Director of Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Environmental Health & Human Safety - Kayem Foods

SUMMARY:  

Kayem is a family-owned and operated craft meat business that has been making New England’s favorite franks, sausages and prepared meats in Chelsea, MA since 1909.  This key person will provide strategic direction and leadership for Kayem Foods’ Food Safety Quality Systems and Health and human safety programs to promote, maintain and enhance our best-in-class processes, ensuring compliance with all relevant local, state and federal food regulations.  This position requires an experienced leader who is a subject matter expert and requires limited direction and will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer.  

Kayem’s Director of Food Safety and Quality assurance will provide direct leadership to all team members related to quality and food safety in all Kayem food processing facilities, have oversight to establish all HACCP, BRC,SSOP’s, scientific testing, pre-requisite programs, testing and development as related to daily operations to ensure product safety, quality, and regulatory compliance. Participates at all levels of R&D to collaborate on product development and process improvement.  Analyzes customer contact trends, production data and developing strategies and programs for improved product safety, quality and productivity.  Maintains the overall integrity of product formulation, identification and packaging. Knowledge of USDA, OSHA federal regulation is a requirement.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develops, implements, and monitors safety, food safety, environmental health, and quality programs that ensure corporate and regulatory standards are met in our plants and various contract manufacturers’ locations.  Program examples include:  OSHA, HACCP, GMP, BRC, Pest Control, SSOP, hold and release and production disposition.
• Responsible for all product safety, legality, regulatory compliance and quality systems company wide.
• Oversee all operations of QA, Microbiology, and Chemistry in both facilities.
• Actively participates and serves as the senior authority on quality, food safety, product safety, human safety, and regulatory compliance with responsibility for advising senior leaders on all issues affecting the same.  
• Serves as the point person for human and food safety incidents and leads investigations.  Determines the root cause and identifies solutions and leads corrective action including incident or pre-incident management (i.e. process change, market withdrawal, product recalls) of all levels while reporting to senior leadership.  Makes recommendations for corrective action, product recalls, withdrawal and communication plans to stakeholders.
• Provides in put to research and development teams and plant staff in connection with the HACCP design and requirement prerequisite programs for development of new products or changes to existing product portfolios and processes.
• Directly handles and leads regulatory, internal and external audits such as GFSI (BRC), Organic processors and PL customer specific Food Safety and Quality framework.
• Develops Safety, Food Safety plans and training programs to ensure compliance with the requirements of customers such as Food Safety Modernization Act (Walmart). Supervises regulatory, food safety and quality leaders and where necessary interprets food safety policies, procedures, and USDA-FSIS regulations for such leaders.
• Provides guidance and oversight for supplier and customer activities relating to quality, food safety, and product safety matters.  Sets standards for supplier qualification and assists R&D wit the selection of contract manufacturers.  Investigates all related supplier and customer complaints.
• Develops benchmarking and metrics for company related to food safety and quality assurance performance through leveraging external industry standards (i.e. Customer Complaints and Foreign Material Reduction programs).
• Serves as internal subject matter expert with an established external expert network on behalf of the organization for food safety and quality compliance matters.
• Ensures that new manufacturing equipment design and installations meet sanitary standards.
• Leads product testing protocols, environmental testing program(s) and listeria risk mitigation.
• Ensures Product Tracking/Traceability program is managed and measured along the supply chain, from raw material/ingredients suppliers through final processing to final point of sale.

Compliance & Regulatory Affairs

• Provide leadership in all Food Safety and Quality Assurance areas including Plan program coordination/decision making, common customer communication and management updates.
• Serves as a key resource for operational quality and food safety professionals overseeing pre-operational and operational inspections from state and local office and USDA regulatory agencies.
• In connection with proposed acquisitions, oversee the due diligence review of the target’s regulatory, quality and foods safety practices and programs.
• Develop and maintain HACCP plan and train personnel on quality programs.
• Oversees mater sanitation schedule to ensure all processes and procedures meet USDA requirements.

Budget, Analysis & Organizational Planning

•  Define and approve budgets for expenses or capital investments for own department and influences others for budgets connected to food safety program maintenance and improvement.
• Develops organizational strategies and apply total quality management tools and approaches to analytical reporting processes including KPIs and actions to delivery safe quality products and drive continuous improvement year over year.

People Development & Cross Functional Partnership

• Has direct responsibility and oversight for hiring, training, managing, developing, and leading the following functions:  Human safety, Food Safety, and Quality Assurance.
• Responsible for talent development, including performance reviews, training, coaching as well as succession planning.
• Provide FSQA updates to Operations Management, Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and other departments on FSQA key initiatives, challenges, failures, and improvements.
• Collaborate with key functional groups (R&D, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, and Procurement) to drive company-wide and cross-functional initiatives.
• Align with Sales, Operations, & Product Development teams to ensure the commercial process is efficient and effective for new products.
• Provide technical support to Operations to continually improve product safety and line efficiencies
• Promote Continuous Improvement on FSQA process to achieve stronger alignment between departments and company-wide overall process.

Minimum Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree required with minimum of 10 years of experience working in a USDA/OSHA regulated meat and/or poultry manufacturing facility in a Food safety/Quality assurance leadership role.
• Familiarity with FSIS Appendix A&B
• Must be a flexible self- starter, capable of working across multiple facets of the business and be solutions oriented, both short term and log term without compromising safety. 
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high intensity environment while interaction with staff at all levels.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle multiple projects and activities to ensure timely completion
• Must have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to remain positive, proactive and resourceful.
• Flexibility to travel (driving) to other Kayem manufacturing plant.

It all started in 1909 when Kazimierz Monkiewicz began making his handmade sausages in Chelsea, MA. Now over 100 years later, Kayem Foods is a 4th generation family owned and operated company still headquartered in Chelsea, MA. Kayem is the largest processed meat company in New England specializing in natural casing and skinless franks, fully cooked and fresh sausage, dinner hams and deli meats. The company markets 13 national, regional, and local brands including al fresco all natural, the #1 brand of chicken sausage in the U.S. and Kayem, the #1 brand of Franks in New England.

Today, Kayem operates plants with cutting edge technology and stringent USDA, ISO 9000 & BRC quality standards but we still retain our "Old World" philosophy and vision. For over a century, Kayem has been owned by the same family, employing many other families for multi-generations, still in its hometown of Chelsea and still manufacturing & delivering freshly made convenient, wholesome, and delicious foods to its most valued customers.  Some things are too good to change.

Physical Demands:  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Requires prolonged walking, sitting, bending, stooping and telephone/radio communications.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to walk and use hands. The employee is occasionally required to stand; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

Work Environment:  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to refrigerated and wet conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate to loud.