IFS FOOD: an essential standard for the food industry agroalimentaire
L’IFS Food est un référentiel international reconnu par la GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) destiné à l’audit de la qualité et de la sécurité des procédés et des produits des entreprises agro-alimentaires. Il concerne les sociétés de transformation alimentaire ou de conditionnement de produits nus.
Compliance with this standard is becoming essential for both exporting companies and manufacturers of private label products that are or will be affected in the near future.
Until 2003, quality audits of food manufacturing sites were carried out directly by the quality departments of retailers, wholesalers, and food service companies. The ever-increasing demands of consumers, the growing responsibilities of retailers, wholesalers, and food service companies, the increase in legal and regulatory requirements, and the globalization of product flows have made it essential to develop a uniform standard for quality management and food safety. Similarly, it was also necessary to find a solution to reduce the time associated with a multitude of audits for all stakeholders involved.
The IFS Food standard, now in its 8th version (April 2023), addresses this challenge.
The primary objectives of the IFS Food standard, as with other IFS (International Featured Standards) standards, are:
- to establish a common standard with a uniform assessment system,
- to work with accredited certification bodies and qualified auditors,
- to ensure transparency and comparability throughout the supply chain,
- to reduce the costs and time associated with audits for both distributors and suppliers.
The IFS Food standard can only be used when a product is “processed” or when there is a risk of product contamination during primary packaging.
audit protocol
The audit protocol describes the specific requirements for organizations involved in audits according to the IFS Food standard. The purpose of the protocol is to define the criteria to be followed by a certification body conducting audits according to IFS requirements. It also details the procedures to be followed by audited companies and explains the importance of these audits. Only certification bodies accredited according to EN 45011/ISO/IEC Guide 65 for IFS Food, and which have signed a contract with the owner of the standard, may conduct audits according to the IFS Food standard and may issue IFS certificates.
In general, during audits according to the IFS Food standard, the auditor assesses whether the various elements of a company’s food quality and safety management system are formalized, implemented, updated, and continuously improved. The auditor must examine the following points:
- responsibility, authority, qualification, and job definition,
- documented procedures and instructions for implementation,
- inspection and testing: specified requirements and defined acceptance and tolerance criteria,
- actions in the event of non-compliance,
- investigation of the causes of non-compliance and implementation of corrective actions,
- compliance analyses of quality and safety data and implementation,
- management, archiving, and availability of quality and safety records, including traceability and document control.
All processes and procedures must be clear, concise, and unambiguous, and the personnel responsible must understand the principles of the food quality and safety management system. The food quality and safety management system is based on the following methodology:
- identifying the processes necessary for the food quality and safety management system,
- determining the sequence and interaction of these processes,
- determining the criteria and methods necessary to ensure the effective operation and control of these processes,
- ensuring the availability of information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of these processes,
- measuring, monitoring, and analyzing these processes, and implementing the necessary actions to achieve the intended results and continuous improvement.
some important requirements of the ifs food standard
Staff awareness
“KO No. 1: Management must ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities regarding food safety and quality and that mechanisms are in place to verify the effectiveness of their actions. These mechanisms must be clearly identified and documented.”
Traceability of product characteristics
“All important records necessary to comply with product characteristics must be complete, detailed, and up to date. They must also be available upon request.”
HACCP system
Implementation of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system at each relevant production site (see specific documentation on implementing an HACCP system).
staff hygiene
“KO No. 3: Staff hygiene requirements must be in place and enforced by the relevant staff members, as well as by external service providers and visitors.”
product specifications and recipes
“KO No. 4: Specifications must exist for all raw materials (raw materials/ingredients, additives, packaging materials, recycled products). These specifications must be up to date, unambiguous, available, and comply with current legal provisions and, where applicable, customer requirements.”
Contamination by foreign bodies
“KO No. 6: Based on a hazard analysis and associated risk assessment, procedures must be in place to prevent contamination by foreign bodies. Contaminated products must be treated as non-compliant products.”
Traceability
“KO No. 7: A traceability system must be put in place, allowing the identification of product batches and their relationship with raw material batches, packaging in direct contact with food, and packaging intended or designed to come into direct contact with food. The traceability system must include all relevant records of receipt, production, and distribution. Traceability must be guaranteed and documented until delivery to the customer.”
The COOX platform and its various modules, particularly its systematic traceability functions for both processes and material flows, greatly simplify the process of bringing an agri-food production unit into compliance with IFS Food, obtaining its initial certification, and maintaining its certification.