Senior Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance

Mastronardi Produce pioneered the commercial greenhouse industry in North America, and we’re now the leading greenhouse vegetable company on the continent. Our award-winning, flavorful produce is packed under the SUNSET® brand and is available at leading grocery retailers across North America. Family owned for over 65 years, we pride ourselves on having the most flavorful products and the best people in the industry. We are constantly pushing boundaries to be a leader in fresh produce innovation. We seek individuals that demonstrate our PRIDE values (Passion, Respect, Innovation, Drive, Excellence) to help us fulfill our mission to inspire healthy living through WOW flavor experiences.

 

Our corporate office in Livonia, Michigan is currently seeking a Senior Director Food Safety/Quality Assurance-Farms to join our corporate Food Safety team. This position will be having responsibility for overseeing the adherence to regulatory, third party, customer and internal Mastronardi Food Safety requirements by managing the teams and leaders at company owned farms and working with our Joint Venture Partners to ensure they meet the Mastronardi Food Safety Requirement. This position will act as the Food Safety Subject matter expert for the senior operation leaders at the company owned farms and with our Join Ventures and Growing Partners. This position is responsible for compliance to and coordination for regulatory audits that occur at the farms 3rd party audits (SQF or other standards), customer specific audits or requirements and all food safety program requirements. This position acts as the primary PCQI, SQF and Food Safety Subject matter expert for the Farms. This role will ensure compliance to the Food Safety requirements at our Joint Ventures and with our Growing Partners. This role will be responsible for overseeing the Food Safety Vendor Approval process for growing partners and other suppliers. This role will assist the VP of Food Safety in overseeing the FSVP approval program and process.

 

Values:

To perform the job successfully, the incumbent’s behavior must be consistent with the PRIDE values expected of all Mastronardi Produce employees: be Passionate; have Respect; be Innovative; be Driven and strive for Excellence.

 

Primary Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the food safety programs at all Mastronardi-owned farms and ensure audit compliance. This role will also assist our Joint Ventures in implementation and execution of Mastronardi’s Food Safety Requirements.
• This role will be responsible for overseeing the Food Safety Vendor approval process. This includes for all growing partners and other vendors.This role will assist the VP of Food Safety with the FSVP approval process and to ensure compliance with the FDA FSMA requirements.
• Coordinate and schedule all external food safety audits with CB's across all Mastronardi farms
• Support the Director of programs in updating & maintaining corporate food safety documents
• Develop, implement, maintain, review and continuously improve comprehensive corporate Food Safety System (FSS) at our Farms, Joint Ventures and our growing partners.
• Oversee and direct functions that support regulatory and industry compliance to the FSS and ensure compliance within the supply chain (e.g., FSMA, SFCA)
• Liaison to Mastronardi Produce for industry, customer, government and regulatory agencies during times of FSS investigations, inspections and audits
• Management and oversight of personnel and programs within the Farm and Supplier Food Safety Program.
• Delegate administration of the agricultural chemical approvals program and consultant for company-owned farms
• Liaison to the operations teams to provide guidance and support on food safety issues
• Continuously research, identify and evaluate best practices, and establish new resources, tools and methodologies to maximize effectiveness of the FSS
• Serve as the Corporate Safe Quality Foods (SQF) Practitioner for our farms and oversee all aspects (e.g., development, implementation, management, training, corrective action, communication, verification, validation, auditing, etc.) of the SQF Program which is part of the overall FSS
• Serves as a Corporate Preventive Controls for Human Foods Qualified Individual (PCQI) for our farms.
• Shall serve as back up to all site SQF Practitioners of company owned farms when necessary
• For food-safety related complaints, assist with investigations and develop feedback to customers and consumers, track information and oversee the process for corrective actions and establishment of preventative measures as related to our farms, joint ventures and suppliers.
• Must maintain confidentiality of all proprietary information, as well as other Company data, including personnel informati