The IFS International Food Standard has emerged through the efforts of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). This organization has an important place in international food trade. GSFI was founded with a large number of large retail companies, manufacturers and certification bodies. In the first step, commercial enterprises from around Europe, North America and Australia were initially involved in this venture. The main objective of this organization is to gather food safety standards and practices under a single roof and to make it an internationally recognized structure. The first objective is to establish a global food safety standard and to enable businesses to offer more reliable food products to the markets. As a result of the efforts of the Global Food Safety Initiative, the food safety system was improved by the Global Food Business Forum in 40 and the IFS International Food Standard was published. With this standard, key criteria were determined and the food safety standard became measurable.
The purpose of the IFS International Food Standard is to ensure that food producing and processing companies produce food products that are appropriate to consumers in terms of food safety and hygiene. This standard is reviewed and revised periodically under sector conditions. In January of the year 2012, the sixth version of the standard was published.
In this way, large food retail companies and wholesalers develop the IFS International Food Standard as a common audit standard for them. Thus, private label products are guaranteed to be in the same conditions as the European Union and national food laws and quality requirements are fulfilled. This standard can be used for all stages in which food following agricultural production is prepared and processed. As such, it includes the packaging, storage and transportation processes of food producing companies. However, this standard cannot be applied to food importing companies and businesses whose business is exclusively storage, shipping and distribution.
Why is the IFS International Food Standard Important?
Supplier audits have been an important fixed part of trade and industry cooperation for many years. Increasing awareness of consumers and demanding heavier demands from producer companies, as well as increasing demands for compensation arising from various reasons, and the globalization of trade in the meantime, necessitated the development of a uniform quality assurance standard in food production.
The German Retailers Association and various cooperatives, and later the French Retailers Association and the Italian Retailers Association came together to develop the IFS International Food Standard, the quality and food safety standard for their respective brands. In order to ensure such food safety, major retail chains have established their own control systems in order to ensure the food safety of the products they produce with their own brands, and by conducting audits in certain periods, the supplier companies have tried to follow the quality and food safety requirements. In this case, each retailer company had a different point of view in the audits, which left the producers in a difficult situation and had difficulties in implementation. The idea of establishing a common approach in audits and establishing a common standard was born in this way.
France has been involved in the standard revision studies, which were started in Germany, and Italy during the fifth revision studies.
The IFS International Food Standard ensures the safety of food and controls the quality levels of the manufacturers. Today, not only European countries, but also many other countries of the world support this standard and use it as a food safety standard.
The IFS International Food Standard aims to:
- Establish a common standard with a uniform assessment system
- Accept accredited certification bodies and auditors
- To be comparable and transparent throughout the supply chain
- To reduce the costs of the parties
All retailer companies and wholesalers that are members of the above mentioned Retailer Associations and cooperatives support this standard and seek IFS International Food Standard Certificate in their activities.
The IFS International Food Standard is a standard adopted by the GFSI Global Food Safety Initiative.
Currently, all food manufacturers supplying products to retailers and wholesalers are audited according to the IFS International Food Standard. This standard is applicable to all rings of the food chain except the primary production stage.
What are the ingredients of the IFS International Food Standard?
The latest version of the IFS International Food Standard consists of a checklist of three chapters, seven topics and 98 requirements. The standard is structured as follows:
- The first section describes the basic requirements for auditing. This section contains the 46 requirement. The topics in this section are as follows:
- Topic 1: Quality Management System (Risk management, HACCP standard, procedures, documentation and records)
- 2: Senior Management's Responsibility
- Thread 3: Resource management
- Topic 4: Service provision (production processes)
- Topic 5: Measurement, analysis and improvements
- The second section describes the requirements for storage and distribution activities. This section contains the 39 requirement. The only topic in this section is:
- Subject 6: Product contact, maintenance, traceability, pest control, hygiene, loading area and so on
- The third section describes the requirements for transport activities. This section contains the 13 requirement. The only topic in this section is:
- Thread 7: Packaging and transport
What Does IFS International Food Standard Gain for Businesses?
Food manufacturers make significant gains if they produce in accordance with the IFS International Food Standard. For example,
- Consumer confidence increases
- Priority access to national and international markets
- It creates a serious competitive advantage especially in European Union countries
- Recognizes international IFS database
- Transparency increases as audit reports are public
- Business productivity increases
- Significant food risks are under control
- Production errors are minimized
- Food safety, hygiene and quality requirements are fulfilled
- The system is measurable in terms of eligibility criteria
IFS International Food Standard Certification How?
Businesses wishing to obtain an IFS International Food Standard Certificate must first meet the required documentation and process requirements in accordance with the IFS standard. A contract is then signed with an accredited certification body authorized to issue this certificate. Then the certification body assigns the auditor. If it is found out that the company is operating in accordance with the criteria described in the IFS standard, the IFS International Food Standard Certificate is issued and delivered to the company. The validity of this document is one year.
As explained above, one of the most important features of the IFS International Food Standard is that it is applicable only to food manufacturers. The agricultural production phase, ie the cultivation and cultivation of products, is outside the scope of this standard. In addition, in the process of presenting the produced foods to consumers, the storage, transportation and distribution of the products to the retailer companies are carried out only by the companies doing this business, and these companies are also not covered by the IFS standard.
our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc.IFS is ready to assist with any doubts about the International Food Standard certification.