8 replies to this topic

[Winging-It]

Hello! Everybody can call me Winging-It or Wing. I'm a "product management specialist" which translates to "the person who does all the food safety paperwork, labels, ads, and miscellaneous things." I started in my position a year and a half ago with no experience or education regarding food safety (I studied politics in college). I work at a small family-owned meat market/processing facility that has been around since the 70's. They needed somebody to audit all of their formulas and labels and I needed a job. I worked at a brewery doing something (I thought) was similar before this and so I took on the job.

 

I ended up in way over my head! My predecessor was winging it also, and left two days into training me! I deal with FSIS, our formula/label compliance (we have over 500 different formulas), and I'm overhauling our HACCP plans and helping transition from paper records to electronic stuff. A friend of mine who does similar work suggested I join this website to find resources and support while I figure all of this out. In the meantime I'm teaching myself a lot about meat (I'm an on and off vegetarian lol), state regulations, and technology. This isn't the most tech savvy company I've worked for... but it's been a wild adventure and my bosses are good people so I'm not here to complain, just to learn. :) 

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know people and find new information to help me improve my job performance! I'm sure you'll see me around. 

[Charles.C]

Hi Wing,

 

Welcome to the Forum !

 

I admire yr willingness to adapt !

 

You're lucky in one respect as far as Meat FS is concerned - there is a wealth of free US-on-line materials available.

[Winging-It]

Hi Wing,

 

Welcome to the Forum !

 

I admire yr willingness to adapt !

 

You're lucky in one respect as far as Meat FS is concerned - there is a wealth of free US-on-line materials available.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! I've had good help from our FSIS agent and a couple other folks we work with in finding some resources and jumping-off points. My employers sent me to a couple classes also. Sometimes it's just a bit of a process to take it in and digest it all, so to speak. I'm slowly building an arsenal of information and I look back at when I started and can barely believe I've learned as much as I have so far! It's been really interesting to explore something so far outside of my wheelhouse and I'm eager to see what other informative gems are hiding on this website. Thanks again for the warm welcome. 

[SausageGuy]

 A friend of mine who does similar work suggested I join this website to find resources and support while I figure all of this out.

 

Sounds like a smart guy 

 

Glad you joined! Welcome! Let us know if we can help at all. There is tons of information on this forum and tons of people with a lot of experience willing to help and give information.

[QAGB]

Wow - that is quite a jump into meat. Meat isn't really the easiest part of the food industry - so good luck to you!! It sounds like you are very much on the right track, and you'll be fine. I've always found good help on here, so feel free to ask questions and we'll do the best we can to help.

[kfromNE]

Welcome. You'll find out that many of us have different backgrounds and end up finding the food industry. You're off to a good start. The willingness to learn is the biggest part.

[SQFconsultant]

Hello from Norfolk Wing! Welcome.

[zanorias]

Welcome to the forum

[ebb30]

Welcome! I joined this forum for a lot of the same reasons you did! My educational background was food safety related but it still didn't quite prepare me for the QA side of things in a food manufacturing facility. I had a lot to learn and no one to really teach me on the job so, besides attending some classes, I found this forum and it has been very helpful! Hope you have a great experience here as well! I now work as a food safety consultant but I still come back here to see if there are questions I can answer, or learn from other people's answers to questions I might not be familiar with.