IFS

The International Featured Standard (IFS) Food is a benchmark recognized by theGlobal Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)to certify the safety and quality of food products and processes. It is the benchmark that has been most demanded in the Portuguese market due to requirements such as the supermarket chain  Lidl. As a rule that originated in Germany, France and Italy and for this reason facilitates access to these markets. The most applied standard is the IFS FOOD, now in its version 7. The requirements between the standards  BRCGS and IFS are very similar because they are governed by GFSI indications.

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All IFS standards are free and can be downloaded from the site https://ifs-certification.com

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The most well-known standards are:

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• IFS Food: manufacture. Ex: Fruit Stations, Cheese Shops, Wineries, Pastry Shops,  etc.

• IFS PACsecure:  Packaging material Ex: Packaging manufacturers 

• IFS Logistics: Storage and distribution Ex: Warehousing and Transporters

• IFS Broker : Commercialization without manipulation Ex: Importer  / exporter

• IFS HPC:Non-food products for domestic use Ex: creams, towels, cosmetics, personal hygiene, household appliances, furniture, etc.

• IFS Wholesale / Cash & Carry:Retailers with one or more sites

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• IFS Globalmarkets (Logistis, Food or HPC):Companies that fall into Logistics, Food or HPC and that are not yet ready to move towards certification, but rather a short-term commitment step by step.

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It is not possible to access the list of certified companies without login, which is provided only in the organization's certification process, however there are already more than 16,000 certified companies globally.

 https://www.ifs-certification.com/index.php/en/tools/ifs-database

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