Responsible for enforcing and maintaining the Federally approved food safety system program which must meet the authorizing statute. This program includes maintaining enforcement, consultation, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. This is a professional level series and assists the food industry in the development, implementation, and maintenance of food safety preventive controls plans to prevent or significantly minimize food safety hazards and intentional contamination. Assists and ensures food producers comply with food safety standards, rules, and regulations for public consumption and/or animal feed.

This is the in-training level of the series; incumbents are required to serve in a 12-month training program which combines structured course work with field work. Performs basic investigations, inspections and/or surveillance of commercial establishments that manufacture, process, hold or transport food products intended for public consumption and/or animal feed. Ensures compliance with the various licensing requirements for facility design, processing, sanitation, and product labeling. Recommends and may apply enforcement action upon completion of basic course work and field work requirements. May provide witness testimony as needed.

Incumbents work under close supervision and will be advanced to the journey level after the satisfactory completion of a structured training program. Under close direction and using established procedures, conducts general sanitation surveys and food safety and processing compliance inspections on food production facilities; collects, analyzes, records and summarizes data obtained from surveys and inspections.

Related to Dairy products, performs inspections of Grade "A" farms and cheese, ice cream and butter factories for initial and continued compliance with all dairy laws and issuance or renewal of permits;

Reviews animal health records; and conducts on-site inspections and sampling of water sources and supplies to ensure purity; reviews construction plans for new buildings, remodeling, or addition of new equipment with assistance of training lead or supervisor;

Administers oral, written and practical examinations for pasteurizers, weighers, samplers, graders, and tank truck drivers;

Inspects locker plant for compliance with all State and Federal laws and conducts general inspections of bakeries; meat markets; fish and shellfish canneries and processing plants; food storage warehouses; rabbit processors; health food stores; fruit and vegetable markets (wholesale and retail); cereal, flour, and macaroni manufacturing plants; flavor, spice, condiment, and beverage plants; carbonated beverage bottlers; food salvage retailers; and all other places of food manufacture, processing, sale, or storage in an assigned geographical area;

Performs sanitation, food safety and compliance inspections on all food production premises for sanitary conditions of buildings; machinery; packaging; storage; examination of raw ingredients in finished products; pest harborage; structural defects; ventilation; water supply; sewage and garbage disposal; rodent poisons; sprays and fumigants; product labeling; personal hygiene and habits; sanitary conditions of toilets, locker rooms, and washing facilities; uses black light for detection of rodent and insect infestation; impounds contaminated foods;

Orders destruction or correction of contaminated food products as appropriate; supervises voluntary disposition and segregation of distressed foods caused by fires, floods, or other accidents or disasters;

Collects fees and issues receipts for licenses for bakeries, confectioneries, and macaroni plants;

Related to Shellfish products - conducts investigations of water quality, pollution, temperature, and salinity to evaluate shellfish growing areas; collects samples of shellfish growing waters, in accordance with instructions from an advisory sanitarian; forwards samples to laboratory for analysis; inspects shellfish processing plants for sanitation and processing practices; coordinates with training lead or supervisor as needed on follow-up actions with local health departments and shellfish companies;

Writes narrative reports and findings in accordance to FDA requirements; collects samples for testing and documents results to support reports; appears in court as complaining witness in cases of noncompliance; coordinates inspection and enforcement work with that of other Federal, State, and local officials as needed;

Attends meetings and seminars pertinent to the dairy and/or food industry;

Performs other duties as required.

Knowledge of: Theory, principles and practices, of sanitation enforcement; dairy and/or food technology.
Ability to: Understand and apply Federal, State, and local laws and regulations concerning manufacturing, processing, storage, handling, and sale of foodstuffs or of milk and other dairy products; establish and maintain good working relationships with governmental agencies and private industries; enforce laws and regulations using maturity and judgment, as well as the power of the law; write and speak clearly, concisely and informatively; travel frequently for extended periods; traverse uneven or steep terrain in rural environments and climb ladders in industrial manufacturing warehouses.

There may be instances where individual positions must have additional licenses or certification. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the appropriate licenses/certifications are obtained for each position.

A Bachelor's degree involving major study in bacteriology, microbiology, food science, food technology, biochemistry, dairy science, or a natural science in a closely allied field.
Note: Upon successful completion of one year of training, incumbents will automatically advance to the Food Safety Compliance Specialist 2 level.


Equivalent education/experience.

Revised definition, minimum qualifications and general revision: 6-15-79.
Revised definition and minimum qualifications: 3-15-85.
Revised definition and title changed (formerly Sanitarian 1): 7-13-90.
Revised definition and minimum qualifications: 10-15-99.
New class code: (formerly 62100) effective July 1, 2007.
Revised salary range, definition, typical work and desirable qualifications; adopted June 30, 2017, effective July 1, 2017.
Abolished job class adopted June 22, 2023, effective July 1, 2023. See Food Safety Compliance Specialist series.