We are currently seeking a Product Quality Expert (Fruit / Fresh Produce) to join our Thrapston site, our dedicated fruit packing facility in Northamptonshire. As a key member of our technical department, you will play a crucial role in ensuring that the produce sourced from our suppliers and growers consistently meets the highest quality standards, fully compliant with both industry and Morrison’s requirements.

Role Overview:

In this role, you will be the driving force behind the end-to-end quality assurance of our fruit products. You will work closely with our suppliers to not only meet but exceed quality expectations, actively engaging with them to improve the quality of products delivered to our site and subsequently distributed to depots. Your expertise will be instrumental in fostering strong, collaborative relationships with suppliers, ensuring that customer focus remains at the forefront throughout the supply chain.

Key Responsibilities:

Supplier Quality Assurance: Ensure that all suppliers and growers meet stringent quality standards, conforming to food safety, legality, and ethical requirements. Actively engage with them to identify areas for quality improvement and implement corrective actions where necessary.

Product Improvement Collaboration: Work directly with suppliers to enhance the quality of fruit, providing guidance and support to improve their processes and outputs. Offer insights into best practices and innovations in quality management.

Due Diligence and Compliance: Collate, review, and approve supplier due diligence data to ensure ongoing compliance with industry standards and company policies.

Audit and Monitoring: Conduct regular audits and quality assessments of supplier facilities and produce. Provide detailed feedback and insights to both the site team and suppliers, flagging potential quality issues early and recommending solutions.

Product Quality Communication: Serve as the subject matter expert in fruit quality, providing training and clear communication to the site team, technical manager, and buyers on product specifications and quality standards.

Operational Efficiency: Provide financial yield analysis and operational efficiency data to support procurement decisions and enhance the profitability of the category. Recommend strategies to maximise yield while maintaining product quality.

Seasonal Management: Collaborate with buyers and suppliers to navigate challenging seasons or periods, ensuring that product safety and quality are never compromised.

Issue Escalation: Promptly escalate potential safety, quality, legality, or ethical issues to the Central & Site Technical teams and Buyers, as appropriate.

Continuous Feedback: Review grading results and continuously monitor produce quality, providing timely and constructive feedback to suppliers to drive ongoing improvement.