Kosher and food safety certification: two different questions

A kosher certificate answers a religious question. An ISO 22000 certificate answers a management question. A buyer who asks for one and receives the other has not been answered.

The two are often filed together in a supplier questionnaire, and a food manufacturer exporting from Egypt or Jordan will frequently be asked for both. That is reasonable. What is not reasonable is treating either as a substitute for the other, and the confusion costs time on both sides of the table.

What each certificate is actually saying

A kosher certificate states that a rabbinical certifying agency has examined the ingredients, the equipment, the process and the supervision of a product or a facility, and finds them to conform to the dietary laws it applies. The authority behind the certificate is religious. It is granted by that agency, on that agency's rules, and it is recognized by the buyers who recognize that agency. There is no ISO standard for kosher and no accreditation body assesses kosher agencies against one.

An ISO 22000 certificate states that an accredited certification body has audited an organization's food safety management system against ISO 22000:2018 and found it to conform. The authority behind it is the accreditation chain: the certification body is assessed by an accreditation body, which is peer-evaluated under the IAF Multilateral Recognition Arrangement. ISO 22000 is about hazards, controls, prerequisite programmes and the management of all of these. It says nothing about the religious status of an ingredient.

A plant can hold a valid ISO 22000 certificate and produce nothing kosher. A plant can hold a kosher certificate and have never been audited for food safety management. Both are entirely coherent positions.

Why they are asked for together

They travel together because the same buyers need both answers. A retailer in London or New York serving a community that keeps kosher needs the religious answer. Its own compliance function, its insurers and often its regulator need the management answer. The supplier file has two boxes because there are two questions.

The trap is assuming that satisfying one box strengthens the other. A kosher supervisor is not checking your critical control points. A food safety auditor is not checking your ingredient sourcing against dietary law. Each looks at the plant through its own lens and reports on what that lens sees.

How each one is verified

Because the two certificates have different authorities behind them, they are checked in different places.

ISO 22000. An accredited certificate appears in the certification body's own verification page, in the accreditation body's register of accredited bodies and scopes, and, where the body participates, in IAF CertSearch. For a CAS-issued certificate: cas.com.eg/certsearch, then EGAC's register under CAB #012418. The scope statement on the certificate names the products, processes and sites covered; it should be read, not just noted.

Kosher. The certificate is verified with the certifying agency that issued it — its own published list of certified facilities or products, or a direct enquiry. There is no global register equivalent to IAF CertSearch, because there is no accreditation layer. The question to ask is which agency, and whether the buyer recognizes it.

Reading the two side by side

Three practical points for the person who receives both in a supplier file.

Scope. Both certificates have one. The ISO 22000 scope names sites, product categories and processes. The kosher certificate names products, sometimes production lines, sometimes a plant, and often a status such as pareve, dairy or meat. A product not named on either is not covered by either.

Status. An ISO 22000 certificate can be suspended, reduced or withdrawn during its cycle; under ISO/IEC 17021-1 clause 9.6.5.3, a suspended certification is temporarily invalid. A kosher certificate is typically renewed annually and can be withdrawn by the agency at any time. In both cases, the date on the PDF is not the status today.

Independence of the answers. A change that affects one certificate may not affect the other. A new ingredient supplier can void a kosher status while leaving the food safety system exactly as audited. A new production line can require an ISO 22000 scope extension while the kosher status of the product is unchanged. Keep the two processes separate in the plant, because they are separate in the certificates.

What this means for you

If you are a manufacturer with both: keep two files, two contacts and two calendars. Do not let a kosher renewal date be confused with a surveillance audit date.

If you are a buyer: ask which question you are actually asking. If the answer is "both", check both — the ISO 22000 certificate in the registers, the kosher certificate with its agency.

If you are deciding what to pursue: the order depends on your buyers. Neither certificate is a prerequisite for the other, and nobody can tell you that one will be enough for a market they do not buy in.

CAS — An EGAC accredited MS certification body No. 012418. Accredited scope: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 50001 and ISO 22301. Certificates accredited for ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 22000 and 50001 fall within EGAC's IAF MLA scope; ISO 22301 is accredited by EGAC and sits outside that scope.

Verify any certificate: cas.com.eg/certsearch