Greater Houston
Riviana Foods/EBRO Foods - (world largest rice co.) - Director R&D/QA/QC - 44+ Year Career. QA/QC Summary Supervised design of complete Riviana system - plant QC procedures and protocols, implementing QC reporting to corporate QA. System included product and manufacturing specifications, packaging container regulatory compliance, industry leading universal ingredient pesticide, herbicide, and heavy metal screening, nutritional label testing, label regulatory compliance approvals, laboratory testing and calibrations, test procedures development, annual product audits, plant, warehouse, truck, rail, ship, container and barge pest control, unannounced plant and supplier inspections, supplier approval process, import/export shipping inspections and certification, international (S.Africa and Thailand)plant QA/QC personnel, lab design, operating guidelines, global regulatory agency communications, trouble shooting of processing lines, laboratory support for Engineering and Manufacturing startup projects. 2-Research & Development Summary Responsible for all rice processing innovations and maintenance of existing process efficiency, modernization of existing and newly acquired processing lines. Designed or modified, started up all rice parboiling and instant rice processes - Product processes included Success , Minute , Custom Industrial instant rice products, IQF, retorted Ready-To-Eat, Wild rice, and custom rice flours. A number of patents were secured. Invented Gourmet House wild rice parboiling and instant processing processes, and Memphis plant instant processes. Managed, designed, and operated Riviana Foods Pilot plants. Evaluated all new rice patents and available technologies world-wide. Technical resource for legal department and Indutrial Sales.Responsible for Riviana Foods rice variety selections for processing, as well as company liaison to private and USDA rice breeding programs. USDA and FDA company liaison, responsible for Riviana regulatory compliance
Serving the food industry - specializing in rice and grain processing and Innovation. Expertise in rice and wild rice processing, R&D, QA, and regulations.
Chairman of the Board. Family farm
Technical consulting to Riviana Foods CEO, Operations, Engineering, R&D, QA, Sales, and Legal Departments. 44 Years service at Riviana Foods Inc.
Reorganized and expanded Riviana Foods Research and Development Department. Responsible for all rice processing technical matters, including R&D, line startups, trouble-shooting, new acquisition technical evaluations, regulatory compliance, and regulatory agency interfaces. Directed Riviana Pilot Plant operations. Designed and started up 16 U S and foreign rice processing lines at Riviana - rice parboil and instant rice + wild rice parboil and instant wild rice. Was awarded a number of rice processing patents in U S and numerous foreign countries. Audited and evaluated processing methods for all competitive products and newly filed rice processing patents, world-wide. Inspected and evaluated processing plants for potential corporation acquisitions. FDA liaison for securing nutraceutical Omega-3 Fish Oil GRAS status Secured FDA approval and registration for Riviana Foods initial series of retorted, Ready-To-Serve rice products. Secured FFA process approvals for Riviana retort processing plant in Memphis. Designed and installed Pilot Plant facilities in Memphis, TN. Inspection and improvements of foreign and U S IQF operations.
Completely redesigned and implemented Riviana Foods plant Quality Control and corporate Quality Assurance programs, establishing: Organizational staffing and reporting relationships Specification and testing systems Laboratory staffing, equipment and methods Inspection of company plants, warehouses, ingredient and packaging suppliers facilities, and customer facilities Pest control program FDA, USDA, state and local regulatory contacts as aid to Corporate Legal Dept. Ship, barge, truck, and train inspection methods and protocols - internal U S and international shipments. Continued responsibilities for R&D, customer service to sales, legal department advisory committee Supported Engineering - 2 New Instant Rice processing lines developed, pilot tested, and started up.