Implementation

IFS Broker Certification in South Africa: Rollout Order, Realistic Timelines and What the Auditor Asks to See

By Mthokozisi Nkosi, Food Safety Specialist & Lead Auditor, ASC Food Safety · 12 min read

IFS Broker certification in South Africa takes most trading companies about four to nine months from the decision to the first audit, as an illustration, and the critical path is supplier evidence and customer sign-off rather than writing documents. You roll out in a set order, complete the annual reviews and tests before the first audit, book an ISO/IEC 17065 accredited certification body for a date inside your trading season, and return the action plan within four weeks of the provisional report. This guide sets out each stage and what the auditor asks to see, using the plan built into ASC’s IFS Broker Version 3.2 Document Templates Toolkit.

Is IFS Broker the right standard for your business?

IFS Broker fits a company that trades food, household and personal care products or packaging from an office, without taking physical possession of the goods. Many South African fruit exporters, nut and dried fruit traders and importers work this way, with packhouses, contract packers, cold stores and forwarders doing the physical work. If you hold stock yourself, that storage needs IFS Logistics or an exclusion statement. If you process, it needs IFS Food, HPC or PACsecure or an exclusion statement. Record the decision on IFSB005 Logistics and Processing Activities Scope Decision Record before anything else, because it fixes the scope and the audit duration.

Your customers often decide the scheme. If a buyer asks for BRCGS rather than IFS, ASC’s BRCGS toolkits hub covers the alternatives. The whole IFS Standard is summarised in our IFS Broker 3.2 requirements guide.

How long does IFS Broker certification take?

The figures below are illustrative. The real driver is how fast suppliers return certificates and questionnaires, how fast customers sign specifications and acceptances, and how many weeks of records you can show running on the new forms.

Writing the documents is rarely what holds a broker back. Waiting for a customer to sign a specification is.

In what order should you roll out the system?

The phases overlap, but phase 1 must be approved before anything that depends on it is issued, because every later document names the roles and follows the document rules set there.

1. FoundationScope, policy, organisation chart and deputies, the Product Safety Team, document control and a controlled folder.
2. Risk managementProduct and service descriptions, a verified flow diagram, the hazard analysis, control measures and limits. Our risk assessment guide covers the method.
3. Supply chain controlsContracts and specifications, supplier and service provider approval, certification status, customer acceptance for uncertified suppliers, logistics agreements and packaging.
4. Traceability, testing and fraudTraceability register, testing plan, laboratory approval, food fraud vulnerability assessment and product defence.
5. Product developmentA complete development file for every own or customer branded product.
6. Incidents and improvementComplaints, incidents, withdrawal and recall, non-conforming product and corrective action.
7. TrainingEveryone trained for their role, with signed records and an effectiveness check.
8. VerificationAnnual tests and reviews, an internal audit of every requirement, management review.
9. CertificationCertification body contract, optional pre-audit, audit and action plan.

What should you configure first?

Configuring a document means replacing the illustrative defaults with your own values, removing what does not apply and having the owner approve it. Start with the documents that others depend on, or that have long lead times.

• The scope decision record and the certification scope statement (IFSB005 and IFSB004).
• Responsibilities and deputies, and the risk management team appointment (IFSB029 and IFSB060).
• Document and record control and the master document register (IFSB050 and IFSB051).
• The approved supplier and certification status registers (IFSB111 and IFSB113). These take longest, because certificates and questionnaires take weeks to come back.
• The customer requirements register and product specifications (IFSB091, IFSB096, IFSB097). Signed customer specifications are the clearest evidence for KO 4.2.2, and 4.2.3 requires formal agreement wherever the customer asks for it.
• The hazard analysis (IFSB064), which sets the frequencies other documents use.
• The operating parameter schedule (IFSB017), filled in as each default is confirmed.
• The traceability system and register (IFSB129 and IFSB130), started early so there is real data for the pre-audit trace.

