In this day and age, when consumers increasingly attach importance to product quality and safety, it is absolutely crucial for businesses to underpin their products with recognized certifications. Being a quality-conscious business we are proud to be IFS broker certificated now. In this blog post we’d like to give you some information about the importance of the certification and why you can place your trust in us.
About the IFS broker certification
The International Featured Standards (IFS) are worldwide accepted standards for food safety and quality. The IFS broker certification is addressed to businesses operating as broker and trade partner in the food industry. The certificate confirms the implementation of strict controls and processes to make sure that our traded products correspond with the highest quality standards.
The importance of the IFS broker certification
IFS broker certification offers various benefits, both for us as a business and for our clients. Find some reasons for the certificate’s significance below:
Quality assurance:
With the receipt of our certificate, we make sure that our developed and sold products meet the strict requirements of food safety and quality. This means highest quality of all our products for you as our customer.
Traceability:
IFS certified businesses like ours established and implemented efficient traceability systems. We are able to control the entire supply chain and trace back every ingredients to its origin. Therefore, we can provide absolute transparency and safety.
Trust and credibility:
The IFS broker certificate is a visible sign for our engagement to provide highest quality and safety. You can feel safe about our responsible dealing with the development and trading of our products.
Different certification options:
IFS Food:
this extensive standard targets food manufacturers and refers to food safety and quality among the entire production process.
IFS Logistics:
suitable for companies in logistics, storage, distribution and transport of both food and non-food products.
IFS Wholesale/Cash & Carry:
as the name already implies, this standard is used by wholesale and C&C companies that supply retailers and gastronomy with large amounts of products.
IFS Broker:
addresses business that operate as agencies and trading partners in the food sector. Broker trade food, but are not directly involved in their production or processing.
IFS PACsecure:
standard for food packaging companies aiming to ensure the safety, quality and conformity of packagings.
IFS Global Markets:
suitable for smaller businesses that want to prepare the entry into the IFS system by offering step-by-step implementations of other IFS standards.
All these different kinds of IFS certifications come along with various specific requirements that are customized to the respective sector and business activities. Each standard has precise criteria for food safety, quality assurance, traceability and other relevant aspects. Every business can determine which IFS certification fits best to their field of activity.
What is the typical IFS Broker certification process?
Preparation:
Being focused on product safety, we decided to become certified about a year ago. At the beginning, we asked ourselves which certification will be the best one for us as a company and for you as our client. The decision was quickly made in favor of IFS since it’s the most common one among the EU – in our case the IFS Broker suited best. Our quality and product manager then compared the standards and requirements with our current state in order to point out any gaps that needed to be filled in terms of food quality and safety. Afterwards, we chose a certification body.
Process:
In cooperation with our certification adviser we determined the product scope, the audit duration and the audit date. Within the next months, we implemented new processes and elaborated existing instructions. On top of that we scheduled various staff trainings and internal audits.
Audit:
The audit itself took place in our office and started with a general opening talk, followed by the supervision of our documentation and particular processes. These were then assessed and evaluated by using a point system which final score decided whether or not we passed the audit. In addition to that, there are several requirements (so called KO-criteria) that are mandatory to comply with as otherwise the audit is failed. The day ends with a final concluding conversation.
Decision:
7 weeks after the audit, we were informed about the passing of the certification.
Subsequent tasks: Following the audit, the auditor submits a action plan for deviations and non-conformities that have been detected during the audit. The measures in the action plan have to be taken within a defined period of time. The measures‘ execution is revised in the next audit.
The following years:
After certification an annual monitoring audit takes place. Additionally, there is one unannounced audit within 3 years.
Being an IFS Broker certified company we stand for quality, safety and trust. Our certification proves that we have implemented strict processes and controls in order to ensure highest product quality. We take our responsibility very seriously and want to provide a customer experience characterized by quality and diversity. Rely on our IFS Broker certification and contact us to develop your desired product.
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