Hands on
High customer satisfaction
Involved
Custom advice
Professional
Wide range of courses

QA professional must be protected!

A column by Marco Bakker

Then I am not talking so much about the person, but about our profession. I mean; if it is regulated by law that the person who comes into our companies to do pest control must have a certificate of competence, or if - another comparison - the title of dietician is protected by law, why does the government not yet set minimum requirements for the quality manager of a food company. Ultimately, we also have a responsibility to safeguard public health, don't we?

That starts, of course, with an appropriate prior education in which you gain sufficient knowledge to assess and manage food safety risks. But how can I prove that I possess the management skills and quality tools associated with the modern quality manager?

Fortunately, we do not have to wait for the government for the latter, as there already exists a private initiative that allows you to be personally certified as a quality manager.

The NNK (the Dutch Network for Quality Management) offers certificates at two levels, namely: Quality Officer and Quality Manager based on the requirements established by the European Organization of Quality. Covering all industries, the certificates focus on general quality techniques, and in the case of QA manager, also management skills. In addition to experience, knowledge and application of that knowledge is also tested.

I speak from experience, as I was recently allowed to call myself a certified quality manager. Together with a food technology education, this seems to me to lay a good foundation under our fine profession. Who will follow? More information can be found at: https://www.nnk.nl/persoonscertificering

Back to overview

Stay informed

Subscribe to our newsletter, our monthly look at food and non-food quality management.