Quality & Microbiology Laboratory Technician

Quality & Microbiology Laboratory Technician Position Summary: The Quality & Microbiology Laboratory Technician supports compliance with Carolina Canners procedures, PepsiCo microbiological sampling plans, PepsiCo sanitation requirements, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), food safety programs, regulatory expectations, customer quality standards, and continuous improvement initiatives. The work area consists of the laboratory, production floor, sanitation, processing, utility, and warehouse areas to verify process control and ensure product quality and food safety requirements are consistently met. Requirements Associate degree or Bachelor degree in Microbiology, Biology, Food Science, Chemistry, or a related scientific field preferred. Two or more years of experience in food/beverage manufacturing, quality assurance, microbiology, laboratory testing, sanitation, water treatment, or production quality preferred. Equivalent combination of education, training, and hands‑on experience may be considered. Experience in beverage manufacturing, hot‑fill, bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, non‑carbonated beverages, or micro‑sensitive products preferred. Must be 18 years of age or older. High school diploma, GED, or equivalent required. Must be able to read, write, communicate, perform basic math calculations, and complete accurate quality and laboratory records. Must be able to work safely in a manufacturing, laboratory, wet‑processing, and production‑floor environment. Must be able to work scheduled shift, weekends, overtime, and holidays as required by business needs. Strong attention to detail and ability to accurately complete lab, micro, quality, and production records. Ability to prioritize work across the laboratory, production floor, and sanitation/processing areas. Ability to communicate clearly with Quality, Production, Sanitation, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Leadership teams. Ability to recognize quality or food safety risk and elevate concerns quickly and professionally. Ability to interpret test results, compare results to specifications, identify trends, and support root‑cause analysis. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision while maintaining compliance with approved procedures. Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office, spreadsheets, databases, and electronic quality systems where applicable. Ability to maintain confidentiality of customer, company, and proprietary quality documents. Essential Duties and Responsibilities – Microbiology Program Execute microbiological sampling and testing in accordance with Carolina Canners procedures and applicable PepsiCo microbiological sampling plans for carbonated, non‑carbonated, bottled water, and hot‑fill beverage operations. Collect, prepare, plate, incubate, read, enumerate, document, and report routine micro samples, including environmental air plates, dry swabs, wet swabs, equipment surface swabs, rinse waters, packaging samples, raw ingredient samples, sweetener samples, water samples, and finished product samples. Perform microbiological testing and verification for ingredient water, treated water, source water, post‑treatment water, RO/permeate systems, UV/post‑UV water, carbon tower water, and other defined water‑system sample points. Collect and test sweetener‑system samples, including HFCS, sucrose, liquid sweetener deliveries, silo samples, and in‑house sucrose or simple‑syrup samples per internal and customer programs. Collect and test raw ingredients, concentrates, juice blends, flavor systems, closures, bottles, cans, packaging materials, and other materials per the approved sampling plan or customer requirement. Collect and plate filler valve rinse water, final rinse water, closure‑system rinse water, rinser verification samples, batching rinse water, CIP reclaim water, cooler/tunnel samples, and sanitation verification samples as required. Support Category 3 and Category 4 microbiology requirements, including heightened control for micro‑sensitive products such as teas, hot‑filled beverages, bottled water, and other non‑carbonated beverages. Read plates accurately and distinguish target organisms, including total plate count organisms, yeast, mold, acid bacteria, coliform indicators, and other microorganisms per approved procedures. Use aseptic technique during sampling, sample handling, plating, incubation, media preparation, and result documentation to reduce false positives and protect sample integrity. Maintain accurate incubation logs, media logs, sample logs, micro result databases, retain records, and supporting documentation. Track, trend, and escalate microbiological results to demonstrate process control, identify adverse trends, and support corrective action before #J-18808-Ljbffr Carolina-Canners-In