Food Safety Inspector in Toronto

Interested in food safety? Are you looking for an exciting career where you will help keep Ontario's food safe and ensure animal welfare through your knowledge of agriculture, food safety and regulatory compliance? The Food Safety Inspection Delivery Branch is seeking Food Safety Inspectors to keep food safe and ensure animal welfare by conducting regulatory compliance verification and providing professional advice and assistance on food safety practices.

The Food Safety Inspection Delivery Branch oversees the slaughter and processing of both livestock and poultry, which includes chicken, pigs, sheep, cattle, goats, and rabbits. It ensures the safety of a variety of food Ontarians enjoy such as meat and livestock products, milk and milk products, fish, fruits, vegetables, maple products and honey by providing inspection services to their production, processing, marketing and distribution. We cooperate with colleague branches and agencies to establish food safety standards and work with other ministries and agencies to provide a strong and seamless food inspection environment from farm to fork in Ontario.

As a Food Safety Inspector, you will be an integral part of a team that plays an important role in the daily lives of Ontarians by keeping their food safe. Our newly hired Food Safety Inspectors are provided comprehensive training, including 1:1 practical training with experienced inspectors. Training is ongoing throughout your career, and development and growth is supported and encouraged!

The work environment of a Food Safety Inspector:

• Requires frequent travel in all weather conditions and the ability to conduct physically demanding fieldwork.
• Is very demanding psychologically with Inspectors managing people who may have challenging personalities.
• Requires assessing, touching, lifting, and approaching a wide variety of animals.
• Includes working in environments where there is a presence of strong odors, feces, dead animals, blood, loud noise, cold/hot/inclement weather.

In this role you will help keep food and Ontarians safe by:

• Inspecting agricultural and food products for processing to support food safety.
• Performing both ante and post mortem assessment of livestock and carcasses.
• Assessing recipes, formulations, production, processing, packaging, preservation and storage methods of food products.
• Evaluating practices, programs and records for process control systems.
• Identifying unacceptable food safety hazards or noncompliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Collecting samples from agricultural or food products and processing environments to test for biological, physical or chemical food safety hazards.
• Preparing and maintaining reports for compliance verification activities.
• Providing technical assistance to premises operators and other related parties.
• Conducting field sampling and related reporting activities during emergency response.

After joining the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) as a Food Safety Inspector you will work towards obtaining one or more required food safety inspection certifications provided by the ministry.

What you bring to the team

Mandatory requirements:

• You must have a valid Ontario class “G” driver's license or equivalent and have the ability to travel extensively.
• You must be able to work in hot and cold working conditions.

Technical knowledge:

• You have knowledge of food safety hazards and risks.
• You have knowledge of food production and processing practices.
• You can interpret and apply legislation, regulations and operational policies.

Analytical and problem-solving skills:

• You can apply knowledge of quality assurance systems.
• You can monitor work quality against current inspection and compliance standards.
• You can assess inspection and audit corrective action plans.
• You can exercise judgement to recognize and understand issues during inspections.
• You can assess stakeholder concerns regarding deficiencies and hazards.

Training experience:

• You have knowledge of adult learning principles to help deliver training and coaching.

Communication and interpersonal skills:

• You can develop and maintain effective working relationships with clients.
• You can mitigate disputes and confrontational situations.
• You can provide information regarding outcomes and technical advice.

Computer and arithmetic skills:

• You have proficiency with computer software applications.
• You possess arithmetic skills to perform calculations.

If you are excited about this position and meet most, but not all, of the listed qualifications, please still consider applying. We recognize that no one person might have every qualification in this job ad, and you just might be the right candidate!

How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility:

We are building an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage everyone interested in working with us to apply, including people with disabilities, Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals, as well as people from all ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.

Our hiring process is accessible, consistent with Ontario's Human Rights Code and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are working to prevent and remove barriers in our hiring processes and can offer accommodation to address specific needs related to Code-protected grounds.