Food safety specialists ensure that food and beverages are safe for consumers. They inspect farms, processing plants, restaurants, and imported foods to prevent contamination and ensure compliance with health regulations. They also monitor food handling, packaging, and labeling to ensure accuracy and safety.
A food safety specialist spends every day ensuring that food and beverages do not endanger the health of consumers. Some food safety professionals are involved in observing the techniques used to grow fruits and vegetables. Most food safety experts spend their time looking at canning, processing and packaging at food processing companies to keep poorly handled foods out of the market. City agencies hire food experts to investigate restaurants for health violations. A food safety specialist may also find work with a regional or national agency that inspects imported foods.
Each farm can be visited by a food safety inspector during the growing and harvesting season. This inspector can investigate the quality and types of seeds planted in the soil for statistical purposes. An inspector may also be responsible for inspecting fertilizers and pest control methods to keep hazardous chemicals out of crops. A farmer can be instructed to improve the storage and transport of the crop if these processes do not meet health regulations. This long-term approach to food security often results in crops that are safe to eat.
The typical food processing plant allows food safety specialists access to all of its facilities. A food safety specialist observes the handling of fruits, vegetables and meats during the packaging process. Specialists analyze the conduct and hygiene of workers to avoid human contamination. An inspector may also review processing and packaging equipment for cleanliness. A final duty of a food safety specialist is to ensure that packaged foods match the information on the labels.
A food safety specialist may be hired by a municipal government to ensure local health regulations are adhered to. The most common use of a local-level food safety specialist is for restaurant health inspections. An inspector watches the kitchen and waits for a restaurant’s staff to find possible sources of contamination. This job also requires a review of food preparation conditions to avoid discarded, mishandled and expired ingredients. The food inspector should also record refrigerator, freezer, and kitchen temperatures to determine if ingredients are being stored at proper temperatures.
Port authorities and airports work with food safety experts to protect consumers from contaminated food from other countries. An imported food specialist is familiar with regulations against certain foods entering the country. This position also requires thorough reviews of shipping manifests to determine if these lists match the contents of the boxes. The food safety specialist can also investigate expiration dates and notify recipients that they have received expired food.
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