IFS Newsletter, July 2011

Information about review process of IFS Food version 5 and publication of IFS Food version 6

IFS Food version 5 review process began at the end of 2010. Main objectives of the review process were to:

• include all doctrines in the standard,
• delete redundancies (no double-dipping),
• improve, where necessary, wording of requirements,
• comply with new GFSI Guidance Document version 6,
• improve rules for determining audit duration.

In February 2011, an on-line satisfaction questionnaire about version 5 was sent to all IFS users. The answers received have been used as improvement tools for the review.

After evaluation of the questionnaires and full review of all inputs addressed to IFS offices, national and international technical working groups finalised a first draft of IFS Food version 6 at end of June.

As it was a strong wish of IFS to share expertise and to reach the common target to get safe and good quality products, the new IFS Food version 6 has been revised with full and active involvement of certification bodies, retailers and industry, attending all working groups and coming from all over the world. For the first time, experts from North America participated deeply in the review process.

Main changes in the IFS Food version 6:

• A slightly revised scoring systemwill be implemented to better identify companies implementing best practices,
• Clear rules for determining audit durationhave been created, based on a pragmatic calculation tool, which will provide the minimum mandatory audit duration to be applied by all certification bodies,
• IFS Integrity Program, which was created in 2010 to monitor performance of certification bodies and of auditors,  will be described in the new audit protocol,
• As IFS Food is not only a food safety but also a quality standard, version 6 will include more quality requirements(e.g. nutritional analyses, more requirements on weight control, more requirements on the quality/quantity of information provided on labelling, etc.),
• In order to comply with GFSI Guidance document version 6, food defence requirementswill be introduced in IFS Food audit check-list.  Exhaustive guidelines will also be developed in order to help companies implement those requirements, based on risk assessment and – most of all – on legislation of destination country.
• IFS auditors will be approved for products and technology scopes. Technology scopes are newly introduced to improve auditors’ expertise even more on products and processes.

Test audits will be performed during the Summer in different countries worldwide and in companies producing different kinds of products.

IFS Food version 6 is aimed to be published beginning of 2012 for a mandatory implementation 6 months later. If you would like to get more information on the review process, please do not hesitate to contact IFS offices.

Main changes in IFS Food, version 6 download

• New calculation: audit duration

The new IFS Food version 6 provides continuity with previous versions. IFS Food will also continue in the future to be the most non-prescriptive standard, which allows processors the ability to develop their own solutions. The risk-based approach is being systematically pursued. IFS stands for individual solutions that do justice to processes in the respective companies. The task of the IFS auditor will also be to test the solution developed in a company in a risk-based manner in terms of its actual implementation and functionality in everyday practice.

The duration of an audit fundamentally influences its quality and hence the reliability of the statements in the report. For this reason, the new IFS Food version 6 introduces binding specifications for calculating audit times. A minimum time allotment is also defined for auditing production plants. Chapter 4, entitled "Production Process", is the largest in the IFS standard, which means that the auditor shall spend a large part of the audit time on site in production.

• A simplified certification process

For the many manufacturers of seasonal products, the new IFS Food version 6 introduces what is known as the extension audit, so as to include an additional seasonal product in an existing IFS certificate without having to carry out a completely new IFS audit. This will minimize the costs for many manufacturers of seasonal products who are IFS-certified.

The new "multi-site" approach is also pursuing the same objective. Companies with several sites and a central administration will be able to have the central processes audited in administration and have these results included in the audits of the individual production sites. This has the advantage that the central functions do not need to be re-audited every time there is an audit of each single production site.

The certification cycle is also being simplified. IFS is abandoning its reference date approach and will offer a time window in future. The earliest that the next audit will be able to take place in the future is 8 weeks prior to the audit due date. But window will close two weeks after the due date of the follow-up audit. If this time window is adhered to, the IFS certificate will be continued seamlessly without delays.

• A new “D” evaluation

The new IFS Food version 6 will be more stringent in its assessment of requirements that have either not been implemented or have been implemented inadequately. Unimplemented requirements will be given a "D" rating if they do not pose a threat to food safety and/or do not constitute a breach of food legislation. In the past, 0 points were then assigned. With IFS Food version 6, there will be a penalty of minus 20 points. This means that failure to implement a requirement or the inadequate implementation of a requirement will be assigned a lower rating in the future. This also means that companies have more space for continuous improvement.

