Templates and records · IFS Food
IFS Food templates and records
Ten records that hold up an IFS Food certification, ordered by chapter of the standard: what each one requires, which fields it needs and what it looks like when properly completed.
In one sentence
IFS Food does not supply forms, but its audit relies on specific records — CCP monitoring, specifications, supplier evaluation, cleaning, foreign bodies, traceability and recall tests, internal audits, complaints and corrective actions — and several of them underpin KO requirements, where a serious failure prevents the certificate from being issued.
- Version
- IFS Food v8 Published in April 2023
- KO requirements
- Ten in Version 8 A D score on any of them prevents certification
- Record retention
- Shelf life plus one year As a minimum, unless the law requires longer (2.1.2)
- Format
- Free Paper or electronic system, provided it is legible, authentic and cannot be altered without a trace
Contents
IFS Food templates and records
Clause references follow the numbering of IFS Food Version 8. Where a record underpins a KO requirement, its sheet says so.
CCP monitoring
What each CCP monitoring record must look like to pass the IFS Food KO requirement: owner, frequency…
Specifications
What raw material, packaging and finished product specifications must contain under IFS Food: parameters…
Supplier evaluation
How to approve and re-evaluate suppliers under IFS Food: risk-based criteria, GFSI certificates, performance…
Cleaning and disinfection
What the cleaning plan must record under IFS Food: what is cleaned, how, with which product, by whom, how it…
Foreign bodies
How to document the foreign body risk assessment IFS Food requires: sources, mitigation measures, detectors…
Traceability test
How to document the traceability test IFS Food requires as a KO requirement: batch chosen, direction, mass…
Internal audit
How to plan and record the internal audits IFS Food requires as a KO requirement: scope, risk-based…
Customer complaints
How to record and analyse complaints from customers, consumers and authorities under IFS Food…
Mock recall
How to prepare and record the annual mock recall IFS Food requires: crisis team, contacts, decision…
Corrective actions
How to document the corrective actions IFS Food requires as a KO requirement: root cause, owner, deadline…
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before getting started
Which records does an IFS Food auditor always review?
Those underpinning KO requirements carry the most weight: CCP monitoring, specifications, traceability, internal audits, product recall and corrective actions. But the auditor also walks the plant and checks what they see against the cleaning, foreign body and complaint records.
What happens if a KO requirement goes badly?
A KO scored D prevents the certificate from being issued at that audit, even if the rest of the report is good. That is why the records underpinning it must be complete and up to date, not reconstructed before the visit.
Are the same records valid for BRCGS?
Largely, yes: HACCP, traceability and supplier evaluation are common to both. The nuances change — deadlines, frequencies, how scoring works — and each template sheet links to its BRCGS equivalent where there is one.
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Related pages
Sources
Where each figure comes from
References to the official text in force. If a standard is revised, this page is updated and the review date says so.
- IFS Food Version 8 — Standard for auditing product and process compliance in relation to food safety and quality IFS Management GmbH · Version 8, April 2023
- Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs EUR-Lex · 29 April 2004
- Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law (Articles 18 and 19) EUR-Lex · 28 January 2002