IFS: International Food Standard

The International Food Standard (IFS) was developed by German retailers for the auditing of private brands. It was introduced in the Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Handelsverbände (BDH) e.V. (the federal union of German trade associations) and accepted by German trade. A future-oriented, transparent, comprehensive service package for the auditing of food manufacturers is provided via an online database developed by the BDH committee for food law and quality assurance and HDE Trade Services GmbH in co-operation with Convivi GmbH, a company specialising in online databases.

The goals are the creation of a basis for evaluating all private brand manufacturers, uniform formulation and performance of audits, mutual recognition of the audits performed and a high level of transparency throughout the entire supply chain.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) officially approved the standard in January 2003.

The Carstens firm first received IFS certification on 27 May 2003.

You can find the IFS audit portal at the Internet address: http://www.food-care.info