Introduction to IFS Broker Version 3.2 Course

Learn how IFS Broker Version 3.2 works inside a trading office, from the scope and the specification to traceability, recall and the audit day.

IFS Broker is the standard retailers and importers ask for when product reaches them through an agent, a trader or an importer rather than straight from the factory. It audits the service you provide: how you choose suppliers, agree specifications, trace lots, hold and recall product and fix what goes wrong. You never touch the product, so the system lives in your contracts, your supplier files and your records.

This course explains IFS Broker Version 3.2 (February 2024) in plain South African business English, with examples from fruit exporters, nut and spice importers, private label suppliers and packaging traders. You follow Kalahari Crest Trading (fictional), a Cape Town fruit exporter with a private label nut mix range, from setting its scope to receiving its audit result. Every requirement is cited by number and linked to what an auditor will ask to see.

It is the first step in ASC’s IFS Broker ladder. Managers can go on to the IFS Broker Version 3.2 for Management Course, and the people who will build the system can go on to Implementation of IFS Broker Version 3.2 for Trading Companies.

What the course covers

Six modules. Module 1 covers IFS, who IFS Broker is for, the audit scope, product scopes, what the Standard does not cover, Parts 1 to 5, the Doctrine and the eight KO requirements. Module 2 covers senior management responsibility, the policy, objectives, product safety culture, management review, documents and records. Module 3 covers the HACCP based risk management system for a business that never makes the product, and competence and training. Module 4 covers contracts, specifications, product development, purchasing and supplier certification, packaging and labelling, traceability, food fraud and logistics. Module 5 covers internal audits, product analyses, quarantine and release, complaints, incidents, withdrawal and recall, non-conforming product, corrective action and product defence. Module 6 covers the audit itself, from preparation and scoring to the action plan, the certificate, renewal, unannounced audits and logo use.

Each module ends with a knowledge check of 15 questions drawn from a bank of 20 and a scenario game of 10 situations drawn from 12. The final assessment draws 40 questions from a bank of 66 covering all six modules. You have 45 minutes, the pass mark is 70 percent and you have three attempts.

This is an independent ASC 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. Read the exact wording of every requirement in your own copy of the Standard, which you can download free of charge from the IFS website.