Environmental Scientist

The incumbent is required to live in one of the counties below: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura

Under the supervision of the Senior Environmental Scientist (Supervisory), the incumbent will conduct environmental health inspections of facilities housing egg-laying hens, calves raised for veal, and breeding pigs to ensure conformance with confinement standards,. gather scientific data on food-animal housing and confinement systems,. research and investigate complaints or incidents of farm animal cruelty due to improper housing and care, as well as misbranded products from noncompliant sources,. provide analytical expertise and reports on specific livestock confinement parameters on egg-laying farms, pig breeding facilities, and veal calf production operations,. and conduct inspections and audits of distributors, retailers and other end-users for traceable records of shipments from compliant sources. The Environmental Scientist (ES) will enforce complex environmental health and safety laws and regulations, and execute policies and procedures to improve environmental health, the humane confinement and care of food-producing animals, and the sustainability of California agriculture.

• Travel throughout the state of California and outside of California, by vehicle and by air travel, to conduct inspections of animal production and distribution facilities for compliance with all applicable state animal care confinement, certification and registration requirements necessary for distribution of covered animal products (shell eggs, liquid eggs, veal meat and pork meat) in both intra and interstate commerce.
  
  
• Conduct on-site audits of CDFA accredited third-party certifiers within and outside of California to ensure conformance of producer and/or distributor certification activities with requirements of the California Code of Regulations.
  
  
• Conduct verification inspections of producers and distributors certified by accredited third-party certifying agents to ensure standardized and uniform application of animal confinement standards of the Health and Safety Code.
  
  
• Travel throughout the state of California, by vehicle and by air travel, to conduct enforcement activities for compliance with the Health and Safety Code, the Food and Agricultural Code and other applicable environmental health laws and regulations, related to farm animal cruelty and animal confinement under the California initiative Proposition 12.
  
  
• Establish and maintain cooperative relations with local environmental health departments, other state regulatory agencies including the California Department of Public Health, and federal food safety and animal health authorities in district offices of the USDA and FDA.
  
  
• Respond to emergency animal housing or cruelty incidents linked to violations of confinement provisions of the Health and Safety Code and California Code of Regulations and conduct environmental health inspections and audits to identify, mitigate and correct the cause of confinement violations.
  
  
• Prepare clear and complete reports, letters, and memorandums as required.
  
  
• Participate in conference calls and meetings with industry, coworkers, supervisory staff, and management as directed.
  
  
• Prepare and deliver oral presentations as assigned.
  
  
• Complete and submit functional time reports on field activities in a timely manner as directed by management.

Candidates may perform these essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement .

The duties of this position are performed outdoors approximately 70% of the time. This 70% of time will be visiting locations inside and outside of California which includes overnight travel when necessary. The incumbent works out of their home office and reports to the Ontario Office only to pick up supplies, attend meetings and turn in required documents. Most of the workday will be spent traveling to various locations throughout California or locations outside of California.

When working outdoors the incumbent may be exposed to extremes in temperatures and high noise levels in a variety of environments ranging from individual farm premises to complex, multi-story product handling, packaging, and distribution centers. Indoor locations may include food handling and processing facilities, as well as food retail settings.

Incumbents must be able to establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted during the course of the work, work well under pressure, make appropriate decisions and recommendations, work independently to complete assignments and meet deadlines