Which annual reviews must be done before the first audit?

The IFS Broker Version 3.2 Doctrine (version 3, April 2026) confirms that requirements carrying an annual review or test must already be implemented before the first audit. The Standard sets 1.3.1, 2.3.9, 4.6.2, 4.7.4, 5.1.2 and 5.5.4 at least yearly. Flow diagram verification, training content review, supplier assessment and the safety culture review are regular reviews that TK18 sets yearly by default, and an auditor will expect each to have run once. Plan them into the rollout rather than the first year of certification.

Each must be a real exercise with a dated, signed record. A recall test held as a desk discussion with no clock will not satisfy the auditor, and neither will an internal audit that skipped requirements. Why that matters is explained in our guide to the IFS Broker KO requirements.

How do you choose a certification body and book the audit?

Part 1 section 5.2 puts the check on you. The certification body must be accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 for IFS Broker and hold a contract with IFS, and the auditor must be approved for IFS Broker. The list of approved certification bodies by country is on the IFS website. The contract must state the scope, the audit duration and the reporting requirements, and refer to the IFS Integrity programme, which can send unannounced on-site checks to certified companies.

• Book early. In the illustrative six month plan the contract is signed in month two, because certification bodies fill up before the fruit season.
• Book inside the season. The audit must take place when the broker services in scope can be fully assessed, with live consignments to sample.
• Expect at least six hours on site. The certification body adds time for development work, product volume, the number of origin and destination countries, staff numbers and earlier findings.
• If you want a pre-audit, it is for your own use only, and the auditor who does it cannot do your initial audit.
• Tell the certification body if you have held IFS certification before, so the old action plan can be reviewed.

What does the auditor ask to see on the day?

The hazards the auditor will probe during product sampling are covered in our guide to food safety for fruit exporters and traders.

What happens between the audit and the certificate?

1. Two weeksThe certification body sends the provisional report and action plan.
2. Four weeksYou return the action plan with corrections, corrective actions, owners, dates and evidence of the corrections. Late return means a full new audit.
3. Two weeksThe certification body reviews the plan and decides. The target from audit to certificate is six weeks, the maximum eight.
4. CertificateValid until one year and eight weeks after the last day of the initial audit, less one day, and that end date stays the same every year.
5. RenewalThe audit due date is the anniversary of the last day of the initial audit. The renewal audit falls between eight weeks before and two weeks after it.

Corrective actions that need longer can run past the certificate date if justified, but must be in place before the renewal audit. No certificate is issued until every correction is done.

Should you take the unannounced audit option?

Part 5 allows a full unannounced audit in place of the scheduled renewal, and a company may even start with one. A site audited unannounced gets the IFS Star Status on its certificate and in the IFS Database. The rules are strict.

• Choose the option for each renewal and register with the certification body at least four weeks before the audit window opens.
• The window runs from 16 weeks before to two weeks after the audit due date.
• You may name up to ten operational days when the office is unavailable, in no more than three periods, with reasons.
• Give the names of the people the auditor should ask for on arrival, and keep a minimum document set ready at all times.
• Refusing access, other than force majeure, leads to suspension of the certificate, an invoice for the audit and an announced audit next time.

Part 5 itself notes the option may not suit small brokers whose office is not permanently manned. TK18 covers the decision and readiness in IFSB013 Unannounced Audit Option and Readiness and IFSB014 Unannounced Audit Readiness Checklist.

ASC works with trading companies from offices in Gqeberha, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Contact the team for implementation support or an independent internal audit. The Introduction to IFS Broker Version 3.2 Course (R1,195) suits staff new to the Standard, the Food Fraud Tool and Food Defence Tool are R750 each, more templates are in the ASC shop, and ASC Pest Control looks after offices and warehouses.

Frequently asked questions

Published by ASC Food Safety, South African food safety and quality consultants. This article is general guidance and not a substitute for certification-specific advice.