Food Quality Magazine
ISSUE 01 | SUMMER 2014
IFS Food Checks: New Programme of
Unannounced Audits
Mérieux NutriSciences’ Siliker Food Science
Center Opens Virus Laboratory
(Source: IFS) From beginning of 2014, IFS Management GmbH
offers the new IFS program “Unannounced IFS Food Checks“.
(Source: Mérieux NutriSciences Corporation) The Silliker Food
Science Center, a leading contract research organization and
part of Mérieux NutriSciences Corporation, announced in July
16th, 2014 the opening of a new Virus Detection Laboratory
in Crete (Chicago area). The new addition to the Food Science
Center is the second laboratory in the company’s international
network dedicated to virus detection, joining Chelab Silliker in
Resana, Italy, which launched its services earlier this year.
The aim of the unannounced IFS Food Checks is to verify whether a food producing company complies in daily operations
with the processes which were audited during the IFS Food audit, thus, ensuring food safety and quality continuously.
The basis of the unannounced IFS Food Checks is a checklist of
90 criteria, which have been selected from the IFS Food version
6 standard. The focus is placed on the review of the IFS Food
standard requirements, in particular, the requirements relating
to the implementation of HACCP and to the assurance of the
general health and pest preventions. The document review will
be limited to the most essential.
The participation in the IFS program “Unannounced IFS Food
Checks“ is voluntary. The necessary pre-condition is that the
company either holds a valid IFS Food certificate and has applied
for the unannounced IFS Food Checks.
The IFS Food Check is done without notice and is planned,
conducted and evaluated by the IFS Management GmbH. The
implementation is carried out independently from the certification body responsible for the announced IFS Food audit.
Information about the program can be downloaded from IFS
website www.ifs-certification.com.
GFSI Published Position
Paper on Food Fraud
(Source: GFSI) In July 2014, the Global
Food Safety Initiative released a paper on
the position of the GFSI on Food Fraud
mitigation.
This work has been led by the GFSI Guidance Document Working Group* with
the Food Fraud Think Tank**, convened
to further advance the food fraud mitigation topic.
In line with the GFSI’s mission statement,
the additional requirements and food
fraud definition ensure a focus on food
safety, rather than other factors such as
commercial gain. The requirements specifies that companies perform a food
fraud vulnerability assessment and to
have a food fraud vulnerability control
plan in place to mitigate the identified
vulnerabilities.
In order to ensure transparency, the GFSI
Board believes that the mitigation of food
fraud is an integral part of a company‘s
food safety management system, and has
therefore, decided to include new requi-
“Globally, there are only a handful of laboratories dedicated
to virus detection“, said Silvia Scolari, Ph.D., Toxicology and
Virology Manager at Chelab Silliker. “With the opening of our
laboratory in North America, Mérieux NutriSciences is making a significant investment in this highly important field of
testing and research.” Wendy McMahon, General Manager of
the Food Science Center,