Job Details

Food Safety Specialists promote, protect, and maintain a healthy and safe environment for the public. This is accomplished through inspection, education, and enforcement activities to implement the statutes, rules, and regulations relating to environmental sanitation, and/or safety programs concerning foods, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices. Work in this series includes identifying, mitigating, and preventing disease transmission through improperly prepared foods, contaminated waters, and adulteration and/or misbranding of foods, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices.

Food Safety Specialist I:

This is an entry-level position in the Food Safety Specialist series. The trainee receives formal and on-the-job training in field activities such as investigations and inspections to develop an understanding of theories, pertinent law, rules, regulations, and precedent cases and practices related to food, drug, cosmetic, medical device, and/or environmental sanitation.

Food Safety Specialist II:

As an advanced trainee, performs a variety of limited environmental sanitation work such as receiving complaints, conducting inspections, issuing citations for obvious violations, and investigating and recommending measures for corrections and prevention, as well as performing other related duties.

Legal Authorization to Work Requirement:

The State of Hawaii requires all persons seeking employment with the government of the State to be citizens, nationals, or permanent resident aliens of the United States, or eligible under federal law for unrestricted employment in the United States.

Education:

Graduation from an accredited four (4) year college or university with a bachelor's degree in one of the physical or biological sciences.

NOTE: In order to receive credit for your academic training, you MUST ATTACH a copy of your OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT(S) as verification.

Professional Specialized Experience:

No experience is required for Level I. For Level II, six (6) months of professional inspectional or investigational work experience is required, involving the interpretation and application of the laws and regulations in public health. Such experience must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of principles, practices, and objectives of environmental health programs, a thorough knowledge of pertinent regulations and laws, and a thorough working knowledge of bacteriology, chemistry, physics, vector control methods, and social sciences.

Non-Qualifying Experience:

Non-professional technical work experience, such as in a vector control program involving work in inspection, investigation, education, and enforcement activities relating to the control and/or experimentation of mosquitoes, rodents, and other small mammals, flies, fleas, and other insects performed in support of the Food Safety Specialist series functions described above, is not qualifying.

Substitution Allowed:

Relevant substitutions as described in the Minimum Qualification Requirements will apply (click link below).

The information provided above represents a summary of the Minimum Qualification Requirements. To view the Requirements in their entirety, please CLICK HERE.

The State of Hawai'i complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodations in completing an application, any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection process, please call 808-###-#### for assistance.

PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS (PSLF) PROGRAM

The PSLF Program is a federal program intended to encourage individuals to work in public service by forgiving the balance of their federal student loans. To qualify, individuals must have made 120 qualifying payments while employed by a qualifying employer. For more information, please click:

ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION TO APPLICANTS

The Department of Human Resources Development (HRD) will use electronic mail (email) to notify applicants of important information relating to the status and processing of their applications as part of our ongoing efforts to increase operational efficiency, promote the conservation of green resources, and minimize delays and costs.

Please ensure that the email address and contact information you provide is current, secure, and readily accessible to you. We will not be responsible if you do not receive our emails or fail to check your email inbox in a timely manner. In addition, please be aware that you may no longer receive notification about applications submitted if you choose to disable the Job Application Emails feature in your Account Settings.

TESTING INFORMATION

The examination for this recruitment will be conducted on an unassembled basis where the examination score is based on an evaluation and rating of your education and experience. It is therefore important that your employment application provides a clear and detailed description of the duties and responsibilities of each position you held.

In-person interviews and/or further testing in Hawaii may be required at the discretion of the hiring agency. If in-person interviews and/or further testing is a requirement, applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements and are referred to the vacancy must be available to participate in person and at their own expense in this required phase of the selection process.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications as soon as possible. In addition to employment availability and score, the referral of qualified applicants may be based upon other factors including the date of receipt of application.

CLICK HERE for further information about Equal Employment Opportunity, the Merit Civil Service System, Citizenship and other requirements, Reasonable Accommodation, Veterans Preference, Examination Requirements, and the State Recruiting Office's Levels of Review.