Trophy Foods is Canada's leading supplier of high-quality edible nuts, dried fruit and confectionery products. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality products, at the best value, through our direct channel of global grower relationships. Trophy Foods Inc. is Canadian owned and operated with over 50 years of experience in serving our customers. We produce edible nuts, dried fruits, confectionery and bulk foods under our Trophy brand. We also work with grocery retailers, mass merchandisers, drug channel, and food service customers across the country to create and produce a wide variety of private label branded products. Overview: The QA Commodity & Product Specialist is responsible for ensuring raw materials and finished goods meet internal and customer standards through monitoring and verification procedures. The role specializes in technical issues impacting product quality. Additional responsibilities include managing the Hold and Release program and assisting the management of the Food Safety Management System. Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Manage Supplier management program. Update and maintain the Approved Supplier list for all facilities. Maintain a list of active commodities, ingredients, and packaging materials. Ensure all required supplier documents are kept current and requested as needed. Oversee raw material inspections of all incoming commodities and ingredients. Create specs for raw materials and update the inspection sheets as required. Responsible for commodity substitutions, replacement, and reclassification of incoming materials. Management of the Hold and Release program for raw materials/WIPs/finished goods with proper entry of information in JD Edwards. Issue SIRs and follow-up for non-conforming commodities, ingredients, and packaging materials. Perform Annual Supplier reviews and suggest follow-ups as required. Perform vulnerability risk assessments for commodities and ingredients. Ensure proper implementation of various processes as they relate to formulation and processing procedures. Assist the QA Compliance Manager in organizing and revising Raw Material and Product Specifications as required. Provide employee training related to commodity inspections, grading, and GMPs as required. Perform scheduled competency checks to ensure employees are following inspection procedures. Assist QA functions as they relate to organizing and managing the Food Safety, HACCP. Enforce GMPs when necessary, in the plant. Continuous improvement of existing processes and products as required. Other duties as assigned by the QA Director. Experience, Qualifications, and Educational Requirements: Detailed knowledge of commodity quality and grading systems as they relate to nuts, dried fruit, seeds, and other related materials. Minimum 2–3 years of experience in a food manufacturing or quality assurance environment. Detailed knowledge of ERP systems for food manufacturing (ideally JD Edwards). A sound background in sciences education. Knowledge in the Food Science/Food Safety field would be ideal. GMP & HACCP training required. Internal Auditor Certificate is beneficial. Experience in at least one GFSI Benchmarked food safety standard (BRC preferred) and implementing and managing food safety systems in a food manufacturing environment as an asset. Ability to develop and write policies, procedures, programs, report forms, charts, and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the organization. Must be competent in using standard computer software packages including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, flow chart programming, and label programming. Trophy is an equal opportunity employer that values workforce diversity. Diversity is core to our business: by embedding diversity into all aspects of our culture, we maximize the opportunity to achieve sustainable business success a nd growth. Trophy Foods Inc. provides equal opportunities in employment, promotions, wages, benefits and all other privileges, terms, and conditions of employment to all qualified persons without regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected by the applicable Federal and Provincial laws. Trophy Foods has an accommodation process in place and provides accommodations for employees with disabilities. If you require a specific accommodation because of a disability or a medical need, please advise us during the recruitment process so that arrangements can be made for the appropriate accommodations to be in place before you begin your employment.
