Quality Meat Specialist

About the Role

Panda Retail Company – Savola Group is seeking a Quality Meat Specialist to join their team in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This full-time role is responsible for implementing and overseeing meat quality and food safety standards in accordance with Panda Policy. The specialist provides technical expertise across fresh, chilled, frozen, and vacuum-packed meat products, ensuring compliance with Panda Quality Standards, product specifications, Halal requirements, and applicable regulatory standards.

Role Purpose

The Quality Meat Specialist supports supplier slaughterhouse assessments, product quality investigations, and receiving standards. This position is critical for continuous improvement initiatives, ensuring that safe, compliant, and high-quality meat products are consistently supplied to Panda customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain quality standards, specifications, and inspection criteria for various meat products.
• Follow receiving acceptance criteria and product disposition guidelines.
• Standardize inspection procedures across Distribution Centers and retail operations.
• Monitor compliance with Panda meat quality standards and regulatory requirements, inspecting inbound, outbound, and in-process products.
• Conduct technical evaluations and assessments of slaughterhouses, meat processors, and suppliers.
• Review supplier quality performance and develop improvement plans.
• Lead supplier investigations related to quality incidents and recurring non-conformities.
• Review and approve meat product specifications, packaging specifications, and quality attributes.
• Evaluate primal cuts, portioned meat, and vacuum-packed products against approved standards.
• Inspect acceptable limits for defects, purge, discoloration, packaging integrity, shelf life, and temperature requirements.
• Provide technical support to Distribution Center Meat Inspectors during product evaluations and disposition decisions.
• Verify receiving, storage, handling, and dispatch practices to maintain product quality and cold chain integrity.
• Investigate product rejections, temperature deviations, and quality complaints arising from Panda Distribution Centers.

Experience and Qualifications

Candidates should possess 5-10 years of proven experience in relevant areas, including:

• Required: Experience in slaughterhouses.
• Required: Experience in vacuum-packed meat production.
• Experience in meat cutting and deboning facilities.
• Experience in retail or Distribution Center quality operations.

Demonstrated experience is also required in:

• Receiving inspection programs for fresh, chilled, frozen, and vacuum-packed meat products.
• Product specification assessment and quality standards.
• Investigation of meat quality complaints and non-conformities.
• Cold chain management and temperature control.