Quality Assurance & Food Safety Officer

Purpose

The Quality Assurance and Food Safety Officer is responsible for assisting in managing Tortuga’s Quality and SQF HACCP programme, ensuring compliance with food safety standards and protocols. The incumbent will collaborate with management and staff to achieve food safety and quality assurance objectives.

Complexity of Role

The role involves managing multiple tasks related to quality control, compliance, and process improvement within a dynamic food manufacturing environment.

Scope

The Quality Assurance and Food Safety Officer helps to oversee the implementation of quality control measures, ensures adherence to standards, and facilitates continuous improvement initiatives.

Financial Responsibility

The position involves indirect financial responsibility through ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, minimizing quality-related risks, and optimizing processes to enhance operational efficiency.

Main Responsibility

Assisting the Quality Assurance and Food Safety Lead in managing Tortuga’s Quality and SQF HACCP programme, ensuring compliance with food safety standards, and facilitating continuous improvement initiatives.

Essential Job Responsibilities

1. Assisting the QAFS Lead in managing Tortuga’s Quality and SQF HACCP programme by

· Assisting with the planning, preparation, and presentations at HACCP Team meetings weekly and HACCP and GMP training periodically.

· Coordinating activities of HACCP team members relevant to food safety

· Maintaining relevant documentation including audit checklists, verification & inspection records, cleaning records, incoming goods records, CCP records, etc.

· Ensuring corrective actions are raised, followed up and communicated through to closure via Root Cause Analysis

· Daily monitoring of the internal and external facility during pre-op audits

· Daily monitoring of the working practices of the production employees during hourly checks

· Ensuring the Internal Audits are completed, reported and non-conformances are corrected

· Reviewing traceability records and undertaking periodic forward & backward traceability exercises

· Conducting mock recalls as necessary

· Re-training of employees in relevant SOP’s and work instructions

· Reviewing of GMP’s as necessary

· Conducting quality tests daily on incoming, in-process and outgoing materials and products

· Verification of export consignments

· Ensuring that internal, GMP and external Supplier Audits are completed based on the Audit schedule

· Ensuring that feedback from the audits are reported to management and reviewed

· Recording and analyzing quality tests results daily

· Recommending corrective action and preventative actions

· Ensuring that the Quality & Food Safety SQF Level 2 Manual is up to date

· Assisting with SQF HACCP training and implementation

· Assisting with the customer complaints process

· Assisting with the monitoring and improvement of internal and external quality deviations

· Performing the duties of the QAFS Proxy as these relate to – PCQA practitioner & SQF practitioner.

2. Assisting the QAFS Lead in managing Tortuga’s Quality Assurance programme by:

· Establishing and reviewing processing specifications, protocols, and procedures for quality control, quality assurance and ongoing quality Improvement.

· Conducting quality analyses, tests on all raw, intermediate, and finished products daily and outside samples when received.

· Ensuring that internal, GMP and external Supplier Audits are completed based on the Audit schedule.

· Ensuring that feedback from the audits is reported to management and reviewed

· Recording and analyzing quality tests results and trends daily and providing feedback to management

· Monitoring of the internal and external facility and the standard working practices of the operations employees daily

· Managing the customer interface for all complaints, to follow up on non-conformances and to initiate quality alerts

· Identifying continuous improvement projects arising from the results from the Quality & HACCP systems

· Performing quality-based finished product instore audits as necessary

· Reviewing the results of Safety Culture audits and formulating the relevant corrective actions, quality summary reports, weekly and monthly

· Participating in Root Cause Analyses and CA-PA for Quality non-conformances and deviations

· Ensuring that all data generated is documented and all records are kept up to date.

3. AEO Responsibilities

The FSQA Officer is expected to participate in all aspects of the company’s AEO supply chain certification programme by:

i. Ensuring business partners provide evidence of their capability to secure the company’s materials in their respective parts of the supply chain. This may be in the form of:

a. Completed supplier product conformance or compliance reports

b. Updated approved supplier assessment records

c. Face to face audit assessments

ii. Ensuring incoming shipments conform to AEO security requirements by:

a. Observing the documented unloading and verification process

b. Performing incoming inspection assessments on the materials delivered to check for adulteration.

c. Face to face audit assessments

iii. Ensuring incoming shipments conform to AEO security requirements by:

a. Observing the documented unloading and verification process

b. Performing incoming inspection assessments on the materials delivered to check for adulteration.

4. General Responsibilities

· The FS & QA Officer is expected to embrace all aspects of the FS & QA programmes at Tortuga and to promote and encourage a FS & QA culture throughout the organization.

· While the FS & QA Lead will be responsible for directly managing the quality & food safety system to guarantee the highest standard of HACCP and SQF Level 2 certification, it is expected that the FS

· & QA Officer will actively participate in a “hands on” manner to guarantee the successful performance of Quality, HACCP/ SQF programmes.

· Other related duties assigned

Qualifications & Experience

· Experience – a minimum of 3 years’ experience in a similar role is required.

· Qualifications – a Bachelor’s Degree in Sciences – Food Science or Food Technology would be preferred.

· Training in HACCP, PCQA and Quality Assurance systems, a plus

Key Skills & Abilities

The following key skillsets and abilities are desired for this role.

· Mathematical competence – Ability to perform calculations and use the results to draw inferences when undertaking problem solving.

· Monitoring competence – Visual and sensory monitoring of the system and its outputs to make improvements and take corrective action.

· Science – Using training in scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

· Training – Teaching and instructing peers and subordinates in on-the-job best practices.

· Problem Solving – Using logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions. Ability to look beyond the obvious and does not stop at the first answers.

· Complex Problem Solving – Identifying complex problems when these occur and reviewing related information to formulate options for possible solutions.

· Quality Control Analysis - Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.

· Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.