Technical Assistant

My client, a well established fruit exporter based in Paarl is seeking to employ a Technical Assistant: Berries to join their Quality team.

The successful candidate will have a relevant BSc Degree (Horticulture / Food Science) to focus on compliance with 2 -3 years in a similar role.

Responsibilities:

General

• Develop and manage internal technical and due diligence systems as defined by the IFS Quality Management Systems.
• Creating and maintaining a database for technical standards and applicable legislation.

Customers Due Diligence Requirements:

• Liaise with customers with regards to their food safety, product quality, labelling, MRL, ethical, sustainability requirements.
• Implementation of these customer requirements per fruit team and communication back to supply base.

Legislation and Industry/Market Requirements:

• Liaise with DAFF, PPECB, FruitSA, auditing bodies and key role players in order to keep up to date with quality, food safety, ethical legislation and requirements applicable to the industry.
• MRL requirements
• Minimum export standards
• Special market protocols and registrations
• FBO requirements and registrations
• Dispensations
• SIZA ethical program
• Food Safety standards
• Implementation of these standards and legislation and communication back to supply base.
• Represent the company at industry technical meetings.

Growers and Packhouse support:

• Set supplier approval criteria as per customer and market requirements. Communicate to commercial teams and supply base.
• Assists producers at farm level with interpretation and implementation of customer requirements and Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalGap, Tesco Nurture, Field to Fork).
• Assists packhouses with interpretation and implementation of customer requirements and food safety systems.

Plant Protection Product Usage and other fruit analysis:

• Liaise with analytical laboratories with regards to accreditation status, scope of analyses and test results.
• Address customer concerns in terms of the use of plant protection products.
• Ensure that MRL sampling procedure is followed by monitoring that samples are drawn and results conform to market and customer requirements. Distribute MRL results to supply base and customers.
• Assist with managing of incidences where residue analysis exceeds MRL at farm level or on arrival at customer. Communicate to commercial/technical teams for re-testing, re-routing or possible re-call.
• Assemble spray-records per farm and variety as required.
• Assist with performing of trend analysis for MRL results to determine active ingredients/growers/variety that requires attention in reducing residue levels as requested by customers

Product Quality:

• Receive, interpret, capture and communicate QC feedback on arrival of fruit.

IFS Broker - Quality Management System:

• Management of the company QMS as per IFS Broker standards.
• Implementation and maintenance
• Internal auditing (including traceability)
• External auditing
• HACCP team member with the responsibility for food safety as required by the company's IFS system

Ethical Compliance:

• Address customer concerns in terms of ethical pratices within the company's supply chain.
• Ensure ethical compliance over the entire supply base by communicating market requirements to producers and growers status to customers.
• Follow-up on Sedex and SIZA memberships
• Follow-up on SIZA and GRASP ethical audit compliance

Sustainability Strategy:

• Address customer concerns and requirements in terms of sustainability practices within the company's supply chain.
• Assist in implementation of projects identified by the sustainability strategy (including biodiversity, social, water quality, carbon footprint).

Pre-Season:

• Updating Packing Guide that will be sent to Packhouses.
• Updating the Export System if there are new varieties / pack types etc.

During Season
Intakes:

• Import intake files, received via email and on the Paltrack server
• Ensuring the correctness of the pallets fruit spec, and doing corrections where applicable
• Follow up on receiving all the applicable Consignment notes for record purposes.
• Scan and save inspection documents on Papertrail

Dispatch / Transfers:

• Import transfer files, received via email and on the Paltrack server
• Ensuring the correctness of the pallets fruit spec, and doing corrections where applicable

Stock:

• Delete old stock files
• Import latest stock files
• Run a stock comparison on all pallets on stock, checking for any discrepancies
• Follow up with packhouses and depots on any discrepancy in fruit spec found
• Deviations
• After receiving deviation reports from depots follow up with relevant packhouse / producer and do corrections on stock where applicable.

Loading Instructions:

• Generate the container booking form, confirm booking on vessel planner, print, save and e-mail all
• Loading Instructions to relevant packhouses
• Create a flimsy per customer with relevant documents for each Loading Instruction

Mates:

• Continue to follow-up with depots / packhouses on receiving mates (confirmation on containers loaded)
• Import PO files, received via email and on the Paltrack server
• Compare mates received with loading instructions and confirm the container on Export System
• Generate and print out any relevant documents and add to Flimsy

Loading Notifications:

• After all the mates for a vessel were received, print out a loading notification for all containers
• As soon as confirmation is received from logistics on the actual departure date of the vessel, e-mail the loading notification (packing list) to all receivers

Invoices:

• Collect account sales and capture it on the Export System
• Receive prices / orders form customers or Blueberry Head and generate invoices
• E-mail invoices to customers once all the invoices are finalised
• Receipt confirm containers when specific weeks’ invoices have been issued
• Scan documents for archiving when pooling is finished

Other:

• R & M allocations: allocate stock to different receivers.
• Assist with similar activities for all business units
• Assist with generating invoices for Local Marketing
• Member of the IFS HACCP team