure food safety and quality in a food manufacturing facility employing 100 or more is preferred.
• Experience developing, implementing, and monitoring Prerequisite Programs to gain GSFI Certifications.
• Program experience in lot code traceability, allergen maintenance programs and sanitation programs – preferred.
• Must be self-directed, hands-on, and able to multi-task with finite resources of a small manufacturer, requiring the ability to generate support and collaboration from department outside of Quality.
• Experience managing Critical Control Points for processes that are time and temperature sensitive.

** Equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.

Sara Lee Frozen Bakery provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws