Foodie Feature: Mahesh Chapagain
Mahesh Chapagain
Title: Quality Assurance Manager
What I Do at Voyage: I have been working to establish and implement Food Safety & Quality systems including HACCP, GMP, Preventive Controls, SQF, and all other applicable regulations. I also work closely with our Operations and R&D teams to support the product commercialization activities.
What a Typical Day at Work Looks Like For Me: Every day we work on fun new projects with the goal of continuous improvement. My mornings generally start with setting a work plan for our operation associates which includes ongoing commercialization activities on the floor and sanitation work. My regular QA work involves a wide array of responsibilities, like developing food safety and quality programs, developing procedures, overseeing regulatory compliance, qualifying suppliers and service providers, preparing for audits and certifications, conducting training, purchasing facility supplies, and assisting with commercialization projects.
My Favorite Part of Working at Voyage: Every department at Voyage Foods is R&D in a sense, since we’re creating something new from scratch. That could be our leadership team working on creating an impeccable company culture, our innovation team working to create groundbreaking products, our operations team working to create a state-of-the-art facility, sales and marketing teams working to create the best customer experience, the business development team working to create a seamless and sustainable supply chain, and our quality team working to create globally recognized food safety and quality systems. My favorite part is being able to witness our incredible team members since the beginning and learn from them.
The Moment I Knew We Were on to Something Special: When I got an opportunity to learn about the company’s actual work and test the products after four rounds of interviews in suspense, it didn’t take much time for me to realize this is not an ordinary food manufacturing company.
Product(s) I’m Most Excited About: Among ongoing projects, our Cacao-Free Chocolate since it was a wow moment when I tested a sample for the first time, but I am also excited about new product concepts we have in the works.
Fun Fact About Me: I am originally from Nepal –– which has 8 of the 10 tallest mountains in the world –– and it’s only been 7 years since I’ve been in the States, so every day I am still learning America.
My Most Controversial/Unique Food Opinion: Most of my self prepared vegetable and chicken recipes include cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, and tomato, and I can eat those foods every day.
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