Food Safety & Quality Ops Technician - 2nd Shift

Company Description

Instinct® is a rapidly growing, family‑owned marketer and manufacturer of science‑based 100% natural pet food for dogs and cats. Instinct® is the Raw Brand, with a mission to get more raw nutrition into every bowl of dogs and cats, for proven healthier and happier long lives. Our company mission is to Empower people to transform the lives of pets. We are committed to hiring and developing a team of passionate, performance‑oriented professionals who live by our four values of championing raw, empowered to make a difference, collaborating as one team, and striving for excellence through continuous learning and improvement.

Our home office is located in St. Louis, Missouri with our Center of Excellence Raw Food kitchens in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Instinct® is part of the family‑owned group, Agrolimen, who owns leading pet food and human food businesses in the US, China, Europe, and Africa.

Sign‑on Bonus up to $2,000

Rotating shift through three manufacturing facilities, performing quality audits and food safety monitoring in a pet food processing facility. This includes monitoring raw materials, processing areas, finished product and providing accurate documentation to support the SSOP, GMP & HACCP programs, and labs.

• Executing activities related to reviewing, monitoring, documenting, and assessing food safety and quality standards to verify materials are compliant with product specifications including, but not limited to net weights, product quality, product codes/labels, temperatures, CCP’s
• Gather product samples from production lines to identify defective and non‑conforming products and take appropriate corrective action if necessary
• Gather product samples from production lines aseptically for product testing; ensure on‑time sample pick‑up for product release
• Ensure cGMPs and best practices are being followed by auditing the facility and personnel daily for compliance
• Monitor production processes, personnel, and facilities to ensure adherence to cGMP, FSMA, HACCP, SQF, Sanitation guidelines, etc.; taking corrective action as necessary if standards are not being met
• Assist in employee training as needed for Food Safety and Quality tasks
• Pre‑Op inspection of processing area/equipment daily before the start of operations to verify cleanliness
• Perform swabbing to verify the cleanliness of equipment and surrounding environment
• Generate complete and accurate documentation of all monitoring activities; distribute all reports in a timely manner
• Perform scale and thermometer verifications; calibrations of other equipment may also be required
• Communicate with all cross‑functional departments to notify them of issues, take appropriate actions and resolve problems; may assist in non‑conforming product investigations and CAPA’s
• Perform verification activities for FS&Q documentation
• Maintain organization and inventory of on‑site product samples/retains.
• Enter data in spreadsheets as required
• Support Food Safety and Quality initiatives and data collection
• Other assigned projects and other tasks/duties when appropriate
• Crosstrain and support onsite laboratory as needed
• Assist with preparations for SQF audit
• Back‑up for other QA personnel
• Assist with fostering Food Safety/Quality Culture within Instinct manufacturing
• E‑Systems:
  Microsoft Office Tools (Excel, Outlook), ERP (QAD), Electronic monitoring system (Redzone)
• Must be able to occasionally lift up to 50 pounds
• Must be willing to work in refrigerated temperatures (40F to 50F)
• Other duties as assigned

• High Values: integrity (do the right thing), encourager, courteous, respectful and trustworthy
• Team player: work effectively across levels and departments, cover responsibilities of others, and work holidays/weekends as needed
• A self‑starter with the desire to follow work instructions and work with urgency
• Organized with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple things at once
• Effective verbal and written communicator
• Ability to remain calm in stressful and conflict situations

• Employee safety knowledge (Knowing what you can do to keep yourself and others free from work injuries)
• Food…