IFS Food requirements explained: video brief

IFS Food applies to food manufacturers, and only where product is processed or treated, or where loose food is packed and could be contaminated at primary packing. Its five chapters run from governance and commitment to measurements, analyses and improvements, with food fraud and food defence inside operational processes. Storage, transport and development at the site are part of the audit; a logistics provider, a broker or a packaging maker uses the IFS standard written for that activity.

Yes. GFSI's list of recognised certification programmes, last updated in August 2026, names IFS Food version 8, benchmarked against Version 2020 of the GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. In April 2026 IFS revised the Version 8 doctrine to meet the 2024 Benchmarking Requirements and to prepare its recognition application under them. A certificate from an accredited certification body under contract with IFS answers a request for GFSI-recognised certification; check whether your customer also asks for a level or the Star.

KO, short for knock-out, marks the ten requirements that decide whether a certificate is possible: one on governance and commitment, then the monitoring of each CCP, personal hygiene, customer agreements, raw material specifications, foreign material risk mitigation, traceability, internal audits, incident, withdrawal and recall procedures, and corrective actions. A KO requirement can be scored A, B or D, never C; a B on a KO scores no points, and a D subtracts 50 per cent of the possible total, so no certificate can be issued and a new initial audit has to be agreed.

Both are IFS Food certificates; the level reflects the total score. At least 95 per cent earns the Higher level; at least 75 but under 95 per cent, the Foundation level. A Major non-conformity, a substantial failure against the standard, food safety or the law, subtracts 15 per cent of the possible total and stops the certificate until a follow-up audit, normally between six weeks and six months later, confirms it is resolved; the certificate is then issued at Foundation level only, whatever the final score. More than one Major, or any KO requirement scored D, means the audit is not passed.

At least one IFS Food Audit in every three must be unannounced. Its window opens sixteen weeks before the audit due date and closes two weeks after it. The site may declare up to ten working days, in no more than three periods, when it is not available, as well as non-operating periods. A site that has undergone an unannounced audit gains the IFS Star, shown on its certificate and in the IFS Database until an announced audit takes place.