IFS Food certification consulting for a score your private-label customers can build on.

What it is

What is IFS Food and what is it used for?

IFS Food is the certification standard IFS applies to food manufacturers. It examines the products and the production processes to judge whether a producer can make safe, authentic food of the agreed quality, in line with the law and with its customers' specifications. It began in 2003, when the German retail federation HDE and the French retail federation FCD introduced the International Food Standard; today IFS Management GmbH, their joint venture, runs it as part of the International Featured Standards family.

What sets IFS Food apart is its scoring. Every requirement is scored from A, full compliance, to D, not implemented; ten are KO requirements, and a D on any of them rules out a certificate. The total becomes a percentage: at least 95 per cent earns the Higher level, at least 75 but under 95 per cent the Foundation level, and after an unannounced audit the certificate carries the IFS Star.

Current version. IFS Food Version 8 was published in April 2023; audits against it were possible from 1 October 2023 and became mandatory from 1 January 2024. In April 2026 IFS chose to revise the doctrine rather than issue a new version: doctrine version 5, published on 23 April 2026, corrects errata, clarifies the definition of food safety culture and the extraordinary information a certified site must pass to its certification body, and was written to meet the 2024 GFSI Benchmarking Requirements. GFSI's list of recognised programmes names IFS Food version 8 against the 2020 Benchmarking Requirements, and IFS describes the revised doctrine as preparation for its recognition application under Version 2024. IFS Food Version 8, its doctrine and what changed in April 2026

Who it is for

Who needs IFS Food certification?

IFS Food is written for the production site. It applies only where food is processed or treated, or where loose food is packed and could be contaminated at primary packing. A logistics provider, a broker or trading agent, or a manufacturer of packaging looks to IFS Logistics, IFS Broker or IFS PACsecure instead. Manufacturers come to Sterling for IFS Food from four starting points:

• A retail customer has made IFS Food a condition of supply. Supplier approval requirements for private-label and branded ranges can name the scheme, a minimum level or the unannounced option. We confirm at the outset what your customer accepts and what the scope must cover.
• You need a GFSI-recognised certificate and IFS suits the site. Where a customer accepts any GFSI-recognised scheme, IFS Food fits a producer that wants a detailed checklist, a scored result it can improve year after year, and one audit report held in the IFS Database.
• You are opening export markets or new retail accounts. A single annual IFS Food audit can take the place of repeated customer audits wherever the customer accepts it.
• A recall, a complaint or a poor customer audit has exposed a gap. A foreign-body complaint, a mislabelled allergen or a product that drifted from its agreed specification shows that a HACCP plan on its own is not a system. IFS Food adds specifications, operational controls, food fraud and food defence plans, and a scored audit every year.

Business benefits

What IFS Food certification does for a food manufacturer

We begin where a retailer's quality team begins: the specification behind each product, the HACCP study behind each line, the hygiene of the factory on an ordinary shift, and whether the ten KO requirements hold when nobody is watching.

• A result customers can compareA percentage score and a Foundation or Higher level give retail customers a common yardstick across suppliers, and give you a trend to improve from one year's audit to the next.
• Fewer duplicated customer auditsOne annual audit, with its report and action plan held in the IFS Database, in place of separate visits from every customer that accepts the scheme.
• Products that match the agreed specificationCustomer agreements and raw material specifications kept under control, so recipes, labels and claims match what was agreed with the customer and what the law requires.
• Fewer incidents and recallsForeign material risk mitigation, allergen control and CCP monitoring that work on every line, and a recall procedure tested long before it is needed.
• Protection against fraud and tamperingA food fraud vulnerability assessment and a food defence plan covering substitution, adulteration and deliberate contamination, reviewed as suppliers, prices and threats change.
• A site ready on any dayHygiene, monitoring and records kept the same on every shift, so the unannounced audit, and the IFS Star that follows it, holds no surprises.

Requirements

What are the main IFS Food requirements?

IFS Food Version 8 is published in four parts: the certification protocol; the audit checklist, the list of IFS Food requirements; the requirements for accreditation bodies, certification bodies and auditors; and reporting, IFS software and the IFS Database. What your site implements is Part 2: five chapters of requirements, ten of them designated KO. The table is a plain-language map; during the programme the site is checked requirement by requirement against the Version 8 text and the current doctrine.

Certification process

How do you get IFS Food certified?

Implement the system and run it; then an accredited certification body under contract with IFS audits the site, scores it and decides. Sterling prepares your site and works alongside your team. The audit, the score, the level and the certification decision belong to the certification body alone.

