Food Safety and Quality Assurance Expert (ssa, L10)-national School Meals

Organizational Context

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, dedicated to saving lives and building a pathway to peace and prosperity. WFP works in emergencies and uses food assistance to support recovery from conflict, disasters, and climate change impacts. Embracing diversity and inclusion, WFP strives for a skilled, high-performing workforce committed to its values.

Job Purpose

The Food Safety and Quality Assurance Expert will provide critical technical expertise to support the transition of Egypt's National School Feeding Programme from fortified biscuits to nutritious hot meals. This role involves assessing food safety risks in meal preparation, storage, and delivery, and developing comprehensive food safety standards and operational guidance. The expert will advise on procurement, supply chain strengthening, and costing, ensuring compliance with national regulations and international best practices. Key responsibilities include mapping capacities, classifying schools based on safety readiness, designing assurance systems, and building the capacity of national stakeholders. The ultimate goal is to ensure the safe, efficient, and sustainable implementation of a large-scale hot meal program, positively impacting millions of children.

Responsibilities

The World Food Programme (WFP) is seeking a Supply Chain Expert to support Egypt's transition from a snack-based school feeding program to a national hot meal system. This role involves providing specialist advice and analytics to ensure the design of an effective and integrated supply chain. The expert will collaborate with the Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) to assess school and community capacities, map infrastructure, and conduct feasibility analyses for a scalable, cost-efficient hot meal model. Responsibilities include identifying food safety risks in meal preparation, storage, and delivery; analyzing food safety implications of various delivery modalities; and advising on compliance with national food safety regulations. The expert will define food safety and quality requirements for procurement and contracting, design assurance systems across the supply chain, and contribute to costing models by identifying compliance costs. They will also draft operational manuals, assess capacity gaps, and develop training materials for stakeholders. The assignment will involve providing technical backstopping during the pilot phase and contributing to risk management notes for phased implementation. The goal is to ensure the safe and efficient provision of nutritious hot meals to millions of children across Egypt, aligning with national strategies and global best practices.

Work Experience

Requires 8-10 years of experience in food safety system design, implementation, and quality assurance. A minimum of 5 years must be in senior technical, advisory, or management roles within large-scale food service operations like catering, hospitality, or school feeding programs. Proven experience in managing high-risk food safety environments and providing senior-level technical advice to government or international organizations is also necessary.

Skills

Food Safety, Supply Chain Management, Quality Assurance, Operational Design, Procurement, Logistics, Contract Management, Costing, Public Health, Nutrition, Training, Risk Management, Capacity Building

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