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Modifications in IFS Food 6 Standard

IFS would like to inform you about modifications in the IFS Food Standard. These updates apply from 1st April 2013.

The IFS International Technical Committee held a meeting the 26th of February 2013 and made the following decisions in consequence of the horse meat scandal.

The experts from manufacturers, retailers and certification bodies from France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the US agreed on the point that the responsibilities of a manufacturer are not only to produce safe products in line with the product specifications, irrespective if the products are their own or customer ones. Manufacturers must also be sure about the authenticity of the raw materials and/ or semi-finished products. Therefore, the IFS International Technical Committee has decided to put more the focus on these concerns in some IFS requirements.

- IFS Food 6 requirement 4.4.1.5 (purchase):

The purchased products shall be checked in accordance with the existing specifications and their authenticity. The schedule of these checks shall, as a minimum, take into account the following criteria; product requirements, supplier status (according to its assessment) and impact of the purchased products on the finished product. The origin shall be additionally checked, if mentioned in the specification.

- IFS Food 6 requirement 5.6.8 (product analysis):

Based on any internal or external information on product risks which may have an impact on food safety and/ or quality (incl. adulteration and fraud), the company shall update its control plan and/ or take any appropriate measure to control impact on finished products.

The words in bold and underlined are added to the existing requirements.

The two extended requirements come into effect the 1st of April 2013. IFS will adapt the IFS Food Standard in the different languages as well as the Excel comparison/ guidelines and auditXpress as soon as possible.

The main objective of these amendments is to also place the focus of the companies on the point that they have the responsibility to check the authenticity of their raw materials and/or semi-finished products. IFS expects that manufacturers develop a risk based control plan to check authenticity of incoming raw materials and/or semi-finished products.

For example, visual checks can be done if the raw-material nature can be clearly identified. If not, for example for frozen minced meat, further tests like DNA tests should be performed.

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