SUMMMARY: The primary function of a Quality Technician is to support food safety and quality through receiving storage, processing, baking, packaging, sanitation, and release for shipping. Serves as technical product, packaging, raw material, and food safety quality systems on your respective shift. Ensure proper documents are completed for regulatory, GFSI, and customer requirements. Evaluate product, conduct product testing, complete internal audits, inspect sanitation work, verify critical & preventive controls, hold non-conforming materials, participate in continuous improvement activities, and investigate food safety incidents, supplier, & customer complaints. FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES:
- Serve as quality technical expert of food safety & quality policy, procedure, product & process
compliance.
- Lead quality program compliance during shift for activities such as internal auditing, holds of non-
conforming materials, food safety inspections, swabbing (environmental, allergenic and/or ATP), and
retain sample program.
- Evaluate bakery products and packaging for conformance and managing nonconformances through the hold process, including moisture testing, weighing, measuring, tasting, smelling, visual inspection, assessing physical characteristics, comparison to standard, investigation, corrections, and recording issues and events.
- Work directly with operators and plant leadership to support and guide the shift through safety & quality issues and escalate to management as appropriate.
- Verify monitoring activities throughout the plant for GMPs, CCPs, preventive controls, quality controls, and absolute safety compliance throughout the plant.
- Partner with operations leaders to ensure compliance to GMPs, food safety plan requirements, absolute safety needs, sanitation effectiveness, and records maintenance.
- Provide thorough communication to oncoming shifts and leaders.
- Perform incident investigations related to nonconforming products, raw material, supplier noncompliance, and CCP & preventive controls deviations.
- Analyzes key product and process variables/attributes to understand process capability, identify process drift, and effects on finished product quality.
- Participate in meetings as needed for root cause analysis for corrective and preventive actions, improvement projects, operations, and planning.
- Complete data entry of food safety incidents, issues on shift, documentation errors, and other records as needed.
- Review receiving, processing, production, and shipping documents for compliance to policy/ procedure.
- Provide on-the-job training of new-hire technicians, as needed.
- Maintain housekeeping of work areas and Quality Lab.
- All other duties as assigned.
ACCOUNTABILITY A Quality Technician will be accountable to the Quality Supervisor for fulfillment of his or her duties. The performance of a Quality Technician will be measured to the degree of his or her production levels and quality of work performed in these assigned areas. EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE
- Required: Minimum high school diploma or GED
- Preferred: bachelor's or associate degree, equivalent from two-year college or technical school
- Preferred: Six months to one-year related work experience or equivalent combination of education and experience
PHYSICAL DEMANDA AND WORK ENVIRONMENT While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to: o walk, climb steps, stand, sit, stoop, kneel, and crouch o read, write and use a computer o use hands to grasp, handle and feel o reach with hands and arms o taste, smell and be in the presence of wheat, soy, egg, milk, and tree nuts o be in the presence of various environmental conditions such humid, near hot ovens & inside cold coolers o talk and hear o lift and maneuver boxes up to 50lbs
- Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and color vision.
- Need to be able to wear hearing, eye, and toe personal protective equipment.
- The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
- Overtime and weekend work is routinely expected.
- The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
- Safety critical position.