IFS

This standard, referred to as the International Food Standard, emerged in 2000 as a result of the improvement of food safety by the Chamber of Commerce CIES – The Global Food Business Forum.  The difference from ISO 9000:  2000  is that it includes HACCP  . It was initially formed with the participation of 40 commercial enterprises in Europe, North America and Australia.

WHAT IS IFS?

Today, within the framework of the globalizing economy, food and other consumer goods produced all around the world meet the consumer on the shelves of chain markets. In today’s world where diversity and production areas have expanded so much, who is responsible and how is he/she fulfilling the requirements for providing safe food, which is the natural right of the consumer? Within the framework of European food laws; due diligence; retail chains must guarantee that the products they produce and offer for sale under their own brands in particular provide food safety and must bear the responsibility for this. So how can safe food requirements be guaranteed for products produced kilometers away from where they are located? In order to monitor that the requirements are truly fulfilled and to ensure their sustainability, retail groups have established their own quality control and inspection services and have tried to monitor the quality and safety requirements of their suppliers with inspections at certain periods.

These audits, which are carried out by each retail group within their own means, create different approaches due to different perspectives, put producers in a difficult situation and create high costs, which has revealed the need to create a common approach and standards.

To eliminate the confusion and to provide a transparent and harmonized approach, in 2002 German retailers formed a working group to develop and develop a general food safety standard, the IFS (International Food Standard) standard.

The developed standard was also accepted by GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative). In 2003, the French FCD (Federation des Entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution) retailers and wholesalers also joined this working group and took part in the development of the 4th version of the IFS standard.

IFS is a uniform tool created to ensure food safety and monitor quality levels for private label producers for retailers. It can be applied to all stages of food processing
.

IFS classifies itself in 5 sections,

1. Requests to QMS

2. Management Responsibility

3. Resource Management

4. Production Processes

5. Measurement, analysis, improvement

The difference from ISO 9001: 2000 is that it includes HACCP.

WHY IFS?

• Increased consumer confidence
• Entry into large European markets
• Strong ties with retail distribution
• Increased transparency
• Increasing the efficiency of production
• Minimizing important food risks
• Effective control of internal processes and minimization of the risk of making errors
• Taking a proactive approach to food safety