VP Food Safety & Quality Assurance opportunity for a fresh produce organization with a 20-year certified organic farming program in place, and one of the fastest growing organic produce companies in America. A vertically integrated company, mixing innovation with tradition to grow, ship and process fresh vegetables and salads year-round from two processing facilities in the Salinas, CA area. The VP FSQA requires executive level presence leadership and microbiology expertise on the Food Processing side of the business with strong customer communication skills acting as the face of the company for customers including Big Box Retailers (Walmart, Costco etc.) as well as the Media point of contact while building and growing a team and setting structure.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

This role is to develop and lead the Food Safety and Quality Assurance team. Primary responsibilities:

• Five areas of focus: HACCP, Product Quality, Preventative Maintenance, Sanitation, Foreign object control and Traceability.
• Develop a comprehensive FSQA program for a cohesive process from growing to processing.
• Cross department leadership and communication
• “Boots on the ground” presence, requiring regular on-site representation at both facility locations.
• Represent the company in farming, harvesting, and processing operations to the customer.
  

A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE WILL BE:

Adaptable: with our fast growing, fast-paced environment and able to pivot as required for changing business needs and willing to work various shifts and extended hours if necessary.

An Experienced People Manager: You lead by example and enable your team to realize their potential.

Improvement Focused: continuously evaluating, prioritizing, and improving food safety plan, process, and SOPs.

Engaged with industry food safety initiatives and active on task forces and committees such as Center for Produce Safety. Driven to seek industry food safety solutions.

Well versed with regulatory and customer communication expectations.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Food Safety

• Ensure highly disciplined compliance with all regulatory and internal defined food safety and sanitation standards, systems, procedures, and practices. This includes but not limited to: Vendor Certification, Inbound raw Inspection, Microbiological Testing, Lot Tracking, Sanitation, HACCP, Pest Control, and Food Safety and Quality Systems Training, preventative maintenance, and recall execution.
  
• Oversee compliance with all applicable legal requirements.
  
• Manage on-site third-party audits such as FDA, Primus or customers.
  
• Direct management of the sanitation team.
  
• Work with facility leads to ensure active preventative maintenance and sanitary design.
  
• Build a culture of food safety and take our FSQA to the next level. Create internal audit to identify, fix and prevent reoccurrence.