What Is IFS Food and How Do You Prepare for the Audit?
The buyer from a large retail chain calls on a Tuesday. She likes your product, but before any listing she needs one thing: a valid IFS Food certificate. For many manufacturers, this is the moment when IFS Food requirements stop being an abstract topic. However, the standard is less about paperwork than it first seems. In practice, it is a clear roadmap for safe, legal and consistent production.
What IFS Food is
IFS stands for International Featured Standards. IFS Food is a standard for auditing companies that process food or pack loose food products. Its aim is to show, with one shared assessment system, that products are safe, legal and of the agreed quality.
Retailers, manufacturers and certification bodies developed the standard together. As a result, it is close to day-to-day practice and widely accepted in food retail. According to IFS, there are more than 20,000 IFS Food certificates worldwide.
For many suppliers, certification is therefore not optional. Instead, it is often the entry ticket to supplying retail at all.
Which version applies
The current version is IFS Food Version 8, published in April 2023. Certification bodies could audit against Version 8 from 1 October 2023. Since 1 January 2024, they have been mandatory for all certified companies.
You can download the full text free of charge as the IFS Food Version 8 standard document from IFS. It contains both the audit protocol and the checklist of requirements.
In addition, IFS publishes interpretation documents, the so-called doctrines. They clarify individual requirements. For that reason, always check details such as deadlines or scoring against the current documents and your certification body.
Why retailers accept it
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognises IFS Food. IFS confirmed in its announcement on the GFSI recognition of IFS Food 8 that Version 8 met the GFSI benchmarking requirements in September 2024.
This recognition is the main reason why retailers accept the certificate. Otherwise, each chain would have to audit every supplier itself. So one audit replaces many individual customer audits.
How the standard is structured
Version 8 groups its requirements into five chapters. They follow the logic of an audit, from management down to everyday processes.
Governance and commitment. Corporate policy, management responsibility and the management review.
Food safety and quality management system. Document management, HACCP and the overall food safety system.
Resource management. Staff, training, personal hygiene and the working environment.
Operational processes. Purchasing, product development, production, packaging, maintenance and waste management, among others.
Measurements, analyses, improvements. Internal audits, complaints, recalls, non-conforming products and corrective actions.
Requirements that matter most in practice
IFS Food does not reward perfect binders. Instead, auditors look for processes that are actually lived on the shop floor.
A working HACCP system is the core. This means a sound hazard analysis, clear control points and records that people really use every day. The evidence must show that the rules are followed, not just written down.
Cleaning, pest control and hygiene also carry a lot of weight. Even if you outsource pest control, the responsibility stays with you. Therefore, complete records and a review of trends belong to every visit.
Finally, Version 8 puts more emphasis on food safety culture. This covers shared values and behaviour around food safety. It sounds abstract, but it is exactly what keeps standards high on a busy night shift.
Unannounced audits
IFS Food Version 8 requires that at least one in every three audits is unannounced. Companies that pass an unannounced audit receive a star status, which appears on the certificate and in the IFS database.
In practice, this changes how you prepare. A short clean-up before a known audit date no longer works. Instead, your site has to be audit-ready every day.
How to prepare for the audit
Start with an honest gap analysis. Compare your current processes with the requirements, chapter by chapter, and note where you fall short.
Next, train your team in a targeted way. Focus on hygiene, allergens and the handling of deviations, because these topics come up in almost every audit.
Then run an internal audit as a dress rehearsal.
Also review your supplier approvals and product specifications. Auditors often trace a single raw material from goods-in to the finished pack. If a specification is out of date or a supplier approval is missing, the trail breaks. A quick check of your top raw materials before the audit avoids this.
After that, repeat the internal audit on the weak spots you found. This shows weak points before the certification body finds them. You can plan and carry out these checks with the QMSpot audit management module.
For manufacturers, hygiene on the line is a large part of the audit. Our article on hygiene in food manufacturing covers zones, allergen changeovers and environmental monitoring in more detail.
What you need to document
HACCP plan. Hazard analysis, control points and validation for each product group.
Cleaning and hygiene records. Cleaning plans, release checks and pest control reports with trend reviews.
Training records. Who was trained, when and on which topic, for example with the QMSpot training and instructions module.
Internal audits. Audit plans, findings and the follow-up of each finding.
Deviations and corrective actions. Every non-conformity with its cause and its fix, tracked in the QMSpot defect management module.
Recalls and withdrawals. A tested procedure and records of recall tests, supported by the QMSpot product recalls module.
Routine checks. Temperatures, foreign body checks and hygiene rounds as digital checklists and inspection plans.
Frequently asked questions
Who needs IFS Food?
Mainly companies that process food or pack loose food and supply retail. The standard applies regardless of company size. Whether you need it depends on your customers.
Is IFS Food required by law?
No, it is a private standard. Legal hygiene rules apply anyway. Many retailers, though, make certification a condition of supply.
How often do audits take place?
Audits take place at regular intervals, and at least every third audit must be unannounced. Your certification body confirms the exact audit window and the validity of your certificate.
What does certification bring beyond market access?
You reduce the risk of recalls, create clear processes and build trust with trading partners. Used well, the standard is less a burden and more a tool.
How to get started
This week, pick one chapter of the standard, for example resource management. Walk through your site with the checklist and mark every requirement you cannot prove today.
These gaps are your first tasks. For each one, set an owner, a deadline and a record. To see how this comes together in one system, take a look at quality management software for manufacturing.
Not sure where your site stands on IFS Food?
Then let's talk briefly about your processes and see how you can prepare for internal audits, training and corrective actions with QMSpot in a calm and traceable way.