1st Shift Micro Lab Quality Technician

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream•Tulare, CA

About The Position

The Micro Lab Quality Technician performs raw-material and finished-product testing, monitors and verifies in-process inspections, and carries out standard microbial, chemical, analytical, physical, and sensory tests. The role maintains records related to quality activities, including non-conforming materials, corrective actions, extended runs, environmental results, and finished-product microbial testing. The technician follows the company Quality Policy, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), food-safety requirements, laboratory practices, and safety procedures, and escalates quality or food-safety findings to management. The position supports quality-improvement efforts and communicates with peers, cross-functional teams, and management. The technician collects and enters production and laboratory data, manages supplies and inventory, prepares samples and culture media, plates and reads samples, records results, and maintains laboratory equipment and records. The role includes calibrating and using laboratory instruments, conducting equipment and pre-operational inspections, placing out-of-specification materials or products on hold, and supporting sanitation, audits, investigations, and continuous-improvement activities. The employee maintains laboratory and work-area cleanliness, participates in cleaning schedules, and manages retain samples and biohazard waste in accordance with applicable procedures. The position regularly involves working with and around other people in a fast-paced environment, including wet or humid areas, high-noise areas, and locations with mechanical, electrical, and pressurized equipment. The role involves frequent exposure to nuts and other potential allergens. The stated pay is $26.44 per hour.

Requirements

Follow Good Manufacturing Practices, food-safety requirements, laboratory practices, safety policies, and applicable analysis methods.
Accurately perform sample collection, preparation, plating, microbial testing, and result recording.
Maintain accurate and consistent records across log sheets and electronic systems.
Use and calibrate laboratory equipment, including pH meters, moisture analyzers, scales, thermometers, probes, and balances.
Follow sample-preparation, media-preparation, sterilization, incubation, plate-reading, and biohazard-waste procedures.
Maintain awareness of biohazard and biosecurity procedures and report unsafe behavior or near misses.
Demonstrate quality, integrity, sound judgment, ownership, continuous-improvement orientation, and effective collaboration.
Ability to work in a fast-paced setting with frequent exposure to nuts and other potential allergens, wet or humid areas, high noise, and mechanical, electrical, and pressurized equipment.

Responsibilities

Test raw materials and finished products and monitor and verify in-process inspections.
Perform standard microbial, chemical, analytical, physical, and sensory testing.
Maintain quality-related logs and records, including records for non-conforming materials, corrective actions, extended runs, environmental results, and finished-product microbial testing.
Follow the company Quality Policy, GMP, food-safety requirements, laboratory practices, and safety procedures.
Maintain product quality, housekeeping, and hygiene standards, and support ready-to-eat quality standards.
Escalate quality and food-safety findings or incidents to management and communicate relevant information to peers and cross-functional teams.
Support factory quality-improvement initiatives, including first-time-right efforts and product-defect reduction.
Collect data from mix-room ICP books and enter information into designated spreadsheets and trackers.
Order supplies, track inventory and usage, and inform the supervisor when supplies are low.
Develop focused PowerPoint presentations using collected data.
Complete equipment and pre-operational inspections to verify sanitation requirements.
Place out-of-specification material or product on quality hold, both physically and in JDE, and communicate holds to supervisors and management.
Calibrate and use laboratory equipment, including pH meters, moisture analyzers, scales, thermometers, probes, and balances, according to the ICP and applicable standards.
Record results for sensory, HACCP, SSOP, and other assigned checks.
Prepare samples; plate, incubate, read, count, identify, and record microbial test results for finished products, in-process checks, and raw materials as assigned.
Maintain the laboratory according to good laboratory practices and follow the applicable analysis methods and sample-preparation procedures.
Verify that media supplies support growth; prepare media according to AOAC methods; sterilize materials; and autoclave plates before disposal as required.
Perform sample pH and other requested analyses, and ensure media and materials are ready for upcoming testing.
Set up equipment and materials needed for analyses.
Maintain sample collection and plating procedures, ensure data entries correspond with log sheets and GLOBE, and follow up on sample errors, missing samples, corrective actions, and environmental swabbing.
Maintain the finished-product pH program, including product lists, new-product pH testing, and paper and electronic records.
Manage and document the biohazard-waste program, including autoclave use, verification, basic troubleshooting, and corrective actions.
Lead or support microbiology and environmental investigations and lessons learned, and work to reduce pallets on hold.
Track and manage calibration schedules and records, including corrective actions and certificates of analysis.
Lead sanitation and operational audits on the floor to identify gaps and help reduce environmental activities while building a quality culture.
Participate in cleaning schedules, maintain retain samples, perform housekeeping duties, and keep work areas and equipment clean and sanitized.
Work with the quality team to reduce the quality department budget.
Perform other related quality tasks as needed.