Quality Assurance Technician

Puffin Produce Ltd, based in West Wales are the largest supplier of Welsh produce in Wales, supplying a wide variety of potatoes and seasonal vegetables to multiple major retailers and wholesalers. Our organisation holds an excellent reputation as a progressive and developing company and we have recently made significant investment in a state-of-the-art packing facility and are currently investing further in a new Prepared Vegetable operation. Our Blas y Tir brand is a large part of our business in Wales and our new brand - Root Zero, has launched into the UK as the UK’s first Carbon Neutral potato brand.

Puffin Produce Ltd was established over 40 years ago; our growing business delivers high quality produce to UK supermarkets all year round. We work very closely with our dedicated growers right through from crop planning to storage and packing of the product within our state-of-the-art potato factory.

Function:

• To assist with ensuring that the production of fresh produce is to the highest standards of food safety and quality in accordance with BRC, other regulatory bodies and customer standards and internal processes.
• To conduct Quality Assurance checks to ensure strict compliance of company policies and procedures and relevant legislation relating to food quality and safety.

Main Duties:

• To undertake a range of duties as directed to ensure compliance with the Company policies and procedures and relevant legislation, food safety, BRC etc.
• To be part of the internal auditing team and conduct Food Safety and Quality audits.
• Develop Corrective plans for non-conformances in conjunction with technical manager.
• Sampling, assessment, and quality evaluation of vegetables in Production and for the release of finished goods to despatch by checking by adopting a Preventative /solution-oriented Quality Assurance approach.
• Assist with all areas of shelf-life testing.
• To build and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Help investigate and implement any corrective actions following a customer complaint or depot rejection.
• Work with relevant Department Managers to ensure that Puffin’s products maintain quality and food standards.
• Liaising with Production and the Technical Managers on how to rectify non-conforming products.
• Applying robust internal controls to ensure integrity and specification of the product.
• Ensure that product and procedure records are maintained.
• Assist with the training and monitoring of hygiene and cleanliness practises of food handlers.
• To advise and assist on grading standards with the grading team.
• Supports Quality Training for Vegetables.