Quality Assurance Technician

American Foods Group, LLC•Wright City, MO

About The Position

Quality Assurance Technicians help ensure product safety, quality, and compliance on the harvest, fabrication, and grind floor by monitoring, auditing, and documenting conformities and nonconformities. The role rotates among tasks such as animal welfare checks, sampling, quality inspections, chemical concentration checks, sanitary dressing audits, temperature checks, box tare weights, and grade changes. Technicians monitor food safety and quality procedures, document inspection results, investigate test results outside established specifications or control limits, and take corrective action. They also work with production and interact with USDA as needed. The description notes that other related duties may be assigned to meet the organization’s ongoing needs. The work may take place in warm, hot, humid, cold, or wet conditions, on slippery surfaces and at varied heights, in and around moving equipment. Personal protective equipment is required. The role includes occasional standing, walking, sitting, handling objects or controls, reaching, communicating, and lifting or moving objects. The company describes its facility as a 775,000-square-foot greenfield project, expected to open in early 2025, with harvest, chilling, fabrication, rendering, further processing, storage, and loading areas.

Requirements

Must be at least 18 years old.
Must be able to work in the United States without sponsorship.
Must have a high school diploma or GED.
Must be able to communicate effectively in English by speaking, reading, and writing.
Must be able to work in warm, hot, humid, cold, or wet conditions, on slippery surfaces and at varied heights, around moving equipment and parts, while using personal protective equipment.
Knowledge of and ability to monitor and enforce food safety, SQF, GMP, HACCP, SSOP, SOP, prerequisite-program, policy, and procedure requirements.
Ability to attend work consistently, work safely, wear PPE, and follow safety rules.
Strong work ethic, positive attitude, adaptability, dependability, and ability to follow direction and cooperate with others.
Attention to detail and ability to maintain a clean work area and follow food safety and SQF rules.
Good communication and interpersonal skills.
Solid analytical and problem-solving skills.
Assertiveness and ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to perform consistent, accurate work with minimal direction and work successfully as part of a team.
Physical ability to occasionally stand, walk or sit; use hands to handle objects, tools, or controls; reach; talk or hear; and lift or move objects. Close, distance, and color vision are required.

Nice To Haves

Ability to communicate effectively in Spanish by speaking, reading, and writing.
Strong project management, time management, and conflict resolution skills.
Prior production experience in a USDA-inspected beef, pork, or poultry facility.
Work history within the last 12 months.

Responsibilities

Rotate among animal welfare tasks, sampling, quality inspections, chemical concentration checks, sanitary dressing audits, temperature checks, box tare weights, and grade changes.
Monitor food safety and quality procedures on the floor, report deficiencies, take corrective action, and follow up.
Review and accurately complete required paperwork, including GMP checks and SSOP and SOP corrective action logs.
Conduct pre-operational checks, condensation checks, and swabs.
Perform sanitary dressing and zero-tolerance inspections in accordance with the written program.
Assist production in ensuring that appropriate product is retained for USDA dispositions.
Inspect finished products for conformance to specifications and collect samples for laboratory analysis.
Conduct animal welfare audits and act immediately on deviations from the humane handling program.
Use production specification reports to gather, measure, analyze, and record inspection data, including weights, temperatures, grades, and quantities inspected or graded.
Interact with USDA as needed.
Interpret test results against specifications and control limits; investigate results, take corrective action, recommend preventative measures, and document findings.
Perform other related duties as needed to meet the organization’s ongoing needs.