Courtesy: Kosher Certification services
According to halakha (Jewish law), the following requires kosher supervision:
- Foods – including meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, grains, beverages, and food additives
- Production process
- Food-service venues – such as restaurants, nursing homes, university dining rooms, hospitals, stadiums, convention halls. Even though the hot dogs sold in a certain venue are certified kosher, a mashgiach/mashgicha must be present to ensure that non-kosher food items do not come in contact with them, and that non-kosher foods are not sold or distributed in kosher wrappers.
- The certification process begins with a request for certification from the client.
- Large food manufacturers generally seek certification from larger, national and international agencies, while small, local businesses receive certification from rabbis serving that community, or from individual rabbis who have a good reputation in the industry. Clients seeking Kosher certification are required to approach individual certifying agencies and endure the application process multiple times, before settling on a suitable agency. To reduce time and effort, the company may wish to contact a Kosher certification broker who will aim to find the best Kosher certifying agency suited to the product and budget. A noted Kosher certification broker is Direct Kosher.
- The next step is for the client to supply a list of all ingredients used in its food product and machinery (such as cleaning agents), which the certification agency will research and trace back to their sources and suppliers to verify their kosher status. If the client later deviates from this list and brings other ingredients into its facility, the agency has the right to demand changes or terminate the contract.
- Next, the agency’s rabbinic representatives walk through the entire food production or food-service process with the client, noting equipment, production processes, packaging techniques, storage systems, and transportation arrangements that may compromise kosher status. If non-kosher food is being produced in the same plant (or if meat and dairy products are both being produced), the two systems must remain completely separate, including the avoidance of heat transfer by boilers servicing the two production lines. If non-kosher food is being produced on the same machinery as kosher food, albeit in separate runs, all equipment and utensils must be intensively cleaned and then treated with boiling water before being used for the kosher run. The client must also agree to specific documentation and record-keeping systems in order to track raw ingredients coming in and processed foods going out, as well as production schedules.
- A food-service venue must comply with additional halakhic requirements, such as respecting the laws of Shabbat, Yom Tov, Passover, and certain Jewish fast days