What the IFS International Food Certificate Is

The IFS International Food Standard is one of the significant references in industry and trade for the assessment of food supply operators. Growing consumer expectations, rising liability exposures, and the globalisation of product flows called for a single quality assurance standard. Against this background, the French Retailers Association (FCD), the German Retailers Association (HDE), and Italian retailer associations developed the IFS international food safety and quality standard for private-label products.

IFS supports a consistent assessment of producer and food safety quality levels. It applies across the production processes that follow agricultural production and that handle the processing of food.

Traders in Poland, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain support IFS and use it as a food safety standard.

Food wholesalers and retailers have their private-label product suppliers audited against food safety by independent audit bodies. In 2002, German food retailers developed IFS (International Food Standard) to establish a shared audit standard. In 2003, French food retailers joined the working group and version 4 of IFS was issued. In 2007, the IFS working group issued version 5 of the standard, which became official on 1 August 2007. Version 5 also had Italian retailer representatives join the work, and a third IFS office was established there. This ensured that private-label food products were aligned with national food legislation and EU rules, and that European retailer quality requirements were met.

IFS applies to the production processes that follow agricultural production and that handle food processing. It covers primary food packagers and food manufacturers, but it does not apply to importers or to operations that only handle shipment, storage, and distribution.

Most importantly, the IFS certificate supports market access to European retailers, evidencing that the operation produces food aligned with EU rules and with retailer quality requirements. IFS is recognised by GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) alongside SQF, Dutch HACCP, and BRC. Some firms have stated that they accept all GFSI standards. The IFS certificate is also recognised in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Austria, Spain, and other markets, which saves time and money by avoiding parallel schemes.

Sistem Patent Kalite supports IFS projects through our offices in Izmir, Istanbul, Ankara, Adana, Bursa, Antalya, Eskisehir, Kayseri, and Konya. Contact us for a scoped quote.