International Featured Standards are private protocols developed by German, French and Italian distributors and designed to provide solutions for the whole supply chain.

The IFS Food protocol was created in 2004 with the aim of enabling the assessment of the food quality and safety systems of food industry. It is uniform with other standards - IFS Logistics & IFS Broker-, gradually being internationalised, and prepared to be used as a benchmark by GFSI.

It is of interest certification for organizations that manufacture food and want to demonstrate food safety and legality of their products within a framework of continuous improvement. The IFS Food standard is widely recognized by the large retail chains across Europe.

The certification process is started by compiling the data required to prepare an estimate in accordance with the characteristics of the applying organisation. After the estimate has been accepted, the on-site audit is planned. This will be performed by a highly qualified auditing team and in line with all the requisites of the IFS Food standard. After the audit has been completed, the company will have a set time to remedy any possible non-conformities detected.

In accordance with the protocol’s requisites, Kiwa España may grant IFS Food Certification on the Basic or Higher levels, depending on the number and type of non-conformities arising during the audit. The certificate granted will be effective for one year, and for this reason a renewal audit will be performed prior to its expiry, according to what is laid down in the IFS Food protocol.