What is CIES?

CIES was founded 1953 at a congress held by international retail association AIDA in Belgium. The objective was to create a body to represent food retail chains, which at that time had no association of their own.  The new association was named Comité International d’Entreprises à Succursales (CIES – International Committee of Food Retail Chains).

CIES Membership was initially restricted to retail chains with at least 11 stores under corporate management and which generated a majority of sales from food.  With the evolution of food distribution towards larger stores and larger companies, and as the dialogue between suppliers and retailers became less one-sided, CIES membership also adapted, and the criteria were modified accordingly.  In 1963 CIES Membership was opened to Suppliers, and in 1965 opened to Cooperatives.

CIES enjoys strong links with Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) in the USA, and is a founder member of EuroCommerce.  The association works in partnership with JCA – the Japan Chain Store Association – and, in the People’s Republic of China, with the China Chain Store and Franchise Association (CCFA).  Membership in CIES – The Food Business Forum is on a company basis. 

For more information on CIES activities, click on www.ciesnet.com

What is the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)?

In May 2000, a group of international retailer CEOs identified the need to enhance food safety, ensure consumer protection and to strengthen consumer confidence. They proposed a program which would set requirements for food safety schemes and improve cost efficiency throughout the food supply chain.  Following their lead, CIES developed the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is the food safety equivalence framework of CIES.  The GFSI vision of ‘once certified, accepted everywhere’ is gradually becoming a reality. Carrefour, Tesco, Metro, Migros, Ahold, Wal-Mart and Delhaize and others have now agreed to reduce duplication in the supply chain through the common acceptance of any of the four GFSI benchmarked schemes, although some retailers are still selective of the schemes they accept.  There were 30,000 certificates issued globally against GFSI approved standards in 2007.  The GFSI approved standards are:

               BRC Global Standard Food (www.brc.org.uk) 

               SQF 2000 and SQF 1000 (www.sqfi.com) 

               International Food Standard – IFS (www.food-care.info)

               Dutch HACCP standard (www.foodsafetymanagement.info)

Of the four accredited standards, Dutch HACCP is essentially limited to Netherlands and has issued only 2,000 certificates.  Of the other standards, BRC was initially favored by British retailers, IFS by French, German and Italian retailers, and SQF, which is owned by the Food Marketing Institute, by American retailers.  However many retailers now require their suppliers to be certified to any one of the GFSI standards, and are leaving the selection of standard to their processors and producers.

Whilst CIES and GFSI was initially Eurocentric, the American retailers have been watching it’s progress with interest.  Recently not only US retailers, but food service rganizations (including McDonalds and the National Restaurants Association) have become more involved in GFSI and are now publically endorsing the GFSI standards as their supplier programs.