8 replies to this topic

[rosynella]

Hi all,

 

Does the Food Safety Team Leader have to be the Quality Manager?

Is it a conflict of interest if the Team Leader is the Production Manager, if this person has the qualifications, that is.

 

Thank you

[Madam A. D-tor]

Dear Rosynella,

 

I am wondering why your QA manager does not have the qualifications.

IS he/she fit for his/her job is he/she does not understand the principles of HACCP?

 

But, in my opinion, not one standard is saying that the food safety team leader should be the quality manager.

Food safety team leader should:

- have demonstrable knowledge about the HACCP principles;

- the food safety team should have demonstrable knowledge about the products and processes;

- and preferable the food safety team leader should have direct access to management (e.g. is the management representative). This can be however arranged on another way.

 

For the conflict between production and food safety/quality: because the food safety team leader is probably not involved in the day to day quality management, this might work for your company.

[Quality Ben]

I would say that this would really depend on the person but as a general rule of thumb...yes, it is a conflict of interests and either the food safety or the yield / throughput will suffer. It would take a pretty special person to pull this off and make the correct decision every time. 

[Madam A. D-tor]

On the other hand:

if the production manager has the qualification for food safety team leader he/she might have had a quality function in the past and he/she  might be such a production manager with a very high quality/food safety awareness.

[MyFoodSafetyTeam]

Hello Rosynella, 

 

You ask a very good question regarding a conflict in your food safety team/committee. Previous members brought up good points regarding the lack of certification and demonstrable knowledge of your QA/QC Manager. However, if this is an interim scenario, where the QA/QC Manager position is currently vacant and the only employee with enough knowledge and certification (e.g.Advanced  HACCP Certification in order demonstrate to a third party auditor that they have been properly trained, understand how to conduct CCP sign offs, pre-shipment reviews, USDA/FDA experience, and etc)...then as an auditor and QA Manager myself, I don't think that this is a conflict of interest. 

 

However, if there is a person in QA/QC capacity already present onsite (e.g. Trained QA/QC Manager, Supervisor, Food Safety Coordinator) and they have been muscled out by a member of production in order to steamroll HACCP/CCP decisions that would benefit production/Ops...then not only do you have a conflict of interest, you now potentially have an ethics violation. If so, at this point I would suggest you bring this up to your HR Department. 

 

Best Wishes, 

Edited by Simon, 15 March 2015 - 08:41 PM.
Removed web link

[MWidra]

I'm the food safety leader, and I'm not the QA manager.  My position is the Regulatory Coordinator, and I take care of the food safety and the occupational safety. 

 

What is more important is that the person who fills any position is qualified for it.

 

Martha

[trubertq]

hmmmm I could see a potential for conflict of interest because of all the reasons stated heretofore, however is the production manager is the only person with Advanced HACCP certification then I'm not sure you have an option until you get someone else trained up.

[Tony-C]

Hi all,

 

Does the Food Safety Team Leader have to be the Quality Manager?

Is it a conflict of interest if the Team Leader is the Production Manager, if this person has the qualifications, that is.

 

Thank you

 

Hi Rosynella,

 

In a way it is a conflict of interest but a responsible and knowledgeable (qualified) person can fullfil both the role of Food Safety Team Leader and Production Manager. In smaller organizations it is not unusual for Managers to have multiple roles.

 

Regards,

 

Tony

[rosynella]

Thank you all for your informed responses.

I have held both Quality, Production and Operations positions over the last twenty years in manufacturing and have been responsible for implementing and maintaining either ISO, HACCP and now FSSC at different companies; I am also a certified ISO Lead Auditor. The Technical Manager here, who is responsible for the Quality Department has no formal training in the Standards and is quite willing not to shoulder the responsibility.

I am presently responsible for the preparation and implementation of all procedures, etc for the standard in preparation for a pre-audit in May and just want to make sure that we have the right team leader. We are presently without a documented leader.

I have operated in this capacity previously and have been able to make quality the priority at all times.

Rosynella