Quality Assurance: Product Inspector Internship at Wakefern Food Corp. Elizabeth, NJ

Quality Assurance:
Product Inspector Internship

Wakefern Food Corp.. Elizabeth, NJ.

May 19th, 2026 – August 7th, 2026

Wakefern Food Corp. is the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States and supports its co-operative members' retail operations, trading under the Shop Rite®, Price Rite®, The Fresh Grocer®, Dearborn Markets®, Fairway Markets®, Gourmet Garage®, and Morton Williams® banners.

Employing an innovative approach to wholesale business services, Wakefern focuses on helping the independent retailer compete in a big business world. Providing the tools entrepreneurs need to stay a step ahead of the competition, Wakefern’s co-operative members benefit from the company’s extensive portfolio of services, including innovative technology, private label development, and best in class procurement practices.

If you are a student who is pursuing an education in Supply Chain Management, Food Engineering, Quality Assurance, Quality Control Management, or other related fields , these internship opportunities may be a great fit for you! Wakefern prides itself in being the industry leader in Logistics and Distribution. Our organization currently services over 400+ retail stores throughout the northeast. The Logistics Infrastructure includes 9 warehouses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, housing 4 million square feet of warehouse space.

Wakefern’s fleet of over 2000 trailers ship approximately 1.4 million cases daily while traveling 52,000,000 miles per year! This sophisticated operation utilizes state of the art technology to meet the needs of our more than 8 million customers.

This internship goes beyond a typical desk job, you’ll be immersed in the core of our supply chain operations. The QA (Produce) Intern plays a hands‑on role in inspecting fresh produce and other perishable items to ensure quality, safety, and compliance with Wakefern standards. This position involves physically examining inbound deliveries for grade, freshness, proper labeling, and packaging integrity, as well as monitoring temperatures and verifying weights and counts.

Interns will gain first‑hand experience with Wakefern’s Food Safety and Quality Practices, USDA and FDA guidelines. Interns will be learning leadership skills mentored by supervisors to understand all skills required in a Quality Assurance Product Inspection department.

• Work in a refrigerated warehouse environment.
• Inspects all inbound deliveries to ensure the purchased goods conform to all established product specifications, standards, and grade requirements.
• Performs random organoleptic inspections of inbound goods to assure the quality, grade, and wholesomeness of the product.
• Inspects all inbound deliveries for cleanliness and soundness of the transportation vehicle and the absence of cross contamination.
• Monitors product temperatures by means of physical probing of goods and observation of time and temperature recording devices.
• Verifies the weights and counts of received goods.
• Examines all packaging for proper labeling and enforces all packaging and labeling requirements of the FDA, USDA, and USDC.
• Monitors products in inventory and storage for quality and safety.
• Performs daily sanitation inspections of all applicable facilities and warehouses.
• Gathers and organizes all records and documentation to comply with all regulatory requirements.
• Monitors all control points, critical control points, and quality control points for each of the food safety and food quality plans for the applicable perishable food facilities.
• Physical demands include the ability to bend, stretch, extend, tug and pull based on inspection of various products, Ability to…