Food Safety Coordinator

Brief Description

Overview:

The Quality Control & Food Safety Coordinator is responsible for overseeing all quality assurance (QA), regulatory compliance, and food safety programs within a USDA-inspected meat processing and fabrication facility. This role ensures that all beef, pork, lamb, and value-added products meet company, customer, and federal standards for safety, quality, labeling, and consistency. This role will act as a liaison between operations, sanitation, maintenance, and USDA personnel, ensuring the implementation and continuous improvement of HACCP, SSOP, GMP, and other regulatory programs. The position requires hands-on leadership, data-driven decision-making, and a proactive approach to risk mitigation and process improvement.

Responsibilities:

Quality Control & Compliance

• Conduct and support daily QC operations, including product inspections, pre-op checks, and sanitation verification. Support requests from USDA inspector on site.
• Maintain and verify compliance with USDA-FSIS regulations, including HACCP, GMP, SSOP, and other mandated programs.
• Conduct internal audits and follow-up corrective action to ensure compliance and readiness for USDA verification activities.
• Review and approve production records, temperature logs, and lot traceability documentation.
• Monitor product appearance, trim standards, labeling accuracy, and packaging integrity.
  
  

Food Safety Management

• Serve as the designated point of contact with USDA inspector, maintaining pre-operational inspections ensuring all critical control points are effectively monitored and documented by production.
• Ensure plant-wide adherence to label control, foreign material, and cross-contamination control programs.
• Oversee environmental and microbiological testing programs, interpreting results and coordinating corrective actions as necessary with Food Safety leadership.
• Lead root cause analyses for deviations, customer complaints, and non-conformance issues internally and with USDA.
• Coordinate recall readiness drills and maintain recall traceability documentation.
  
  

Leadership & Training

• Provide training and ongoing performance feedback on food safety principles to production team.
• Conduct plant-wide support in food safety, GMP, HACCP, and personal hygiene best practices.
• Build strong partnerships with production and maintenance teams to promote a culture of food safety and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with HR and Operations to enforce employee discipline and reward programs tied to compliance and safety metrics.
  
  

Continuous Improvement

• Support cross-functional projects to reduce waste, rework, and customer complaints.
• Support new product development by validating quality and food safety requirements during scale-up.
• Stay current on USDA regulatory updates, industry trends, and audit standards (e.g., GFSI, SQF, BRC).
  
  

Skills & Competencies

• Strong leadership, communication, and documentation skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, ERP systems, and QA data management tools.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and organizational abilities.
• Ability to work in refrigerated environments and respond quickly to operational challenges.
  
  

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in food science, Meat Science, Animal Science, Microbiology, or related field (preferred).
• Minimum 1-2 years of experience in USDA-inspected meat or poultry facilities
• Knowledge of USDA-FSIS regulatory frameworks, HACCP systems, GMPs, and SSOPs.
• Prior experience managing quality audits, USDA interactions, and corrective actions.
  
  

Certifications (Preferred But Not Required)

• HACCP Certification (required within 90 days of hire).
• Food Defense and Internal Auditor Training.
  
  

Work Environment:

• Work primarily on the production floor (40°F environment).
• Must be able to lift 25–50 lbs. occasionally and stand for extended periods.
• Occasional weekend or extended hours for audits, recalls, or production surges.