Food safety officers play an important role in ensuring that food products are safe for consumers. Their essential duties can involve inspecting food processing facilities and procedures to ensure that applicable regulations are being followed. They may also test samples of food products and investigate complaints.
Food safety officers may perform this role as an employee of an independent authority, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They may also work for companies that create and process food products. Food safety officers who work for food production companies emphasize compliance of FDA regulations and any other relevant laws or regulations are followed by their company. They also identify potential problems with their company’s operations and develop ways to improve processing. When employed in this type of environment they may also be responsible for supervising other staff that are involved in maintaining production quality. This position has the responsibility of enforcing companywide adherence to safety guidelines as well as ensuring that the company’s standards are implemented correctly and followed.
Required Skills
Food safety officers must have good organizational skills so that they can prioritize duties and, when required, assign tasks to other staff in their team. They also need to be capable of working independently and meeting deadlines effectively, so they also need independent work and time management skills. Attention to detail is important because they need to ensure that all regulations are met when investigating issues or reviewing operational procedures. They also need communication skills to produce reports or inform staff of their findings and recommendations.