Meat Inspector Trainee

Location: Ohio

No ag background, no problem! You'll learn all about agriculture from our top-notch experts who dedicate their lives to a cleaner, safer, better Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is currently seeking candidates for a Meat Inspector Trainee, Meat Inspection Division, headquartered in Ashtabula County. This position is responsible for:

* Receives training and mentoring from higher level meat inspector to learn procedures and assists in conducting inspections of registered meat plants, private, commercial slaughtering plants and custom- exempt red meat and/or poultry processing facilities

* Learns to perform ante mortem and postmortem inspections of carcasses and enforces state and federal sanitation, humane slaughter, meat processing and food safety policies, procedures and guidelines

* Conducts visual examination of live animal and/or poultry prior to slaughter while looking for abnormalities in appearance and behavior such as sick, hurt and/or non-ambulatory

* Contacts veterinarian for final disposition of unhealthy animals and records results

* Makes determination of age of beef through dentition of cattle 30 months or older for removal of backbone due to concerns of BSE

* Performs visual, tactile and/or incisory inspection of head, lymph nodes, viscera, carcass and offal to include liver, heart, brain and tripe to determine whether or not pathological conditions are present, and carcass is in clean and wholesome condition

* Inspects all equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure acceptable sanitation levels and prohibiting use of unsanitary, unsafe and/or unapproved equipment and facilities until cleaned and/or corrected to include pest and rodent control, use of pesticides and chemicals, condition and use of potable water supply and waste and sewage systems

* Halts production for poor sanitation and/or non-compliance

* Assures proper disposition of unfit and condemned products, enforces sanitary dressing procedures and controls carcass branding

* Learns labeling requirements and assists in reviewing labeling materials

* Reviews proposed labels, product formulations, production procedures, quality control programs, quality control records and laboratory reports for state inspected meat and/or poultry establishments

* Checks formulations of all types of meat food products for compliance with federal regulations and periodically monitors inspection procedures for maintaining compliance in production of meat products

* Learns sampling procedures and assists higher level inspector with submission of product samples of products for analysis for microbiological adulterants and for consumer protection

* Requires meat slaughter plants to conduct microbial testing for generic

E.coli to verify adequacy of process controls for prevention of fecal contamination

* Learns how to document verification results and navigate in the Public Health Information System (PHIS)

* Assists higher level inspector with other meat inspection duties as assigned

* Performs re-inspection of meat and/or poultry products and non-meat ingredients for such products intended for further processing or distribution

Inspects critical control points in preparation and handling of meat or poultry products (i.e., monitors formulation, temperature controls, preparation procedures, use of restricted ingredients and sampling) to ensure compliance

* Prepares, maintains and monitors required records, reports and formulations concerning product condemnations and retentions

Controls all sanitation discrepancies and corrective actions

* Assists in industry quality control programs

* Analyzes report deviations, travel and pay reports and submits such through proper channels

* Attends training courses (e.g., Incidence Command Systems training courses; Inspection System Procedures including Homeland Security)

* Refresher seminars and on-job training activities

This position shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of the OCSEA Collective Bargaining Agreement. ODA bargaining unit members have selection rights before non-bargaining unit members. All other applications will only be considered if an internal bargaining unit applicant is not selected…