IFS FEATURED STANDARD: IFS Global Markets Food Certification Overview

• The customer has submitted to voluntary assessment (audit) according to defined criteria (certification standard).
• A written confirmation is only issued if the assessment (audit) does not reveal any major nonconformities with the requirements of the IFS GLOBAL MARKETS FOOD standard.
• The written confirmation is valid for a restricted period of time.
• To maintain validity of the written confirmation and to participate in the IFS GLOBAL MARKETS FOOD program, the audited company must annually complete an announced audit with a positive result.
• IFS GLOBAL MARKETS FOOD is a program specifically for small businesses or businesses in an early development stage, which after a period of three years should fulfil the more advanced requirements of the standard IFS FOOD
• According to the standard owner’s requirements, communication of the written confirmation for IFS GLOBAL MARKETS FOOD is restricted to B2B communication. Communication to consumers is not permitted.

Independent and qualified experts (auditors) apply the following auditing techniques:

• Document review:
  Review of documentation such as documented procedures, work instructions
  Inspection of recipes/formulations and specifications
  Evaluation of food labelling
  Specific traceability tests
  Evaluation of analysis results
  
  
• On-site-audit:
  On-site inspection of all areas of the organisation
  Assessment along an audit path, from incoming goods inspection to outgoing goods and along critical control points
  Checking the routes of employees and goods
  Interviews with the employees of the organization
  Comparison of documentation with the actual processes

Audits are always based on sampling. Given this, it is impossible to inspect every single product or every single production process. TÜV SÜD assessments thus cannot give a 100% guarantee that all food products of a audited company are free from nonconformities or that the organisation meets the criteria of the standard at all times, even though this is one of the key objectives of the IFS GLOBAL MARKETS FOOD standard.