Food Safety Auditor Wanna-be
I'm interested in becoming a food safety auditor and have voiced this to my Q.A. manager as a career path topic. So far a year and a half in and I've received no feedback from him or the company. I'm wondering if there is a different route I could pursue on my own without the help of my current food manufacturing employer. I've been in food manufacturing for about 20 years mostly as an hourly employee running machines. However, the last 7 years or so I've had the privilege to see the business side of things. I've worked as
- an engineering tech (heavily involved with capital projects and as a facilities supervisor adhering to all food safety programs),
- an assistant startup manager/production supervisor for a startup company (I worked shoulder to shoulder with a food safety consultant and he mentored me for a while),
- and a sanitation supervisor for a different start up company where I was responsible for building the sanitation program from the ground up with very limited assistance or software and all with zero sanitation non-conformances from a surprise FDA audit and two NSF audits.
- All of these roles are/were for food manufacturers some of which were/are global leaders in food manufacturing. I've been through the mill to speak and still want to pursue this path. If anyone has some guidance I would truly appreciate your input.
Does your current employer already have someone doing this type of role? If so, it may be the case that they're just not interested in the costs of training you up to do something they've already got, and if not, it could simply be that they don't feel it's something that they need. Either way, it's a rather poor effort from them to not at least communicate clearly with you on this.
It does sound like they have little appetite to help here though, so maybe it's time for a change of employer?
You can probably self-fund some of the more specific training you're likely to need (e.g. HACCP) and do this in your own time, but getting the experience expected of an auditor is going to be the more challenging element to do for yourself - there is a slim chance you might be able to shadow some auditors, but this is complex due to the confidentiality obligations associated with the role.
Perhaps a career move more towards the QA side of things is something to look at?
You're background is diverse, in a good way. But you're lacking formal food safety education and work experience.
Managing a program is not the same as doing, and until you've got a really good idea of risk management and the various codes and how they apply to different sectors, you may feel like a fish out of water
No private company is going to pay they're employees for training to have them leave (which is what you're asking your employer to do)
Do some research with certifying bodies, they all have requirements to even become a trainee (and most take a significant pay cut in the beginning)
Good background but limited for being an Auditor.
I would suggest you consider asking to be placed on the Internal Auditor Schedule - ask the company for training and in addition find yourself an outside auditing company that may allow you to shadow their Auditors for a time.
And frankly if that is what you want to do and your company is not interested in helping you on this path, find an auditing company that may consider bringing you in on an apprentice basis, part time until they can launch you as an Auditor.
Prior to becoming an SQF Consultant 14 years ago I was an SQF Auditor and 3rd, 2nd party Auditor for about 6 years.