At C&D Foods, we are committed to quality – and our dedicated quality control managers spearhead that commitment. But what does their role involve? Here, we take a deeper look into the daily routine of one of C&D’s dedicated quality control managers, Maxime, who works in our canned food factory in Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. It’s his job to ensure the nutritious canned pet food we create for retailers meets the high standards pet parents expect for their furry friends.

Maxime is in charge of all of the routine checks and quality assurance processes that we carry out to support consistency and compliance. It’s an important and varied role, and here’s just a snapshot of what his typical day at work looks like.

When Maxime arrives at work each morning, he puts on a hair net, a white coat, and a hard hat to adhere to our strict health and safety and hygiene protocols. Once he’s washed his hands, he’s ready to enter the factory and catch up with the production team.

Maxime’s responsibilities include ensuring that routine quality assurance checks are carried out on a random sample of the previous day’s production every morning. Approximately 40 cans are scrutinised at random at the canned food factory in Boulogne-sur-Mer, with a full evaluation of a wide variety of criteria such as colour, texture, and smell. The data derived from these quality assurance assessments is meticulously entered into a spreadsheet, laying the groundwork for generating comprehensive reports as necessary, and giving Maxime all the data he needs to respond to any customer audits or enquiries.

After the daily quality assurance checks, Maxime returns to his desk to review production records from the previous day. His focus then shifts to the laboratory and analysis of finished product samples and ingredients. Maxime oversees the work of a laboratory technician and around 20 to 30 samples are analysed each day, with checks carried out on both existing product lines and new formulations in product development.

Maxime’s role also involves thorough checks on new ingredients when we are using a new supplier for the first time or introducing a new ingredient, so his afternoon often involves inspecting raw materials to verify that each new ingredient meets our quality standards and is as described by the supplier.

As the workday draws to a close, Maxime changes out of his work clothes and collects his bicycle for the journey home. His 17-kilometre cycle home from the factory is a great way to unwind after a busy day!