5. RESULTADOS
5.3. COMPARACIÓN DE PERSPECTIVAS GENERATIVISTA Y FUNCIONAL-DISCURSIVA
“IFS Food” was launched in 2002 by German food retailers Metro, REWE, EDEKA, Lidl/Kaufland, Aldi and Tengelman, who currently hold a combined market share of over 75%. However, the composition of business actors involved in ‘IFS Food’ has changed over the past thirteen years: Table 6.1 summarizes this development and highlights changes to ‘IFS Food’. Table 6.1 also considers the development of complementary IFS for logistics, packaging and brokering.
Table 6.1. IFS business actors
Date Business Actors
2002
→ IFS Food Initiation
- Informal meeting of German retailers, who are
members of the “Trade association for a free market” (Handelsvereinigung für Marktwirtschaft, HfM) including representatives of REWE, EDEKA, METRO, Tengelman, LIDL/Kaufland, Tegut and Globus.
2003
→ Official registration of IFS Food with the HDE
→ IFS Food 3 launch
- Official registration of the IFS with the German
Retail Federation (Handelsverband Deutschland, HDE) and transfer of IFS management to the “HDE Trade Service GmbH”.
- Business actors comprise German retailers, a few
manufacturers and certification and accreditation bodies
2004
→ IFS Food 4 launch
- The French Retail Federation (Fédération des
Entreprises du Commerce et de la Distribution, FCD) joins the German IFS Group to co-develop IFS Food 4.
2005/2006
→ IFS Food 5 launch
→ IFS Logistics launch
- The German and French retail federations are joined
by a group of Italian, Swiss and Austrian retailers (who are also members of the Italian retail
federation ‘Federdistribuzione’) to develop IFS Food 5.
17The IFS competes with multiple vertical and horizontal standards in the food industry. Compared to other standards, IFS is the only one demanded by all German, and increasingly, all European retailers, and is therefore considered as of particular importance in this thesis.
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Date Business Actors
- IFS Logistics is launched, counting major logistics
providers and associations as members in addition to the core group of food retailers
2009
→ IFS Household and Personal Care Products (IFS HPC) launch
→ IFS Broker launch
- The launch of the IFS for the production of
household and personal care products has brought new members, including Belgian, French and German household and personal care products associations (i.e., the European Cosmetics Association; the German Cosmetic, Toiletry, Perfumery and Detergent Association).
- IFS Broker launch brought in major purchasing
organizations such as the ‘European Marketing Distribution’ and ‘US Foods’.
2010
→ IFS Cash & Carry Wholesale launch
IFS Cash and Carry launch is managed by the same IFS members as IFS Food 6.
2011
→ IFS Food6 launch
→ Version 6 updated in April 2014 following horsemeat contamination
The IFS Food 6 was developed by the IFS North America working group and retailers from Spain, Asia and South America, in addition to previous IFS Food members.
2012
→ IFS PACsecure launch
The German IFS GmbH purchased the Canadian Packaging Standard ‘PACsecure’ and developed it into the IFS-PACsecure. This move brought in new members, including the Canadian Packaging Association and 84 major manufacturers and relevant industry
associations. Among them are Coca Cola, Kraft Foods, Pamalat, Nestle, Maple Leaf Consumer Goods, General Mills and Tetra Pak.
2013
→ IFS Food Store launch
The German IFS GmbH purchased the ‘French Food Store Standard’ and developed it into the IFS-Food Store. Members of the IFS Food Store have identical status to IFS Food.
2014
→ IFS Food Global launch
IFS Food Global is managed by the same members as IFS Broker.
While official IFS publications started with the transfer of the standard to the HDE Trade Service GmbH in 200318, archival and interview evidence suggests that the IFS was previously negotiated in a series of private meetings between representatives of all German food
18 It is worth noting that the HDE Trade Service GmbH is registered at the same address in Berlin as the German Federation for Retail Trade (HDE), the IFS GmbH and the German Federation of Retail Trade (BVLH). Immediate geographical proximity further supports the evidence that the IFS was primarily the outcome of German retailers who are members of all mentioned institutions.
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retailers, known as the ‘Kronberg circle’, who manage the ‘trade association for a free market’ (Handelsvereinigung fur Markwirtschaft, HfM). Today, this group of German food retailers features across all IFS schemes. Considering the relevance of IFS Food, Figure 6.1 depicts the retailers and other actors involved in IFS Food 6:
Figure 6.1. IFS Food 6 members.
Figure 6.1 illustrates German retailers’ efforts to expand membership beyond the German and European borders by including major retailers from France, Italy, Switzerland, the USA and Canada, who in turn request compliance with the IFS from their respective manufacturers and suppliers. By 2012, IFS Food was translated into 20 languages, expanded into 96 countries and shows an annual increase in IFS audits by 9% (IFS News, IFS Food 6, 2011).
Additionally, IFS Food counts major certification bodies, manufacturers and McDonalds among its members. Figure 6.1 highlights that IFS Food does not exist in isolation from other IFS schemes, other public food safety standards (such as the ISO 2200019) or the European
19 Despite parallels between the IFS and ISO 22000, there are significant differences: (1) ISO 22000 addresses food safety, while the IFS also addresses food quality and legal requirements of food manufacturing, packaging, transportation. None of the ISO schemes address any of the following areas that are covered by the IFS: quality management, including compliance with contract specifications; product development and quality; packaging and quantity checks; complaints management from customers, consumers and public authorities; GMO; and subsidiary inspections. Moreover, ISO standards do not specify measurements or target levels to evaluate the degree to which companies comply with ISO standards or not. The ISO standard does not provide standard management tools (such as the IFS Integrity Program or IFS audit-portal database) to monitor audit quality and does not provide standardized audit checklists or report templates. This limitation allows each CB to design their own ISO-audit checklists. Because ISO standards are
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and German legislations.
Instead, there is reciprocal interaction between ‘IFS Food’ and the EU and German legislation: First, the IFS emerged as a response to the EU regulation mandating ‘due diligence’ verification on behalf of food businesses and simultaneously, the IFS development was supported by EU regulations promoting the development of own industry standards. Second, governmental authorities reportedly adopt IFS requirements in developing inspection guides such as the “Product-Safety Checklist” for governmental inspection authorities. Third, the subtlest interaction between the IFS and public regulations is the absence of further regulations, as the IFS delivers improvements limiting further need for regulation.