Pasteurization Technician Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Perricone Juices has joined forces with the esteemed Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company, combining two leaders in the premium citrus juice industry. This strategic acquisition forms a dynamic and growth-oriented company, blending Perricone’s expertise in craft citrus juices with Natalie’s reputation for fresh, high-quality products.  Acquisition enhances the company’s market presence and strengthens its position within the industry, opening doors to exciting opportunities for innovation and expansion.

Perricone Juices is currently seeking a Transportation Coordinator for our Fort Pierce facility, to help lead and advance our operations. This position offers long-term stability and a comprehensive benefits package, including health, vision, dental, life insurance, and a 401(k) plan.

Position Summary:

The Sanitation Supervisor leads the day-to-day activities of the sanitation and pasteurization team, ensuring plant equipment, processes, and work areas meet federal, state, and company sanitation standards. This role reports to Operations and owns the CIP process end-to-end, operator training on CIP and sanitation procedures, plant cleanliness and janitorial operations, and the master sanitation schedule/list, while driving continuous process improvement across the sanitation program. The Sanitation Supervisor is accountable for maintaining microbiological control in accordance with HACCP principles, cGMP, and SSOP requirements and works in close coordination with the QA department and the HACCP/Document Control Coordinator to ensure sanitation practices align with the food safety plan. This is an exempt, supervisory role whose primary duty is the management of the sanitation department and its employees.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

The following duties are representative of the position; other duties may be assigned as business needs require.

• Supervise, schedule, and direct the daily work of the Sanitation Lead and sanitation/pasteurization technicians, ensuring adequate coverage across assigned shifts.
• Interview, select, train, coach, and evaluate sanitation staff; recommend hiring, discipline, promotion, and termination decisions.
• Inspect products, equipment, and premises for conformity to federal and state sanitation laws, plant standards, and pest-control procedures; direct food handlers and production personnel in sanitary practices.
• Own the CIP (Clean-in-Place) process end-to-end, including system setup, chemical concentrations, cycle verification, and troubleshooting; ensure proper use of the CIP system across sanitation and pasteurization equipment.
• Develop and deliver CIP and sanitation operator training; certify operators on CIP procedures and verify ongoing competency.
• Direct cleaning of equipment and work areas; own all in-house swab testing to verify CIP and sanitation effectiveness.
• Own and maintain the Master Sanitation Schedule/List, ensuring all cleaning frequencies, responsibilities, and verification steps are current, followed, and audit-ready.
• Oversee overall plant cleanliness and janitorial operations, including common areas, offices, and non-production spaces, directly or through janitorial staff/contractors.
• Drive continuous process improvement within the sanitation program, identifying opportunities to reduce chemical usage, downtime, water/energy consumption, and labor hours while maintaining sanitation effectiveness.
• Manage and maintain microbiological levels within acceptable limits, following HACCP principles and practices consistent with FDA health standards, cGMP, and SSOP requirements.
• Investigate and resolve quality issues related to SSOPs in partnership with QC, Extraction, and Bottling departments.
• Coordinate daily with Production and Bottling on pasteurization production needs; audit pasteurization operations across all phases to assure quality performance.
• Coordinate with QA to ensure sanitation and pasteurization monitoring, verification activities, and recordkeeping align with the facility's HACCP plan and document control system; escalate CCP-related deviations per the food safety plan.
• Ensure all sanitation and pasteurization technicians are properly trained on their responsibilities; develop and deliver effective training programs.
• Maintain free flow of information with Production, Bottling, and QC to identify and troubleshoot sanitation and pasteurization issues on a daily basis.
• Examine incoming fruit shipments for foreign matter (insects, poisons, dirt) and gather ingredient samples for laboratory analysis.
• Confer with management and production personnel on sanitation/pasteurization problems; recommend changes to equipment, plant layout, lighting, ventilation, or work practices to improve sanitation standards and product purity.
• Compile and route required reports on regular inspections, sanitation violations, and corrective steps taken to resolve deficiencies.
• Study production schedules and estimate labor-hour requirements for job assignments; establish or adjust work procedures to meet production schedules.
• Interpret company policies to workers and enforce safety regulations; analyze and resolve work problems, or assist workers in solving them.
• Maintain time and production records; confer with other supervisors to coordinate activities across departments.
• Perform the activities of workers supervised as needed to maintain coverage or train staff.
• Comply with all Plant, State, and Federal OSHA, EPA, FDA, HACCP, and SQF regulations; conduct verification activities to ensure finished product complies with food safety and quality specifications.
• Participate in the annual review of the food safety system and assist in maintaining the Food Safety and Quality system.
• Own responsibility for Non-GMO SGS Supply Chain Standards compliance within the sanitation program.
• Manage department budgeting, planning, and vendor relationships for sanitation supplies and services.
• Respond to and direct urgent sanitation or pasteurization issues, including off-hours and on-call support as needed.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Operations leadership.

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position has direct supervisory authority over the Sanitation Lead, sanitation/pasteurization technicians, and janitorial staff or contractors. The Sanitation Supervisor customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more full-time employees (or their equivalent) and has the authority to hire, fire, promote, and discipline, or whose recommendations on these actions are given particular weight, consistent with the FLSA executive exemption. This position reports into Operations rather than Quality Assurance; it coordinates closely with QA and the HACCP/Document Control Coordinator on food safety compliance, but neither QA nor the HACCP/Document Control Coordinator has a reporting relationship to or from this role.

• Bachelor's degree preferred; high school diploma or equivalent required, with a minimum of 5 years of experience supervising staff in a food manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience with HACCP systems, SQF 2000, pre-requisite programs, and other food safety programs; SQF Practitioner training a plus.
• Able to develop, present, and support effective training programs for sanitation and pasteurization staff.
• Able to manage department activities for planning, budgeting, and business requirements, including vendors for supplies and services.
• Effective interpersonal and supervisory skills, with strong verbal and written communication abilities.
• Excellent organizational, time management, and problem-solving skills.
• Must be fluent in reading, writing, and speaking English; Spanish is a plus given plant floor workforce composition.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand and walk. The employee is frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to sit and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, moving mechanical parts, risk of electrical shock, and low to moderate noise levels.

This job description is not intended, and should not be construed, to be an all-inclusive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions as associated with a job. While this job description is intended to be an accurate reflection of the job requirements, management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties from particular jobs and to assign other duties as necessary.