Quality Control Officer

Quality Control (QC) Officer Job Description

Job Overview

The Quality Control (QC) Officer is responsible for ensuring product quality and food safety throughout agro-processing operations. The role covers incoming raw materials, in-process production, hygiene monitoring, finished product inspection, laboratory testing, traceability, and dispatch checks. The Officer works closely with production teams to ensure compliance with approved specifications, BRCGS standards, and HACCP requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Incoming Quality Control: Inspect raw materials, processing aids, additives, chemicals, equipment, and packaging materials against approved specifications. Verify supplier documentation, traceability details, and compliance certificates, and report nonconforming materials to the Quality Assurance Manager.
• In-Process Quality Control: Conduct inspections at critical production stages, including ripening, washing, peeling, slicing, spreading, sulphiting, drying, cooling, sorting, sizing, packing, and storage. Monitor Brix, moisture, water activity, texture, defects, and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) levels.
• Food Safety and Hygiene: Monitor critical control points (CCPs), operational prerequisite programmes (oPRPs), and food safety controls. Verify personal hygiene, PPE use, handwashing, cleaning, disinfection, and the condition of production areas and equipment.
• Finished Product Inspection: Inspect finished goods against customer and internal specifications before release. Check packaging integrity, seals, pack weights, labels, and product presentation.
• Dispatch Quality Control: Inspect export containers before loading and verify dispatch check sheets, certificates of analysis (COAs), loading sheets, and packing lists.
• Sampling and Laboratory Testing: Collect representative samples of raw materials, work in progress, and finished products according to the sampling plan. Conduct in-house laboratory tests, document results accurately, and ensure laboratory equipment is maintained and calibrated or verified as scheduled.
• Laboratory Supplies Management: Monitor laboratory consumables and maintain accurate inventory records to ensure supplies are replenished on time.
• Traceability and Record Keeping: Ensure raw materials, work in progress, packaging, and finished products are correctly identified and traceable throughout production. Maintain accurate inspection sheets, laboratory reports, product release checklists, and non-conformance reports.
• Certification and Audit Support: Support implementation of BRCGS standards, HACCP plans, and operating procedures. Maintain audit readiness, conduct assigned internal audits, assist with closing audit findings, and verify corrective actions.
• Non-Conformance and Corrective Actions: Identify and document product defects, hygiene failures, and process deviations. Support root-cause analysis and corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and assist with customer complaint investigations using relevant quality records.
• Production Team Support: Maintain a regular presence on the factory floor, communicate quality requirements to production workers, and provide guidance on food safety specifications and approved procedures.
• Continuous Improvement: Participate in initiatives to reduce defects, product rejections, rework, losses, and contamination risks. Support the Quality Assurance Manager in preparing daily, weekly, and monthly quality performance reports.

Key Skills and Competencies

• Knowledge of food safety, quality control, BRCGS standards, and HACCP principles.
• Understanding of agro-processing operations and fruit quality parameters.
• Skills in sampling, laboratory testing, inspection, and quality documentation.
• Knowledge of traceability systems, non-conformance reporting, and corrective actions.
• Attention to detail and ability to identify quality deviations.
• Good analytical, problem-solving, communication, and reporting skills.
• Ability to work closely with production teams and maintain food safety standards in a busy processing environment.

Authority and Accountability

The QC Officer is responsible for conducting inspections, monitoring food safety controls, maintaining quality records, and promptly reporting nonconformances to the Quality Assurance Manager. Nonconforming materials and products must be identified and segregated according to approved procedures, with release or disposition decisions handled by authorized personnel.

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