IFS: Food Safety
Managing Food Safety
The IFS Food is intended to allow the assessment of suppliers' food safety and quality systems as part of a uniformed approach...
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In an effort to manage food safety and the ever-increasing liabilities faced by food retailers and wholesales, associated members of the German retail federation (Hauptverband des Deutschen Einzelhandels, HDE) and of its French counterpart (Fédération des Entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution, FCD) collectively developed a quality and food safety standard for retailer branded food products. Known as the IFS Food, the standard is intended to allow the assessment of suppliers’ food safety and quality systems as part of a uniformed approach.
This IFS Food standard applies to all the post-farm gate stages of food processing and can only be used when a product is “processed” or when there is a hazard for product contamination during the primary packing.
Now in its 5th version, the standard is considered a collaboration of the three retail federations of Germany, France and Italy.
What are the Benefits of IFS Food Certification?
In addition to demonstrating your organization’s food safety practices meet a globally recognized food safety standard, certification to the IFS Food standard may help fulfill an obligation of the retailers who carry your products.
Additional benefits include:
Certification to a standard recognized by the GFSI and some of the world’s top food retailers
Enabling your business to report of your status of certification to your customers who recognize and/or require certification to this standard
Assurance of critical aspects of your food safety processes, including HACCP compliance, safe hygiene practice, senior management responsibility, product and process verification, traceability and more.
Addressing due diligence requirements of both the supplier and the retailer
Fostering continual improvement
Can be combined with additional certification such as ISO 9001 and HACCP
For additional information, visit the IFS website at www.food-care.info.
Over half of the world’s top 200 companies choose LRQA
LRQA is one of only a select number of certification bodies who holds COFRAC accreditation to deliver IFS Food standard assessment and certification.
We’re a market leader in the provision of IFS Food assessment and certification services, and when you choose LRQA, you choose to achieve accredited certification from a respected, world renowned global registrar.
Our food safety assessors are industry specialists and experts who are matched with your business needs, enabling an effective and robust assessment of your system.
Our Business Assurance approach ensures our assessments focus on the areas and issues that are important to your business. As the first certification body to gain accreditation for issuing quality management system certificates, we understand system requirements and can therefore tailor our approach to help meet your objectives.
Beyond certification, LRQA provides an extensive range of services to support your business’ future growth and development, including training solutions and integrated management system assessment.
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