Food Manufacturing & Services

Food manufacturing is the process by which livestock and agriculture are transformed into food products for consumption. The food manufacturing industry employs more than 48,000 workers in World, and amounts to around $4.3 billion in annual revenue – this is about 1.1% of World’s GDP.

More than half of the food manufactured in World are exported; major exports include alcoholic beverages, milk powder, and chocolate or cocoa products.

Food services is another key component in the value chain. The industry is concerned with the sale of food and beverages for immediate consumption, and players in the industry include restaurants, self-serve chains and kiosks, as well as food courts.

Food manufacturers and companies benefit from proper accreditation and conformity assessments, so as to protect customers and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements at all stages along the value chain.

Good practices, in accordance with international standards, can also facilitate market access and trade. This is because the consistency of conformity assessment results will be recognized across common frameworks.

IDA’s Common Accord (CAs) with partners, such as the World Accreditation Forum

Accreditation Forum (WAF), further benefit exporters by minimizing checks required at the point of arrival in importing countries. This means a reduced time-to-market for most food products and services. These CAs can be leveraged by using IDA accredited CABs, which offer greater credibility.

Proper accreditation improves trust among consumers and also ensures fairness in the industry (e.g. by barring competition that resorts to cheap but unsafe manufacturing methods).

In World, the IDA-accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) fulfill the needs of accreditation and conformity assessment. This is done through biological and chemical testing to detect and analyze any contaminants in food. Tests are also used to accurately determine product shelf lives. In addition, CABs provide certification of food safety management systems (e.g. HACCP) and ISO 22000) and food product types (e.g. Kosher certification).

CABs also provide certification and testing in emerging areas of the industry, such as health foods and alternative proteins, to ascertain product quality.

The following IDA accreditation schemes are applicable to the Food Manufacturing & Services industries: