10 replies to this topic

[anonymous13]

My company is going to start have me and the other practitioner report to a newly hired production manager that we have to train. Is this something that is acceptable?

[GMO]

I assume you mean SQF practitioner? 
 

I'll answer the question in a more general context of food safety reporting into production. Hmm. It can work but I'd say, not often and it will depend on your organisational cultural maturity.

 

A) Imagine a company where the Production manager is an ex Technical manager, is very holistic about how they lead, effectively is operating at a general manager level and is very balanced in decision making. They are also likely to be operating in an organisation where they are truly accountable for food safety and health and safety therefore they walk the talk on it. Then that can work. How many of those leaders have I met? Very very few.

 

B) Now what is typical is a Production manager is a n advocate of volume and OEE but often has to be reminded about food safety, quality and health and safety. It might not be deliberate but the metrics s/he are measured on are all "how much did we make" or "how much labour" etc. So that's what they value. That kind of leader will be a conflict of interest, will overrule you or try to force you to change your mind for them and it will crush your spirit but it's not just about what they know but also the wider organisational culture they are living in. 

 

I suspect you will be in column B considering the tone of your post. 

Edited by GMO, 26 March 2026 - 11:30 AM.

[TimG]

It's acceptable. It sucks for all the reasons GMO pointed out and it's never worked out when I've been in charge of quality and reported to someone in charge of production, but there are no rules against it.

[LostInTheWoods]

I assume you mean SQF practitioner? 
 

B) Now what is typical is a Production manager is a n advocate of volume and OEE but often has to be reminded about food safety, quality and health and safety. It might not be deliberate but the metrics s/he are measured on are all "how much did we make" or "how much labour" etc. So that's what they value. That kind of leader will be a conflict of interest, will overrule you or try to force you to change your mind for them and it will crush your spirit but it's not just about what they know but also the wider organisational culture they are living in. 

 

I suspect you will be in column B considering the tone of your post. 

 

I have found that standards aren't typically fond of prescribing any particular organization structure, as long as other requirements are met. If an auditor found (hopefully with evidence, not vibes) that culture was not supportive, they could write a finding under 2.1.1.1 Management Responsibility. (I've got Rev 10 open, so don't come at me if it's changing!)

 

So, you may not like it, your auditor may not like it, but as long as the structure "Establish(es) and maintain(s) a positive food safety culture within the site," it should be in compliance.

 

Side note, a former practitioner that worked here "inquired" as to the appropriate organizational level for the PCQI to the FDA before they quit (implying that because their title wasn't high enough, we were violating FDA requirements). The FDA told them that the FDA doesn't prescribe a certain level or reporting structure.

Edited by LostInTheWoods, 26 March 2026 - 12:03 PM.

[MDaleDDF]

I get why someone on the business side/owner thinks that's a good idea, but to me it's not.   I answer to ownership, but we're a small place so in a larger place that's not so simple.    But they're kind of setting themselves up in a way if the production manager values production over safety.    If you have a good production manager that understands the absolute importance of food safety, it should be alright.   But if you have a peanut corp style guy that's like "Screw it, ship it", you can obviously get into trouble really quick.

[kfromNE]

We have both. At the plant level - my boss is the Director of Production. However, I'm lucky - he is in the Type A category in what GMO described. It is spoken of often and he does manage this way  - Employee safety is #1 followed by Food Safety. 

 

At the corporate level, food safety is separated from production/sales. 

[TimG]

You know what I've found also really screws the pooch. Cleaning and Sanitation being the responsibility of production workers. I've never seen cleaning/sani be good (let alone compliant) when production does it. 

[GMO]

You know what I've found also really screws the pooch. Cleaning and Sanitation being the responsibility of production workers. I've never seen cleaning/sani be good (let alone compliant) when production does it. 

 

Actually I have but it needs to be valued by their managers / leaders or it's inevitable that it won't be.

[SQFconsultant]

QA reporting to Production is a Red Flag to me.

 

Everytime I went to a company as an Auditor as well as a Consultant and we'd sit down for the initial round-about discussion and I got a VIBE (aka off-center feeling) from someone or situation I'd note it on the screen open in front of me. As we move along those vibes would either lessen or get bigger and especially when evidence was presented such as a Production Manager (that had Quality reporting to him) releasing a QA hold because they had to make the customer happy and get the shit (his words) out the door.

 

In those many audits and consulting sessions I saw only a handful of places where the mix of QA reporting to Production actually worked well.

 

While an Auditor may not be able to gig for the reporting structure - there is normally ample fallout from these relationships to cause other issues the the Auditor certainly will note.

 

My feeling is, why set the company up (unless of course is a mom and pop) for future failure by not having QA report to the Owner or Director of Ops, etc?

[Tony-C]

My company is going to start have me and the other practitioner report to a newly hired production manager that we have to train. Is this something that is acceptable?

 

Hi anonymous13,

 

 

Welcome to the IFSQN forums.

 

I'm of the view that the SQF Practitioner reporting to a Production Manager is not an ideal structure and it does ring some alarm bells. It just feels a bit off and that quality/technical is lower down an organizations priorities.

 

Having said that given the right Production Manager, of the right quality and experience with clear food safety, legislative and quality objectives, it can work. After all, the expectation now is for all senior managers to lead a Food Safety Culture.

 

 

Re. TimG Cleaning and sanitation can work both ways, I prefer production being responsible for cleaning and QA monitoring cleaning performance.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[Hoosiersmoker]

We hired a Director of Manufacturing that was installed as my new Manager. It works fine for us because one of the requirements was a food safety background from the same type of manufacturing. He was previously a FSM and is an FSSC-2200 practitioner (or equivalent). If management doesn't take into consideration how that will work when they hire that position, as an auditor I would question the FS Culture as it would be in direct conflict with a strong FS culture. The FSM needs to have the authority to hold, recall, discard, or rework suspect items without interference or resistence. I would create a release document for that person to sign every time he usurps your authority or I'd be going over his head daily.