Sensory Analyst

Lactalis South Africa; Gqeberha; On-site; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading dairy company in Gqeberha is seeking an individual to join their Quality department, conducting daily sensory evaluations and ensuring product quality standards. The role demands strong food quality knowledge, a track record in quality assurance, and computer skills, particularly in Excel. The candidate must be willing to work shifts and respond to consumer complaints.

Qualifications

• At least 2 years experience in a quality role.
• Fluency in English required.
• Willing to work shifts and long hours.

Responsibilities

• Conduct daily sensory evaluations of products.
• Compile concession requests and arrange re-tests.
• Track and improve sampling rates for incubation.

Skills

Food quality knowledge

Attention to detail

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

Computer literacy (MS Office, Excel)

Education

ND in Food Technology/Science or Natural Science or Biotechnology

Quality qualification

Job description

Role Purpose

Join Lactalis SA at our PE Plant in the Quality department with the main responsibilities to conduct daily sensory evaluations of all our various Products. Compile concession requests and arrange for re-test. Give feedback on consumer complaints. Give daily results as requested by Quality Control Manager for head office. Successful candidates need to have at least 2 year’s experiences in FMCG environment and must be able to demonstrate sound knowledge of food quality. Be fluent in English and be computer literate (advance excel skills and MS Office).

Requirements

• ND in either Food Technology/Science or Natural Science or Biotechnology
• Quality qualification
• At least 2 years\' experience in quality
• Computer literate.
• Attention to detail.
• Willing to learn.
• Willing to work shifts, long hours, weekends, public holidays and overtime.
• Willing to perform Ad hoc tasks.

Strong interpersonal and communication skill.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Perform shelf-life sensory evaluations for all current products and products under development stage at required intervals as determined by the shelf-life evaluation matrix of all products.
• Perform stress test evaluations at required intervals as determined by the shelf-life evaluation matrix of all products (with main focus on Pride brand).
• Coordinate and conduct weekly Pillar product evaluations with the Trained Panel
• Track attendance of Trained Panel weekly and motivate attendance to meet the Group’s requirement.
• Where products do not conform to specification, check for chemistry conformance, arrange for re-tests and compile concession requests and Timelines to start investigation into the non-conformance.
• Initiate SGA’s (RCA session) for re-occurring out of spec results to determine the root cause of the non-conformance.
• Lead compliance to Group Sensory audit and requirements by conducting internal sensory audit
• Communicate with Central Quality weekly on Plant’s sensory and provide update
• Construct and maintain all sensory-related files
• Track and improve %Sampling rate for Incubation by tracking daily number of samples received per line vs volume of product produced to ensure compliance to Group’s standards
• Follow up with production daily on shortages of samples for incubation, retention and shelflife monitoring samples.
• Data trending of evaluation and Incubation results on a daily basis.
• Ensure Good Hygienic Practices for Incubator and Retention stores, also drive Plant hygiene by supporting the Hygienist onsite.
• Lead Incubator and coordinate activities for testing, retesting and people coverage within the Incubator.
• Feedback on consumer complaints related to taste and texture to determine relationship between grading results, concessions and consumer complaints.
• Assist with cost-saving & GMP-savings where necessary (eg driving Rework of incubated milk, etc).

Work according to and promote Food safety, Continuous Improvement and NOSA (Safety) standards