At Kreider Farms, our biggest concern is the customer. Because of that, we have a special department dedicated to ensuring that your favorite Kreider products are safe and satisfying to consume. This department, located at our Milk Plant, is our Food Safety and Quality Assurance team.
So what exactly is a Quality Assurance team? At Kreider Farms, we have two divisions of the team, one in milk and one in egg. These teams work to ensure that their departments remain compliant with various regulation agencies and work to complete audits for FDA, PDA and third-party auditors, like SQF. Our team is SQF (Safe Quality Foods) certified meaning that we meet all the requirements laid out in SQF’s certification guidelines. These specific procedures and documentation processes allow us to show customers that we are producing and delivering safe food.
We made a visit to the milk plant to talk to the team more about what “quality assurance” means here at Kreider Farms and an inside look at some of the procedures we routinely conduct to keep quality in check.
Wyleisha has been with Kreider Farms since 2015 and notes that:
“We are always looking at ways to improve what we do in the lab to be able to provide the management team with the information they need to improve our overall product lines and continually learn through attending conferences, workshops or committees to keep informed and up to date on the latest in the industry.”
One of the daily procedures that is done by Wyleisha and her team is to check each run of a product throughout the day to ensure that the quality and taste hold consistent. They complete various checks throughout production to ensure that we are providing the customer with quality product and even work throughout the night with Ann taking over any quality responsibilities at night.
Ann, who has been a part of the Kreider team since 2012 says:
“The night shift team is our first line of defense. They’re the ones who batch the milk, make sure butterfat is correct and bottle most of it. We have a great team. Everyone always goes above and beyond to ensure that we’re sending out the best quality to our customers!”
Once the samples are “all clear,” the batches are released to be sent out for distribution.
Another step that our team takes in ensuring quality is monitoring a product’s shelf-life. After each bottling run, the samples are stored in temperature regulated and monitored refrigerators up to and extending the shelf life date. Our team closely monitors the quality and runs tests throughout the shelf life period and if any early spoilage is detected.
A more fun (and tasty) job of the quality team is checking and cutting ice cream samples. When we package our ice cream, especially ones with inclusions (like cookie pieces or fudge swirls,) it’s important that each container has the correct amounts of inclusions that that we don’t skimp out! After an ice cream run, our teams randomly selects several containers from the batch to “cut” and inspect the visual as well as the taste. Below, Wyleisha talks more about that process:
When asked about her favorite part of her job, Wyleisha said:
“My favorite part is that there is always something new to learn about. When I started this job, I was very naïve in thinking that putting milk in bottles would be pretty simple but there is much more that goes on behind the scenes. We’ve got a great group of people here that put their all into the milk plan which makes it easy to be able to tackle whatever comes our way.”
Rachel, who has been with Kreider Farms since 2017, also noted that her favorite part includes:
“The opportunities that are available to continue to grow and learn. Our quality team is always changing to produce the best possible products so I’m always learning and expanding my knowledge whether it’s taking courses, cross-training with other departments or simply taking on bigger roles and responsibilities in my current position.”
Kreider Farms takes pride in the high quality we continually produce, and we strive for customer satisfaction. The countless checks and balances we go through to ensure that our products are near perfect means that you can purchase with confidence. Our farm fresh guarantee allows you to give your family the best! Find a store selling our farm fresh products near you!
