Our client mixes, packs and repacks food ingredients for national and international brand owners who, like them, set high standards when it comes to quality, service and reliability.
They work with the most advanced equipment and in accordance with the highest standards, in a state-of-the-art production facility. Gluten-free, allergen-free, Kosher and Halal: they do it all.
In this internship you will research and investigate the hygiene and cleaning processes of the production plant. This research will result in recommendations and changes and the implementation of new procedures and methods. The process can take longer than the internship project. Therefor it can be that your internship will a part of this process and that you take over or will leave the next part to another intern.

Important tasks and content of the internship:

Investigating cleaning procedure to remove potential food safety hazards (microorganisms, chemical residues, physical contamination) from equipment and tools to prevent cross-contamination.
Recommend and develop Cleaning Validation standards to be used after changes to cleaning agents, cleaning parameters, formulas, equipment and production lines.
Filter out negative trends and monitor and improve the process.
Investigate, improve and recommend risk assessments
Concerning food-contact and indirect food-contact surfaces, make an inventory of worst-case products, hard to clean areas, dead ends, gaskets, joints, valves and equipment with the highest residue risk.
Determine allergens risk and take it into account for validation
Check the cleaning validation requirements customers demand and check them with the current situation to implement them.
Set up Validation protocols (objective, Identified contaminants (microbiological, chemical and physical) worst case scenarios, number of validations, test methods, acceptance criteria etc.
Observe and improve the cleaning process and sampling and testing
Set the acceptance criteria and way of reporting.
Set the key expectations by a good documentation, risk based repeatable structure.

This internship requires a high level of independence and determined structured skills. Of course there is guidance from the QA department, but the intern is expected to have a high ownership of the project. Part of the internship will also contain to work parts in the production to get the feeling and experience with the work, products and procedures.

Requirements:

BSc or MSc education in Food Science, Food Technology or Food Engineering
Motivated and independent, proactive person
Driver’s license B
Good knowledge of the English Language
Available at least 6 months from March/ May 2026
Permitted to work in the EU (work permits cannot be arranged in this project)
Have a scholarship like Erasmus or Erasmus+.