Quality Manager

Vita Food Products, Inc. Job Title: Quality Manager Department: Quality Reports to: Senior Quality Assurance Manager Supervises: Quality Technicians FLSA: Exempt Job Summary: The general purpose of this position is to ensure that the quality and safety of products meet company, customer, and regulatory standards and requirements. Develops, implements, and maintains Quality Management Systems and HACCP Programs and oversight. Lead company’s effort to maintain BRC certification. Has the authority to take appropriate action to ensure the integrity of the BRC system. Prepares organization for FDA, military, and third-party audits and maintains inspection reports and records. Acts as backup to the Senior Quality Assurance Manager for all 3rd party audits or governmental inspections. Leads the development and implementation of Food Safety Fundamentals and Food Safety Plan as outlined in the BRC system. Selects and trains quality team members. Responsible for ensuring adequate staffing for quality functions. Provides direct leadership to the QA technicians and establishes goals for individual team members Supervises, trains, and evaluates performance of quality technicians. This includes daily testing of raw materials, in-process, and finished products to ensure that company, customer, kosher, and regulatory requirements are met. Maintains appropriate inventory of all QA lab supplies Maintains and manages the quality lab SOPs. Manages the Environmental Monitoring Program and performs trend analysis; develops and initiates corrective actions for out of specification environmental monitoring results Manages the Sanitation Program: Conducts meetings as necessary with the 3rd party sanitation company to review results or address concerns and identify opportunities for improvement Monitors overall plant production sanitation to ensure that personnel follow requirements and guidelines set forth by the FDA, military, state, and local health department. Acts as main liaison between Vita and its 3rd party sanitation company Is the primary contact between Vita and its sanitation chemical supplier Coordinates with the sanitation chemical supplier to provide training to Vita and outside sanitation staff in relevant topics Reviews and approves SSOPs. Investigates consumer complaints and internal findings. Identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives. Provide technical expertise on nutritional facts panels, label claims and ingredients statements. Supports the implementation and maintenance of the Gluten Free Certification program and acts as secondary contact for GFCO. Supports the implementation and maintenance of MSC/ASC requirements and acts as secondary contact for all Chain of Custody information requests from the certified auditing body. Performs reviews of documented policies and programs with authority to edit as needed to reflect current operations, comply with BRC, 3rd Party Certifying Bodies and customer requirements. Maintains the Hold and Release Program Review finished good laboratory analysis for product release Determine disposition of product that is out of specification Manage the company’s documents Maintain the company’s document register Conduct daily HACCP document review. Maintains compliance and handles all non-compliance and deviations. Record process deviations and work with department heads to determine root cause and corrective actions. Review new documents for compliance and assign document numbers to all new documents used on the production floor by various departments Performs other duties as required. Frequent interaction with plant, production, distribution, & maintenance managers, QC QA Technicians, and line workers. Regular outside contact with vendors. Position Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science or related technical field or a combination of education and extensive industry experience is preferred. A minimum of 3 years leadership experience in Quality Assurance in a food manufacturing environment (preferred). HACCP certification PCQI certification Extensive knowledge of GFSI, BRC and regulatory requirements Previous experience with 3rd party audits Proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook, Power Point) Sound instrumentation and mathematical skills for performance of laboratory tests. Significant knowledge of the food industry, and regulatory requirements in food manufacturing. #J-18808-Ljbffr