Graeter's Ice Cream

I'm Amanda Karris and I am the Quality Assurance Manager at Graders Manufacturing in Cincinnati, Ohio. It's really easy to take for granted the fact that our food just shows up at the grocery store ready for us to cons You ass The food scientists and the chemists and microbiologists that do all the testing for all the safety and quality of our products are kind of the front line against illness and negative effects that could come from the cons On a day-to-day basis, I am responsible for making sure the quality of the products that we produce, the frozen desserts, ice cream, sorbet, gelatoes, are all up to the quality that all of our customers expect. So that means the consistency of our ice cream. That means making sure that it is safe chemically and bacteriologically. Whether it be E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, any of those different types of bacteria can be present in a food facility and it takes a lot of attention to detail for your sanitation and your validation of all of your cleaning procedures. One type of testing that I do is what's called ATP testing. It's a very quick way to look for bacteria. Most manufacturing facilities, whether it be pharma or food manufacturing or anything along those lines, are going to use the ATP. For example, I do a lot of this testing on hands just to make sure that our employees are keeping clean hands. We also look for general bacteria out in the environment, out in the plant. I'm following up in certain areas and swabbing, looking for bacteria. There are definitely a lot of aspects to being a quality manager. I do spend my time going back and forth, both on the manufacturing floor, to build a high rapport with all of the ice cream technicians, but also coming in and making sure that all of our records are in place. So all of our chart recorders that prove that we're pasteurizing the dairy mix up to the proper specifications, as well as any forms that we may or may not need to fill out. We are required to have a paper trail for nearly everything that we do. We are regulated under the ODA, which is the Ohio Department of Agriculture, their dairy division. We operate for production four days a week, 24 hours. So the demand for our product is very high. There's a set recipe we need to make sure that we're following that recipe. We manufacture all of our ice cream in small batches. So we have 32 French pots down on our manufacturing floor. A lot of times I'm actually down there helping the guys make ice cream. That's just giving me an opportunity to see things through their eyes and to get exposure to every different task that goes into making our ice cream so that I'm aware and involved and can investigate any sort of quality defect or issue that may pop up. One of the major responsibilities as a food scientist and a quality professional is to be aware so that if anything pops up We can do so quickly and efficiently. Fortunately, we've never had to issue a recall, but we do run recall drills to ensure that our staff knows what they need to do in the event of a recall. In most science careers, you need at least a bachelor's. There are a lot of certifications depending on what type of science degree you have. For example, I have a certification as a registered microbiologist concerning food. It was through ASM, which is the American Society for Microbiologists. Originally, when I set out to get a biology degree, Intended to work more in the healthcare industry. When I graduated, my first job offer happened to be at John Morrell, testing meat. It definitely was really a life-changing experience. Getting to see how important and how thorough all of the food that we cons If you're unsure of what science or what type of food science you want to be in, I recommend going in labs and getting some hands-on experience. I believe the internships and the hands-on in any lab that you can get into is extremely important. It shows that you are competent in high school. I would definitely focus on all of the math courses, any science course that you can get into, anatomy and physical science, chemistry, anything like that, to give you exposure so that It's really impressive and kind of mind-blowing how much food safety has grown in the past few years. The Food Safety Modernization Act is really bringing a whole new awareness to the food safety industry. So as a quality manager or a food scientist, you're just realizing the sheer importance of your role as it relates to people in their everyday life. you