Quality Control Manager

Role & responsibilities

To lead and manage quality control activities across the entire food manufacturing process, ensuring raw materials, in-process products, finished goods, packaging materials, and manufacturing practices comply with company quality standards, food safety requirements, FSSAI regulations, and customer specifications.

The role is responsible for preventing quality failures, ensuring product consistency, reducing rejections and wastage, maintaining food safety, and supporting continuous improvement across manufacturing operations.

A. Raw Material Quality Control

• Establish quality specifications for incoming raw materials, ingredients, additives, and packaging materials.
• Inspect and approve incoming fruits, vegetables, spices, edible oils, salt, preservatives, and other ingredients.
• Conduct sampling, testing, and verification of materials against approved specifications.
• Ensure raw materials meet requirements for freshness, colour, texture, moisture, acidity, contamination, and other relevant parameters.
• Coordinate with Purchase and Stores for supplier quality issues, rejected materials, and corrective actions.
• Maintain records of incoming material inspection and supplier performance.

B. In-Process Quality Control

• Monitor quality at all stages of production, including washing, sorting, cutting, mixing, cooking, fermentation, curing, filling, sealing, and packaging, as applicable.
• Ensure production processes follow approved SOPs, recipes, batch manufacturing records, and quality control plans.
• Monitor critical process parameters such as temperature, pH, acidity, moisture, salt concentration, oil quality, and processing time where applicable.
• Conduct routine inspections and identify process deviations before they affect finished-product quality.
• Coordinate with Production to implement immediate corrective actions for quality deviations.
• Ensure proper identification, segregation, and disposition of non-conforming products.

C. Finished Product Quality Control

• Establish and implement finished-product inspection and testing procedures.
• Verify products against approved specifications for taste, colour, texture, aroma, consistency, net quantity, packaging integrity, and labelling.
• Ensure microbiological, chemical, and physical testing is conducted as required by product risk and specifications.
• Review test results and recommend release, reprocessing, rejection, or quarantine of batches in accordance with approved procedures.
• Coordinate with QA or the authorized quality function for final batch release.
• Investigate product defects and ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented.

D. Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) requirements and relevant food safety regulations.
• Implement and monitor GMP, GHP, HACCP-based controls, and prerequisite programmes.
• Identify food safety hazards and monitor critical control points (CCPs), where established.
• Ensure sanitation, personal hygiene, pest control, cleaning, and housekeeping standards are followed.
• Coordinate food safety inspections, regulatory inspections, customer audits, and certification audits.
• Maintain records and documentation required for statutory compliance and internal audits.
• Ensure traceability and support mock recalls and product recall investigations.

E. Laboratory Management

• Manage day-to-day laboratory operations, testing schedules, and sample handling.
• Ensure laboratory equipment is calibrated, maintained, and fit for use.
• Maintain testing procedures, reference standards, reagents, and laboratory records.
• Verify the accuracy and reliability of test results.
• Coordinate external laboratory testing through appropriately qualified or recognized laboratories, as required.
• Ensure laboratory personnel follow safe testing practices and approved methods.

F. Supplier Quality Management

• Develop and maintain an approved supplier quality evaluation system.
• Conduct supplier assessments and coordinate supplier audits where required.
• Track supplier-related rejections, recurring defects, and corrective actions.
• Work with Purchase and suppliers to improve raw material consistency and compliance.
• Establish supplier performance indicators for quality, rejection rate, and responsiveness.

G. Customer Complaints and Corrective Actions

• Investigate customer complaints related to taste, colour, texture, spoilage, leakage, packaging, labelling, and other quality issues.
• Conduct root cause analysis using appropriate problem-solving methods.
• Implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) and verify their effectiveness.
• Coordinate with Production, R&D, Sales, and other departments to prevent recurrence.
• Maintain complaint records and report recurring issues to management.

H. Quality Systems and Documentation

• Develop, review, and update quality SOPs, inspection formats, testing methods, and work instructions.
• Maintain batch inspection reports, laboratory records, non-conformance reports, and release documentation.
• Ensure document control and traceability of all relevant quality records.
• Coordinate internal quality audits and track closure of audit findings.
• Prepare daily, weekly, and monthly quality performance reports for management.

I. Team Management and Training

• Supervise quality control officers, laboratory chemists, food technologists, inspectors, and quality technicians.
• Allocate responsibilities and establish testing and inspection schedules.
• Train employees on hygiene, sampling, inspection, food safety, and quality procedures.
• Evaluate team performance, competency, and training needs.
• Ensure adequate staffing and timely execution of quality checks across shifts.

J. Continuous Improvement and Cost Control

• Reduce product rejection, reprocessing, spoilage, and customer complaints.
• Analyse quality trends and implement preventive measures.
• Improve testing efficiency and reduce unnecessary laboratory and inspection costs without compromising food safety.
• Work with Production and R&D to improve product stability and consistency.
• Participate in new product trials, process validation, shelf-life studies, and product specification development.

Monitor the cost of poor quality and recommend corrective actions to management