Local Food Safety Quality Control and HACCP Specialist (SAFAGRO)

Title: Local Food Safety Quality Control and HACCP Specialist
Timing: August 2024 – March 2025
Level of Effort: Part-time, up to 35 days.
Deadline: 17h00 on 11 August 2024

Project context

Alinea International Ltd. (Canada) provides management and technical expertise to developing and transitional country partners on projects that promote sustainable growth and meaningful opportunities for people to improve their lives. The Safe Food for Growth project (SAFEGRO) which is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for the period from 2019 to 2024, with extension to 2026, is being supported technically by the Canadian Executing Agency (CEA), led by Alinea in partnership with the University of Guelph and other leading food safety organizations. The SAFEGRO is designed to support the Government of Vietnam to ensure better access to safe and competitive agri-food products, with an aim to improve the well-being of female and male consumers as well as other beneficiaries (including poor farmers) in Vietnam. The project operates across the agri-food value chains by engaging and building the capacity of three main target groups: the public sector (enabling environment), the private sector (supply side), and the consumer (demand side) to achieve 3 inter-related component outcomes:

Intermediate Outcome (1100) – Enabling environment: "Improved performance of national and sub-national governments in food safety regulation enforcement along the value chain to meet international standards”.
Intermediate Outcome (1200) – Supply side: "Increased competitiveness of poor farmers and other actors, particularly women, supplying safe agri-food products to domestic and international markets”.
Intermediate Outcome (1300) – Demand side: "Increased consumer demand for safe and affordable agri-food in Vietnam".

The SAFEGRO technical team works with national and sub-national governments to enforce food safety regulations, private sector suppliers to increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese food products domestically and internationally, and consumers to improve demand for safe food in Vietnam. Key partners on this project include The Ministry of Agriculture Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh city agencies, and other Vietnamese Academic Institutes. The government of Vietnam has committed to promote environmentally friendly, climate-smart agricultural technology and practices and gender equality by making these as cross-cutting issues in all political, economic, and cultural and social spheres. Therefore, within scope of SAFEGRO project, gender equality shall be integrated across all activities in the TORs to ensure:

(i) collection of gender-disaggregated data for reporting and MEL;
(ii) gender-sensitivity languages, photos, images, messages, etc.;
(iii) equal participation in decision-making and benefit of women and men from activities and services;
(iv) gender analysis before any intervention, decisions, or outlining plans and;
(v) Gender equality mainstreaming shall be discussed at all meetings and consultations with government counterparts, regardless of the topics, technical or otherwise.

The Project mobilizes international and national consultants to provide high quality technical assistance and capacity building activities to the government agencies and chain actors including support for review and recommendations related to the food safety regulatory framework. Specifically, the project has provided numerous supports for food safety upgrades in the pig value chain in Hanoi, covering production, processing, and distribution. To continue these efforts and help the value chain achieve HACCP certification, as well as to localize the HACCP manual from international documents to Vietnamese, Alinea International is seeking a short-term Local Food Safety Quality Control and HACCP Specialist to join the project's expert group for SAFEGRO project implementation in Hanoi.

Scope of Work

The Local Food Safety Quality Control and HACCP Specialist (LFSQCHS) will be based in Hanoi and work closely with the International HACCP Specialist, a team of national consultants, and relevant Vietnamese stakeholders. The LFSQCHS will provide expert advice on all matters pertaining to quality control and HACCP for pig value chains in Ha Noi, and development of localized HACCP manuals. The specialist will be supervised by the Local Food Safety Specialists, Project Director (PD), and Project Manager (PM). The position requires fieldwork for collecting information and providing consultation as inputs to the work.

Detail responsibilities/tasks, deliverable.

The LFSQCHS will perform the main tasks but not limited as bellow:

No	Deliverables	Responsibilities	LOE (days)	Deadline
I	Ensure a project-supported pig cooperative meets current legal requirements and achieves HACCP Codex certification		15	Dec 2024
1.1	Inputs for improvement provided Layout diagram (one-way principle) meeting HACCP requirements	- Review infrastructure, facilities, and layout of the slaughtering and meat processing areas	1	Aug 24
1.2	The document system finalized for the pig cooperative meeting HACCP requirements	- Finalize the document system for the pig coop to meet HACCP requirements and be suitable for its conditions	3	Aug 24
1.3	Coperative HACCP team is proficient in all HACCP-related tasks	- Provide hands-on coaching and supervision to the coop’s HACCP team to prepare HACCP plan, record keepings, documentation, verification, and internal audit in accordance with HACCP requirements	7	Sep 24
1.4	HACCP system from the cooperative is ready for certification	- Review the HACCP system to ensure it is ready for certification	2	Nov 2024
1.5	The cooperatice HACCP system is improved	- Provide instructions for remediation after external certification assessment	1	Nov 2024
1.6	A short completion report	- Complete report on food safety management improvement before and after the intervention	1	Dec 24
II	Localization of International HACCP Manual to Vietnamese		15	Nov 2024
2.1	HACCP Manual in Vietnamese drafted	- Review translation of the International HACCP manual - Provide additional contents to the translated manual in Vietnamese to contextualize with local context and experiences (with relevant examples).	12	Oct 24
2.2	Vietnamese HACCP Manual ready to be published	- Present the manual in a consultation workshop and consolidate comments for revision. - Finalize the Vietnamese HACCP Manual.	3	Nov 24
III	Development of sections on HACCP internal quality and safety management in the Manual on Establishing and Operating Internal Quality and Safety Management Systems in the Vegetable and Pork Value Chains		5	Dec 2024
3.1	Sections on HACCP internal assessment developed.	- Develop the sections of HACCP internal quality and safety management in the Manual on Establishing and Operating Internal Quality and Safety Management Systems in the Vegetable and Pork Value Chains	5	Dec 24
	TOTAL		35

Required qualification: The Local Food Safety Quality Control and HACCP Specialist must possess the following minimum qualifications and experience:

University degree in a relevant discipline such as food science, food technology, food quality and safety management, agricultural production, animal or plant health science.
Level 4 - Advanced Professional Proficiency in English (oral, reading and writing).
60 months of combined professional experience in:

Food safety management,
HACCP implementation and certification processes,
Conducting training and capacity-building activities
Conducting field assessments and auditss
Developing food safety documentation and manuals

Strong analytical, problem-solving skills, communication and interpersonal skills

Preference should be given to candidates who possess knowledge of internationally recognized food safety, standards and policies such as Codex, OIE, FAO, WHO, etc. and practical experiences in Viet Nam.

Compensation

Alinea offers competitive salaries. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Please send your application (letter of interest and CV with details on qualifications and experiences aligned with above requirements) with at least 3 referees by email to <ngochungnguyen@alineainternational.com>. Please include the job title in your email subject line.
Application form: Only via email
Interview announcement via email to selected candidate within 15 working days after the deadline.