32 replies to this topic

[ChristinaK]

Agreed, and one of the big issues is the NSF certs that were supposed to be the end all be all, aren't.  The idea was I could show that cert and be done.   Now everyone wants to see every bit of my paperwork.

Imagine getting pulled over and the cop asks for your license.   You hand it over.   Then the cop says "what did you score on your driving test?   How many mpg do you average so I can see if you're speeding?   How much air is in your tires?"   Etc etc etc.

Because that's basically what's happening right now.

At some point, I can see just stopping NSF certifications.   Companies are going to throw their hands up and say:   I may as well be doing AIB again, this is pointless.   And honestly AIB did a better and more complete job of actual operations inspections.   All NSF does is look at paperwork basically.....

 

Yes! If you aren't considered a supplier of a high-risk item (either for food safety, fraud, or perhaps foreign import), I don't see why the customer can't be satisfied with the GFSI certificate and the CAR summary.

 

I think part of the immense paperwork requests from customers stems from the fact they don't want to spend the $$ on travel and such to do an in-person inspection of the supplier facility. With software like TG, SF306, RT, etc., and even advancement in AI, it becomes cheaper to "automate" supplier and food safety audits which...is likely how we're going to end with with another PCA incident.

 

Honestly, I'd rather visit a supplier in-person than sit at my desk and comb through all their paperwork, because you can get a better picture when you inspect the equipment and people responsible for producing a safe product. I told my current employer that once I get my passport, senior management better budget a few overseas trips for me to thoroughly inspect our foreign suppliers myself. >:D

[Totes716]

It'll take a few incidents.  After that point, companies will go on a bender of trying to keep food safe again.  

[GMO]

I am not down with getting upset with Millennials or Gen Z for that matter. I’m Gen X and what good did working every damn hour do me? Zero that’s what. It led me to being an under appreciated, under resourced leader who has had enough. The company only seem to want me to have someone to blame when things go wrong.

[Dorothy87]

hello.. Millennial here.. in fact born in 87`, 17 years of experience in food industry, from production operative to the site technical manager. Constant battle with retailers coz of different food standards and technical visits, audits, requirements and strange requests and (I am sorry I must say this) STUPID questions. Ongoing battle with suppliers, who don't care about BRC requirements as they taking ingredients from the cheapest regions (yes this is a root cause). My day is crazy, checking production, writing procedures, updating forms, coaching QA, dealing with sort of strange production operatives as to be honest no one wants to be there packing items 12h a day between 3-4 shifts, below 8C, checking NC`s and waiting for unannounced  BRC and lovely retailers audits (sometimes they "kindly" asking for things which I have done 6-10 months ago).. dealing with lab costing, staff training, chasing engineers as they ****** are unable to fix things correctly. I am quite lucky with production managers (yeah I know !surprise!) and they are a great team, they understand. 

 

Yes I do have a team, and they are absolutely amazing, but the responsibility for final audit grade, KPI`s is on YOU. Forget about holidays, you must prepare things in advance. If you are predictable, they : nooo this will never going to happen.. a then WHY this happened? OMG. 

 

Apart of that, I am a happy person.   

 

 

[Ryan M.]

Industry is very rough and being in Quality / Food Safety / Technical is even more difficult. None of us do this to get our rocks off or to make tons of money. We’re all dedicated to making a difference and that’s what fuels us.

We get frustrated, angry, and sad with the lack of support and the conflict we have to deal with over the smallest things. It is completely reasonable for a sane person to have these feelings given the pressure, frustration, and stress of the job.

I’ve been in food safety almost 25 years and will be switching out of it in the next couple weeks. I’ll be doing quality with ISO for industrial business. It will be different, but a lot of similarities. I got lucky as a former boss went to this company and asked if I wanted a job. He caught me while I was feeling very frustrated in my current position and company. So….I'm going and with hope it will be slightly less stressful. It’s a pretty big company so resources will be there. I was told I don’t have to worry about anything outside of the normal business hours Monday thru Friday, 8am to 5pm. I wondered…what is that like….I don't remember? lol

Another benefit of this change is it opens up my quality experience to a lot of other industries and applications, and not just food. We’ll see where this goes…I’m a bit nervous since I know nothing of the industry, but am a quick learner so we will see.

[Scotty_SQF]

My honest opinion as that it is getting harder for those of us who are actually qualified as there are bunch of 'newbies' out there who think they know and understand food safety/quality, but they don't.  I've worked with a bunch of them that have a set of skills that on paper look nice but in the field doesn't translate to much.  One of the places I worked that they brought in this person that they thought was the next big thing.  My boss at the time said they would be handling some food safety stuff that I haven't been able to handle and this person's main job was going through production records and highlighting where stuff was wrong and such...I'm talking about misspellings and a missing comma or something every so often.  Clearly not understanding that that wasn't full on food safety.  

 

Same company where I investigated a quality complaint for a customer where the lap seal failed to seal.  Result of my investigation is the operators flipped the film to the wrong side when laminating.  The VP (my boss) called me to the office and berated me cause herself and this new 'star quality/food safety employee' got it to seal, but it was a fin seal.  I explained that and was told I was wrong cause ' lap seal just means a fin seal that's on the back'.  I stood my ground and a Operations Manager was called in, he looked at their bag and told them that's a fin seal and not a lap seal, when they finally tried it the way it was supposed to be it wouldn't seal.  VP turned bright red and left her office with us still in there and no one saw her the rest of the day.

 

Point is there are a lot of what I call 'fakers' out there.  That can really make it seem like they know what they are doing and are great resume writers and interviewers.  They are claiming good jobs in big companies and are able to utilize scape goats or hide within a big company with their mistakes going unnoticed. And there taking rightful positions away from truly qualified people. This has what has put a sour taste in my mouth.  Unfortunately it tends to be the younger generation as they 'know everything and you can't teach them cause they already know'.  Not all of that generation I will say, there are some solid ones out there.  I feel as those of us who are in it still are either slowly starting to be done with it and move, etc. that there will be even bigger food safety problems in companies and there will be a big void left out there.

[MDaleDDF]

 None of us do this to get our rocks off or to make tons of money.
 

Me:

[GMO]

I can't go into detail but something my manager did yesterday confirmed my decision to leave.

There are toxic bosses and really toxic bosses. This guy is nice to my face then crappy on emails. At least learn no to leave a paper trail!!!

The slightly funny thing is he's now starting to copy in others. And he's not coming over well put it that way. I'm just letting him hang himself to be honest with his unethical BS.