Reporting and handling incidents via the IFS and BRCGS customer portal
To report incidents, we request that you use the portal. Incidents include, among others, the following:
- (Public) recalls
- Withdrawal
- Official warnings/fines from authorities (such as NVWA, COKZ)
- Microbiological contamination
- Incorrect labelling
- Foreign materials in the product
- Packaging errors
- Incidents with serious consequences such as hospital admissions or consumers deaths
- MRL exceedances
Important to know
- Report an incident as soon as possible after it is identified.
According to the guidelines of the standard owners, you are required to report incidents to the certificate holder, in this case Kiwa. The deadlines for reporting to Kiwa are as follows. More information can be found in the relevant standard: -
- BRCGS standards: within 2 working days (except for BRCGS Gluten-Free: within 1 working day)
- IFS standards: within 3 working days
- If you have multiple certifications (for example, both IFS and BRCGS), you only need to report the incident once via the customer portal; we will ensure further handling with the standard owners.
Updates to IFS Doctrines (April 2026)
With the recent update to the IFS Food, Broker, and Logistics Doctrines, the reporting requirements to the certification body have changed. As a result, certain types of incidents no longer need to be reported.
We recommend that you always consult the latest version of the IFS Doctrine for the relevant standard to obtain the most up-to-date and complete information regarding the reporting requirements. It provides an overview of which situations must be reported and what information is required in each case. If you have any questions, please contact Kiwa.
- Do you not yet have login credentials for the customer portal? You can request them by sending an e-mail to Certification.food@kiwa.com.
Recall test
If you would like to carry out a recall test, we request that you do not use the customer portal for this, but instead send an e-mail to NL.Recalls.Food@kiwa.com.
Download the instruction
Reporting and handling incidents via the customer portal (IFS and BRCGS)