1. 01
   Define the scope and the audit option.Products, processes and lines; the product and technology scopes they fall under; any head office functions; the announced or unannounced option; and the audit duration, which IFS's mandatory calculation tool sets.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: review the current site against the requirements.All five chapters of Version 8 and the ten KO requirements checked against the site, the HACCP studies, the specifications and the records; actions, owners, dates, budget for works and resources agreed.
3. 03
   Implement and build the evidence.Complete the HACCP studies, specifications and customer agreements, close factory and hygiene gaps, put food fraud, food defence, allergen and foreign material controls in place, train the people and keep the records in daily production.
4. 04
   Audit internally, test and review.A full internal audit against Version 8, scored the way the certification body will score it, a traceability test, a recall test and a management review; KO risks and potential Majors raised by us first and closed with evidence.
5. 05
   Complete the IFS Food Audit.The certification body audits on site and sends the action plan within two weeks of the last audit day; your team returns it, with evidence that corrections are in place, within four weeks of receiving it; after technical review, the certificate follows six to eight weeks after the audit, at Foundation or Higher level.
6. 06
   Keep the certificate and the level.An IFS Food Audit every year, in a window from eight weeks before to two weeks after the audit due date, at least one audit in three unannounced, and doctrine changes applied as IFS publishes them.

Check the route before the price. Ask which certification body will audit, confirm with its accreditation body that it is accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 for IFS Food, and confirm that it holds a contract with IFS Management GmbH. Offers that skip implementation tend to end with a KO requirement scored D, or with a certificate a retailer's quality team will not accept. How to choose a credible IFS Food provider · The certification buyer's checklist

Cost

How much does IFS Food certification cost?

A single-line ambient producer with current specifications and sound HACCP studies is a different project from a multi-line chilled site whose floors, drains and equipment need work before the first audit. We price the site in front of us: one all-inclusive proposal, with every component shown.

Timeline

How long does IFS Food certification take?

An IFS Food Audit scores what the auditor sees on the day and the records behind it, so the system must run before it is audited: specifications signed off, HACCP studies validated and monitored, factory findings fixed rather than planned, and records built up over enough production to show a pattern. Five to ten months is the realistic range from gap analysis to certificate, including the six to eight weeks between audit and certificate: the shorter end for a site with sound HACCP studies and specifications, the longer end where works are needed.

If a retail listing, a tender or a seasonal launch fixes the date, tell us at the first meeting. We will say what is achievable, which decisions cannot wait, and which works need ordering in the first month.

Challenges

Common IFS Food implementation challenges

IFS Food programmes stall for reasons that recur from factory to factory. Each one has a practical answer.

Your engagement

What your IFS Food engagement includes

A Sterling engagement carries the site from the first walk through the factory to the certificate and the audits that follow, under one all-inclusive proposal and one accountable team.

• Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan

  All five chapters and the ten KO requirements reviewed against the site, the HACCP studies, the specifications and the records; works, actions, owners and dates agreed before work starts.

• Food safety and quality system development

  HACCP studies, specifications and customer agreements, operational procedures, food fraud and food defence plans, hygiene rules and training, built with your people on Sterling's template sets.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Your IFS Food system runs in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for your audit team, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Internal audit, traceability and recall tests, management review

  A scored internal audit against Version 8, a traceability test, a recall test and a management review, conducted or facilitated as agreed, with findings closed before the certification body arrives.

• Certification readiness and support

  Choice of certification body and audit option, preparation, presence during the audit as agreed, and support with the action plan until the certificate and level are issued.

Certification decisions remain with the independent certification body.

How we deliver

How Sterling supports your IFS Food implementation

Each IFS Food engagement runs on Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system: five phases, each with set deliverables, decision owners and the evidence it must produce. You decide how much of the work your own team carries; the method, the software and the accountability do not change.

1. 01
   Design™Guided implementation: your quality and HACCP team does the work, with Sterling's structure, templates, workshops and coaching behind it.
2. 02
   Drive™Fully managed consulting: Sterling consultants carry the agreed work alongside your quality team, production managers and engineers.
3. 03
   Sustain™After certification: scored internal audits, traceability and recall tests, refresher and new-starter training, and readiness for an unannounced audit in any year.
4. 04
   Automate™The IFS Food system in Effivity: HACCP and CCP monitoring, specifications, suppliers, hygiene, foreign material, traceability, complaints, audits and management review in one workspace.
5. 05
   Revise™The move from Foundation to Higher level, the unannounced option, doctrine updates, other IFS standards for logistics, trading or packaging, and the next version of IFS Food once IFS publishes it.

In the first week we agree the engagement team, the weekly working session, the deliverables and the decision owners, and review progress against them every week.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with IFS Food

• BRCGS Food SafetyBRCGS Food Safety certification consulting for food manufacturers: HACCP plan, site standards and controls ready for a graded audit, announced or unannounced.
• BRCGS Storage and Distribution · Agents and BrokersBRCGS Storage and Distribution certification and Agents and Brokers: Issue 4 and Issue 3 requirements, scopes, audits and cost factors, with Sterling's support.
• FairtradeFairtrade certification and requirements: which Fairtrade International standards apply, FLOCERT's audit, cost and timing, and how Sterling prepares you.
• FAMI-QS / GMP+FAMI-QS and GMP+ certification for feed businesses: how the two schemes differ, their requirement documents, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
• FDA FSMA (US)FDA FSMA compliance for food facilities, importers, farms and carriers: preventive controls, FSVP, food traceability and records ready for FDA inspection.
• FSSC 22000FSSC 22000 certification consulting for GFSI-recognised food safety: ISO 22000, sector PRPs and FSSC requirements, ready for a licensed body's audit.