Feed Officer

Job Description

Come and join Food Standards Scotland as a Feed Officer and be part of our regulatory work on animal feed production

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has a wide and diverse remit, encompassing policy, science, and operational delivery across food and feed safety, standards, and authenticity, together with diet and nutrition. This is an exciting time to work at FSS within our Feed Delivery Branch as one of our in-house Feed Officers.

You will be responsible for delivering animal feed official controls for FSS, carrying out risk-based inspections, verification, and sampling activities at registered and approved Feed Businesses as part of a team of six Feed Officers and two Senior Feed Officers.

The Feed Officer also provides information services in response to feed-related enquiries from internal and external stakeholders and provides guidance and support to an assigned group of Local Authority partners to ensure that we collaborate efficiently and effectively as the Competent Authority for the delivery of Feed Official Controls across Scotland.

The role will be home-based, with a primary focus on visiting Feed Businesses across the Central Belt of Scotland as part of the FSS in-house Feed Delivery Branch. Occasional attendance at the FSS main office in Aberdeen will be required for meetings, and there may also be occasional travel throughout Scotland to support other feed-related activities. A valid driving licence is required, together with a willingness to drive.

• Plan and deliver an assigned programme of official control inspections and sampling visits to feed businesses to assess and maintain compliance with feed legislation. Conduct enforcement action, in consultation with the Senior Feed Officers, where required.
• Efficiently plan your field visits to ensure value for money and the effective use of resources and operational expenditure allocated within the Feed Delivery budget. This includes carrying out accompanied field visits to verify the effective delivery of Feed Official Controls by our Local Authority partners.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal and external feed technical experts, including personally undertaking ongoing feed technical training and continuous professional development relating to Feed Official Controls.
• Provide accurate data entry into KPI systems by maintaining proficiency in the use of the FSS Feed Management Information System (FMIS) and the Sampling Database (SFSD). This includes providing a monthly report to your Senior Feed Officer covering your KPIs, work activities, and stakeholder contributions within the team.
• Respond to and resolve feed-related enquiries from members of the public, Feed Business Operators (FeBOs), and Local Authorities on an assigned basis, in consultation with the Senior Feed Officers. Advise and provide instruction on issues relating to Feed Official Controls as the Competent Authority for feed-related matters in Scotland.
• Contribute to FSS feed policy and regulatory strategy through the review and continuous improvement of operational procedures contained within the Feed Manual, the Feed Enforcement Policy, and branch processes and practices.

Recognised feed qualifications e.g. Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Professional Competency in Feed (or equivalent qualifications and experience within the feed profession) enabling a working level competency to navigate and apply animal feed law is required, but the CTSI Competency in Feed will also be given to the right candidate where substantial experience in animal feed related work already exists.

Proof of qualifications will be checked at the assessment stage.

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.

• Connections and Communication – Working Level;
• Communicates and builds relationships across teams to deliver excellent service, quality and performance.
• Works with others in collaboration to share information constructively.
• Encourages feedback and creates a secure and safe environment where good communication and relationships can thrive.

• Data and Insight – Working Level
• Analyses a range of relevant information to inform decisions.
• Interprets data to support service delivery and improvements, including dashboards and data sets.
• Highlights trends or risks through data analysis which could impact…