• More quality requirements

IFS Food version 6 reworded many requirements. In particular, however, the standard's above-mentioned strategic orientation consisting of combining safety and quality aspects in one standard is being systematically expanded. Quality criteria will be given more emphasis. This especially accommodates the increasingly sophisticated quality pledge of private labels in the retail sector. Therefore, auditors will, for example, sample whether defined fill tolerances have been complied with. They will also check whether the information regarding analysis of the nutritional value printed on the packaging of a food is in line with the product’s properties.

• New criteria for trade products

The new IFS Food version 6 also includes criteria for checking whether the IFS-certified manufacturer has placed trade products, which he has not manufactured himself, on the market. In the past, additional auditing under IFS Broker was frequently carried out in order to certify the corresponding processes. To avoid multiple audits, criteria which check the approval and monitoring of suppliers of these trade products and, of course, the supplier assessment procedures have been included in the new version. Trade products can be included in the scope of the certificate if the suppliers of these trade products are themselves IFS-certified and if those specific criteria are audited.

• Extended packaging requirements

An ever more important issue is the choice of the right packaging. IFS Food version 5 had already drawn up criteria in this respect. In addition, a guideline for correct handling of these criteria was prepared. The new IFS Food version 6 further expands this point. An audit will also check whether the manufacturer has developed specific risk assessment-based requirements on product packaging when used as intended.

• Food Defence: checklist and guidelines

A significant new departure relates to the protection of the food chain against terrorist acts. Particularly for companies supplying the US market, "food defence" has been an unavoidable issue for some time now. From version 6 onwards, all users of IFS Food will have a binding obligation to comply with the checklist on the protection of their production against intentional damage, which has been voluntary for two years. The checklist combines criteria that will be checked by auditors under the headings "Safety assessment", "Site safety", "Personnel and visitors" and "External controls". Guidelines will also be available for implementing those criteria according to legislation of destination countries of the manufactured products.

• Enhanced criteria for auditor approval

The enhancement of IFS Food also increases the requirements on the competences of auditors. In order to guarantee a consistently high audit quality, IFS specifies approval requirements for the auditors of certification bodies. The requirements on the expertise of auditors are being more closely structured according to product groups and the technical processes used in manufacturing. The obligation that auditors demonstrate their relevant experience in a written and oral test when they first apply for approvalas an IFS auditor is being retained. What is new is that IFS auditors who have passed this test need to attend calibration training conducted by IFS every two years in order to maintain their approval. The intention behind this practical training is to support the harmonization of the interpretation of the IFS standard across all certification bodies.

• IFS Quality Assurance: The Integrity Program

The IFS Integrity Program is being further extended and inserted into the new IFS Food version 6 as an integral component of the standard. The IFS is the only standard that checks compliance with the rules agreed in the framework contract between IFS and certification bodies and those contained in the standard itself on site in the head offices. The IFS is also the only standard that conducts control audits in certified companies to check whether the results documented in the audit report are in fact complied with over the entire term of the IFS certificate. The companies are selected via an evaluation of the IFS database or based on complaints management, which IFS established two years ago. Here, every user can address complaints to IFS via the IFS website. The IFS Integrity Program was born of the conviction that a standard shall, on its own initiative, check the quality of the work of certification bodies and auditors in addition to the work of the accreditation bodies. This approach, too, is unique amongst standards benchmarked by the GFSI.  

• Free download of IFS standards

IFS will gear its communication towards the respective users in an even more target-oriented manner. This involves re-launching a newly designed website, which will go online at the beginning of 2012 and which will provide not only general information, but give each user group direct access to the information most important to it.

From IFS Food version 6 onwards, IFS will also make the “normative” document, i.e. the actual standard text, available to all users as a free download in various languages on its new website. Also, the fee for uploadingthe IFS audit reports will be raised from 150 to 200 Euros - the first increase since the start of IFS in 2002.

IFSfactsheet Food 6>