Based in Centurion, Pretoria
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Dairy Standard Agency Lab Services is an integral part of the Dairy Standard Agency (NPC) established by the organised dairy industry to promote the compliance of milk and other dairy products with food safety, product composition and metrology standards. DSA Lab Services is an industry-specific laboratory service which:
- Acts as an independent distributor of imported and national reference standards for the calibration of equipment used to determine fat, protein, lactose, milk urea nitrogen and somatic cell counts.
- Performs efficient testing of milk and other dairy products, including microbiological, compositional sample testing and determining metrological compliance.
- Supports the dairy industry in improving compliance with legal standards of milk and other dairy products through consultation and troubleshooting.
- Conducts research projects in collaboration with industry stakeholders including academic institutions.
Qualifications required for the position
- National Diploma or BSc degree in Biotechnology or Microbiology.
- Five to ten years’ relevant dairy experience in a microbiology and chemical laboratory and supervising staff.
- Direct experience with quality systems and South African National Accreditation System (SANAS).
Managerial functions
- Drafting financial budget and year-to-date project financial statements.
- Controlling over procurement and invoicing.
- Facilitating effective communication with management, laboratory staff and clients.
- Drafting of quarterly and annual management reports.
- Managing laboratory practices in terms of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17025.
- Managing the development and maintenance of SANAS accreditation processes.
- Exercising effective and efficient administrative control, such as laboratory reports.
Operational functions
- Applying quality procedures as required by SANAS and own policies.
- Recording non-conformance and implementing formal corrective actions when needed.
- Assisting in the preparation and distribution of calibration samples.
- Operating and using Biomerieux instrumentation i.e.Tempo, Vidas and Mini Vitek, Vitek Compact as well as Vitek MS (Maldi-Tof).
- Preparing samples for chemical/compositional analysis.
- Operating cryoscopes, Foss FoodScans, Foss MilkoScans, Fossomatics as well as spectrophotometers.
- Performing microbiological, physical and chemical analysis as per approved methodology with instrumentation mentioned above.
- Detecting instrumentation problems by interpreting values obtained.
- Interpreting and accurately reporting results.
- Maintaining laboratory equipment where appropriate.
Quality management functions
- Assisting in the compilation of methods, procedures, and worksheets.
- Maintaining documents and records.
- Validating methods in use as per procedure.
- Participating in interlaboratory comparisons as per procedure.
Remuneration
Permanent position with competitive remuneration.
The closing date for applications is 26 October 2023. If you haven’t heard from our recruitment team within two weeks after the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful. Applications with CVs to be submitted to info@dairystandard.co.za
