Quality Food Safety Scientist I - Post Consumer Brands

Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company’s portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats®, PEBBLES®, Grape-Nuts® and Malt-O-Meal® cereal, and Peter Pan® peanut butter, as well as Rachael Ray® Nutrish®, Kibbles ‘n Bits® and 9Lives® dog and cat food. As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news.

Post Consumer Brands recently acquired several iconic pet food brands, venturing into a new market while remaining true to our purpose to provide delicious and accessible food that our consumers love. We’re always searching the center store for the next exciting product to add to our portfolio, and right now, we’re growing and need passionate, driven individuals with diverse perspectives to help us reach greater heights. That’s where you come in. Join a team where your voice is not only heard but valued. Make a real impact on brands enjoyed by millions of people and their pets.

The Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania facility is 1,120,845 square feet and home to about 470 hard working team members who are proud to produce iconic pet food brands like Kibbles 'n Bits® and 9Lives®. This location has a cannery that produces wet dog food and there is also a Distribution Center on-site. Bloomsburg is home to Bloomsburg University, a municipal airport, a landmark Town Park with many acres of recreational activities, and has one of the largest and longest running fairs in the country. With so much to do and see, Bloomsburg is a great place to live, work and play! 

OVERVIEW: 

Provide technical quality and food safety support to Operations, Engineering/Maintenance, and Product Development with an emphasis on continuous improvement, consumer/customer requirements, and continuous product quality. Support, implement, and maintain food safety practices as required through BRC. Responsible for completing job duties in a manner that supports all plant safety, food safety, quality, and environmental practices.

 Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Location: on-site primarily Monday - Friday 1st shift 
• Audit Preparations:
  • BRC audit preparation including the maintenance of the BRC books and electronic links
  • Procedure review, checklist completion and bovine and frozen chicken segregation areas compliance in preparation for the APHIS international export audit.
  • Organization of paperwork and verification of Mass Balance grade palm oil products for the RSPO audit.
  • Facilitate scheduling and timely completion of the internal audit program for the Site as well as log and track all the findings in the CAPA system.
  • Manage the site’s internal audit program and ensure audits are completed to schedule.
• Post Audit Activities:
  • Add all findings to the Master CAPA Log and track corrective and preventative actions to completion.
  • Work with department managers to drive completion of CAPA in a timely manner.
  • Organize CAPA into a system which can be sorted, filtered, analyzed, and trended at various meetings to facilitate continuous improvement.
  • Perform CAPA effectiveness reviews and report gaps to the Quality Assurance Manager.
• Document Control:
  • Manage the creation and revision of quality system documents.
  • Coordinate, perform, and write work instructions as requested.
  • Work with the Document Control System Technician and Department Managers to organize and maintain current site procedures.
  • Maintain site documents in Share Point and Q Docs
• Training
  • Assist with the maintenance of the Red Zone/ Data Collection Quality system.
  • Assist QA In FDA and PA DOA
  • Trace reports and mock recalls.
  • Any other projects
  • Assure compliance to all quality standards.
  • Assure compliance to all GMP requirements.
  • Perform all other duties as assigned.

• Develop and conduct Quality and Food Safety function trainings.

• Additional Responsibilities
  • Conduct consumer and customer complaint investigations and report findings to consumer affairs group.
  • Work with QFS Scientist II, QFS Manager and QFS Supervisor to manage Food Safety Plan (FSP) process, including reviewing existing plans, modifying plans for new products/processes, and verifying current plans.
  • Support the Plant Quality and Food Safety Manager in planning plant quality systems, procedures and methodologies to meet internal and external customer expectations.
  • Work cross-functionally when problems arise to investigate and understand root cause and facilitate the holding/sampling and disposition of the product.
  • Analyze noncompliance trends for the plant and develop improvement plans in conjunction with Plant Quality Assurance and Food Safety Manager and Operations Management.
  • Provide support to Operations for prerequisite program development outlined in the Food Safety Plan.
  • Serve as back-up to QFS Scientist II.
  • Back-up other positions in the department as needed.

Education: 

• Four-year college degree in Food Science, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, or other related field of study strongly preferred.
• Preventative Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI), HACCP, Food Defense, and SQF Certification preferred.

Experience: 

• Minimum of 3 years food product experience required preferably as a QA Technician or Quality Supervisor

• Minimum of 3 years experience in the Food, Food Sciences and Flavors, Nutrition Sciences, Biology, Chemistry or Pharmaceutical industry
• Equivalent laboratory experience will be considered in the absence of the preferred degree.

Other:

• The candidate must have a thorough working knowledge of basic cGMPs (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and GDPs (Good Documentation Practices). 
• The candidate must have a strong working knowledge of Excel, Word and PowerPoint and possess basic statistical knowledge.
• Familiarity with HACCP and food safety a plus
• Must be willing to receive training in ongoing areas of FSMA and cGMP practices.

Other Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work with a PC and have demonstrated math/statistical computation skills
• Knowledge of SPC
• Ability to work safely with chemicals, as well as, in and around equipment
• Ability to compile, analyze and present collected data in summary form as well as being capable of performing a variety of tests.
• Ability to communicate technical, scientific, and regulatory information, both written and verbally. 
• Interpersonal and presentation skills, including the ability to make presentations, facilitate meetings, probe for root cause, and provide training to various groups within the organization
• Knowledge of CI problem solving tools.