Food Safety and Quality Manager

The FSQ Manager serves as the primary liaison between management for all food safety, quality, and sanitation programs. The role ensures compliance with Food Safety Modernization Act preventive controls, HACCP expectations, and USDA/FDA regulations while meeting SQF certification and customer standards. The incumbent designs, implements, and continuously improves systems that prevent chemical, physical, biological, and allergen hazards, reduce variability, and protect brand integrity.

The FSQ Manager is empowered to stop production or place product on hold when standards are not met. This position will report directly to the Plant Manager, with a dotted line to Director of Quality Management, R&D, & Regulatory.

• Serve as site HACCP Coordinator and Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI); own FSMA Preventive Controls program and verification activities.
• Lead and maintain SQF certification (program ownership, internal audits, management review, and continuous improvement).
• Ensure sustained compliance with USDA FSIS (for meat/poultry), FDA requirements, and applicable customer specifications

• Own and maintain HACCP plans, hazard analysis, validation, verification, monitoring, corrective actions, and annual reassessments.
• Implement and oversee FSMA Preventive Controls (process, allergen, sanitation, and supply‑chain), including documented risk assessments and effectiveness checks.
• Lead SSOP programs and sanitation verification (e.g., visual inspection, ATP/indicator testing) with robust documentation and CAPA.
• Manage a risk‑based Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for pathogens/indicators (zoned swabbing, trending, escalation, and verification of corrective actions).
• Oversee allergen control, CCP operator certification, test & hold, cooking/cooling deviation handling, and finished product pathogen testing programs.

• Lead on‑site USDA, FDA, SQF, and customer audits; coordinate pre‑audit readiness, host activities, responses, and sustainable CAPAs.
• Establish and manage an internal audit calendar (prerequisite programs, HACCP/PC, GMP, sanitation, allergens, traceability, supplier controls).
• Build and publish FSQ KPIs; trend results using SPC/statistical analysis (e.g., EMP hits, CCP deviations, non‑conformances, foreign material, customer complaints) and drive structured CI plans.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to reduce process/product variation and improve capability through data‑driven problem solving.

• Serve as Site Recall Coordinator; maintain traceability, conduct mock recalls, and lead incident investigations with timely regulatory/customer communication.
• Ensure compliance with FSMA Traceability expectations and maintain robust documentation.

Oversee supplier approval/verification activities (risk‑based, including FSVP considerations where applicable), inbound material controls, COAs, and non‑conformance management.

Develop and deliver plant‑wide training on HACCP, GMPs, allergens, sanitation, foreign material prevention, and audit readiness; verify competency and sustain food safety culture.

• Own the document management system for FSQ policies, SOPs, SSOPs, training, forms, and records; ensure data integrity and audit retrievability.

• Partner with Operations, Engineering/Maintenance, R&D, Procurement, and EHS on process design, validations, equipment changes, and hygienic controls to embed FSQ by design.

• Zero Class I/II recalls or market withdrawals; effective test‑and‑hold and release practices.
• Year‑over‑year reductions in customer complaints, foreign material incidents, and USDA NRs, supported by SPC trending and CAPA effectiveness.
• Successful SQF recertification and regulatory audit outcomes both internal and external.

• Directly supervises 3–4 salaried FSQ professionals (and associated technicians), including hiring, onboarding, training,…