Are you a driven individual with excellent communication skills?

Are you looking for a rewarding role that will have a real life impact on everyone in the UK?

If so, these exciting opportunities to join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a Trainee Official Auxiliary (TOA) are for you and we’d love to hear from you!!

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1300 people, with a big vision – to drive change in the food system so that it delivers “food we can trust”. As we have now exited the EU the FSA faces a significant period of change and activity.

Click the video below to hear from Dineka, to hear what it’s like to be a Meat and Dairy Inspector:

The heart of the FSA’s mission is to deliver “food we can trust” and having left the EU and spent a year facing up to the impact of Covid-19, it is more vital than ever that every precaution is taken to ensure the food on Britain’s plates is safe to eat, and exactly what it says it is.

Our meat production systems in abattoirs are one of the vital points of contact between the FSA and the food industry and represent an important on-the-ground part of our work. By ensuring high standards of animal welfare, quality control and workplace best practice are adhered to, we can make an active and ongoing difference in both the quality of the meat that reaches our plates but also the reputation that our nation and its food exports have on the global markets. The work the FSA does in abattoirs and food processing plants across the country each day has impact far beyond those factory walls.

Our Official Auxiliaries are vital parts of this process, delivering these standards through a number of means. These will include the performance of ante- and post-mortem inspections of animals, unannounced inspections on working practices across your dedicated site, the collecting and dispatching of samples for offsite analysis and communication with both FSA team members and onsite staff to create the safest and healthiest factory environment.

What qualification can you achieve?

This is a trainee position, and the roles on offer will allow you to train on the job to achieve both the RSPH Level 4 Diploma for Proficiency in Meat Inspection and subject to business needs the Level 2 Certificate for Proficiency in Poultry Meat Inspection.

If you would like to read more about these qualifications please visit the RSPH website here.

Where will I be working?

You’ll be working in abattoirs from one of the following clusters within the Wales and West region of the UK:

C23, C24, C25, C26, C27, C29, C31

The regional map of the areas covered can be found in the attached candidate pack, please refer to this and include 1 or more cluster preference in your application. If you’d like so speak to our Area Managers to find out more about the roles available, their contact details can be found at the bottom of the advert.

About you

We are looking for driven individuals who are able to maintain focus on repetitive tasks. You will be comfortable working in a busy factory environment with early start times, working a core 37 hrs each week with an option to be deployed on a 5, 4 or 3- day working pattern based on business demand and operational requirements of the base plant allocated (please note this working pattern will only apply once you have successfully completed the training). You will have strong communication skills that will allow you to talk with onsite staff across company hierarchies to influence and guide decision making as part of our FSA team. A sharp attention to detail is required for this role, and as such we can regrettably only consider those with normal colour vision (trichromacy) for this role.

With on-the-job training, and plenty of opportunities for progression in the FSA, the Trainee Official Auxiliary gives you a strong first step if you’re seeking to build a career around keeping Britain’s food safe for all.

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.