Khanyisa Desemela

Food Technologist with over three years' experience in food manufacturing, specialising in food safety, and quality assurance. Experienced in maintaining food safety systems, leading internal audits, investigating customer complaints, managing non-conformances and corrective actions, and ensuring compliance with HACCP and industry standards. Currently responsible for quality and food safety across production at The Baby Food Company, supporting raw material approval through to finished product release while working closely with production, maintenance and suppliers to drive continuous improvement.

Food Technologist | Food Safety & Quality Systems - The Baby Food Company - Phillipi East, Cape Town

(2022-07)

Responsible day-day management of food safety and quality across the manufacture of baby food purées, fruit and vegetable products, sauces and pet food supplied to Woolworths.

• Maintain compliance with HACCP and GMP requirements across production, ensuring audit readiness and adherence to customer and regulatory standards.
• Planned and led internal food safety audits, identifying non-conformances and driving corrective actions to strengthen compliance before external audits.
• Investigate customer complaints using structured root cause analysis, implement corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs), and verify their effectiveness to prevent recurrence.
• Manage non-conformances from identification through to closure, ensuring corrective actions are implemented, monitored and verified for effectiveness.
• Verify Critical Control Points throughout production to ensure ongoing compliance with food safety requirements and product integrity.
• Lead GMP, hygiene and environmental monitoring programmes, identifying food safety risks, driving corrective actions and promoting continuous compliance across production.
• Deliver food safety, hygiene and GMP training to new and existing employees, promoting compliance and strengthening food safety awareness across production teams.
• Review Certificates of Analysis (COAs), Certificates of Compliance (COCs) and supplier documentation to ensure only compliant raw materials are approved for production.
• Approve incoming raw materials and packaging for production by verifying compliance with specifications, supplier documentation and food safety requirements.
• Successfully coordinated internal traceability exercises, consistently meeting required traceability timeframes and maintaining complete product traceability from raw material receipt to finished product release.
• Evaluate microbiological test results and quality documentation before authorizing finished product release in accordance with company specifications.
• Perform sensory evaluations and in-process quality assessments to verify products consistently meet quality and customer specifications.
• Oversee verification of calibration programmes and food safety inspection equipment, ensuring measurement accuracy and ongoing compliance with verification requirements.
• Partner with Production, Maintenance and Warehouse teams to resolve quality issues, minimize product risk and implement process improvements.
• Represent Quality during new product development by reviewing product specifications, food safety risks and manufacturing processes before commercial implementation

National Diploma - Food Science & Technology - Cape Peninsula University of Technology (2022)

Certificate of Higher Education - ICT - CPUT (2016)