Implementation of IFS Broker Version 3.2 for Trading Companies

Build every part of an IFS Broker Version 3.2 system, record by record, and take your trading company into its first audit with the evidence the auditor will ask for.

This is ASC’s practical IFS Broker course for the person who has to make it work. It is written for technical, quality and compliance managers at trading companies, importers, exporters, agents and private label suppliers who will build the system, run it and face the auditor. You work through the whole Standard in the order an implementation really runs: plan and scope, senior management, documents and the risk management system, people, contracts and specifications, suppliers and food fraud, traceability and release, then incidents, internal audit and audit readiness.

Every module ends with a practical task on the case company, Kalahari Crest Trading (fictional), a Cape Town exporter of citrus and pome fruit that also sells customer branded dried fruit and nut mixes. You score a gap analysis, write measurable objectives, build hazard analysis rows for traded products and broker steps, design a training matrix, and keep going until the company is ready for audit. Each task has a model answer so you can check your work.

The course is the companion to ASC’s TK18 IFS Broker Version 3.2 toolkit of 194 editable templates, and lessons point to the toolkit document that does each job. The toolkit is sold separately. You do not need it to complete the course, because every task runs on the case data in the lesson.

This is an independent ASC Food Safety Consultants course. It explains IFS Broker Version 3.2 in ASC’s own words. It is not an IFS course and it is not endorsed by IFS Management GmbH. Delegates should read the exact wording of each requirement in their own copy of the Standard, which is free to download from the IFS website.

What the course covers

Eight modules of about three hours each. Module 1 plans the implementation: fit and scope, product scopes, the gap analysis with IFS scoring, the project plan and team, and the annual reviews that must run before the first audit. Module 2 builds the senior management system: policy, measurable objectives, the product safety culture plan, structure and deputies, resources for KO n° 1, legislation and destination country registers, customer and certification body notification, and management review. Module 3 covers document and record control and KO n° 2, the risk management system, from the team and the broker flow chart to hazard analysis, control measures, validation and verification of supplier HACCP. Module 4 covers competence, training needs, the training matrix, training records and effectiveness. Module 5 covers contracts, specifications and KO n° 3, and product development for customer branded products. Module 6 covers supplier and service provider approval, customer acceptance of non certified suppliers, packaging, food fraud and product defence. Module 7 covers traceability and KO n° 4, logistics service providers, product testing and KO n° 6, and quarantine and release. Module 8 covers complaints, incidents, withdrawal and recall, internal audit, corrective action, and readiness for the certification audit.

Each module closes with a knowledge check of 15 questions drawn from a bank of 20 and a scenario game of 10 decisions drawn from a bank of 12. Each module also has a practical task built on the case company, with a model answer behind a reveal so you can compare your own work. The course ends with a proctored final assessment of 50 questions drawn from the course question bank, completed in 60 minutes. The pass mark is 70 percent and you have three attempts. A certificate of completion is issued when you pass the final assessment.

This is an independent ASC Food Safety Consultants course. It explains IFS Broker Version 3.2 in ASC’s own words. It is not an IFS course and it is not endorsed by IFS Management GmbH. Delegates should read the exact wording of each requirement in their own copy of the Standard, which is free to download from the IFS website.