Kosherfest, the annual food show produced by Integrated Marketing Communications, has become the kashrus industry's primary vehicle for showcasing news about the burgeoning kosher market. Guided by the show's creator, Menachem Lubinsky, it has continued to expand in scope and size since its inception in 1987. This past November's show, held at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, was the largest ever, with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees. The OK Labs was represented by several of its Rabbinic Coordinators and by The Jewish Homemaker magazine.

I took part in a symposium titled "Identifying the Right Kosher Certification Agency," along with Dr. Avrom Pollak, of the Star-K. This well-attended program raised many vital issues that pertain to the selection by a food company of a kosher supervision agency or rabbi. I believe that the issues we discussed at this symposium, along with additional points I raise here, provide basic guidelines for companies investigating their options for kosher supervision.

If your company is seeking kosher certification, how do you evaluate, and choose among, the various kashrus agencies and rabbis? An early decision involves the class of agency that is best for you: Do you need the certification of a national agency, or is the supervision of a local rabbi sufficient?

One symposium participant, the owner of a small-town delicatessen, asked whether she would be better off with a local or national kashrus supervisor. I replied that when the OK receives an inquiry from a local restaurant, we refer it to a reliable local rabbi or agency. A local establishment is usually best served by a local supervisor.

A prime example of the necessity of, and preference for, local supervision concerns the various chassidic communities, who often desire certification by their own rabbis. This is because these rabbis are familiar with the unique concerns of their constituencies. In fact, many items that are heavily marketed in chassidic areas bear two certifications: a local chassidic one and a national one. There is nothing wrong with this sort of arrangement, as long as the two certifying groups are comfortable working together.

A vital criterion for choosing a kosher supervisor is its acceptability among the company's customers. Dr. Pollak noted that often a company goes through the arduous process of acquiring a hechsher, only to find at the end that the rabbi or agency with which it contracted is not acceptable to its customers. Time and money have been wasted because the company didn't do the proper market research.

In a similar vein, if your company plans an expansion into a certain city, contact the local Orthodox rabbis to make sure that the kashrus agency you are considering is acceptable to them. Otherwise you will find yourself selling a kosher product that has no buyers.

Moreover, ask the agencies you are evaluating whether your current suppliers are acceptable to them. Otherwise you may find yourself switching suppliers, which can be a cumbersome process.

Of import is the expertise the agency has in your particular field. For example, one would expect an agency certifying a chemical company to be versed in procedures such as fractional distillation. If you find that the rabbis in a particular agency are not familiar with your field, you are better off looking elsewhere.

I asserted that companies should avoid an agency that looks for shortcuts. If a rabbi dismisses all potential problems with a wave of his hand, look elsewhere. Keep in mind that the agency must stand behind its certification. In vouching for the kashrus of your product, the agency or rabbi is claiming full knowledge of everything going on in your plant. This includes all ingredients present in the facility — kosher ones, and any non-kosher ingredients that are used in not kosher productions. Full knowledge includes production processes as well.

A responsible agency will inform you, ahead of time, the details of how it will oversee your plant's ongoing compliance. If it doesn't, you are not getting your money's worth, and ultimately you are the loser. Some agencies will offer to save you expenses by placing a local rabbi in charge of all visits. This may save a few dollars in the short run, but it works against your long-term interests.

Local mashgichim — hired by agencies to provide ongoing inspections — are an extremely valuable part of the supervision process. However, while they are intimately familiar with the plants that they visit, they do not necessarily have knowledge of developments in the kashrus and food worlds. At the OK, our Rabbinic Coordinators, most of whom work in our home office, keep abreast of these developments, and they guide the local mashgichim. Thus, the local mashgichim serve an essential purpose, but the agency should insist on at least one inspection each year from a rabbi in its main office.

Reliable kashrus agencies shy away from using the products of companies that are inspected only by local rabbis, with no oversight from the agency's home office.

It is vitally important for you that the final decision in kashrus matters is made by the home office. Otherwise one agency will have numerous standards. This is only possible when, as at the OK, a home office Rabbinic Coordinator visits your plant at least once a year. Among the benefits of this visit is that when you call our office with a question, at least one of the rabbis is personally familiar with your plant. We won't be shooting in the dark when we attempt to help you.

A drawback of skimping on the annual visit is that when an expert does finally inspect the facility, he may find it lacking. He may insist on costly changes that could have been avoided by doing things right in the first place.

You may be enticed by the notion of saving a few dollars on travel expenses; it's not worth it. Major certifying agencies have expert personnel who travel around the world. An ethical kashrus agency will do its best to minimize your expenses by visiting several companies in one trip and dividing the costs appropriately.

I noted at the symposium that the tendency in recent years has been toward stricter overall standards. This fact was brought to light by a participant from a chemical company who said that products which in previous years were approved are now rejected. I explained to him the same trend is evident in his industry; environmental and health concerns have led to the rejection of previously accepted ingredients. Similarly, as our knowledge of production processes has increased, we have upgraded standards wherever possible. This does not mean that a product yesterday certified kosher actually was not kosher; rather, it means that as gray areas clarify, we sometimes are obligated to take a stricter view. Companies should note that the laws of kashrus haven't changed; rather, our understanding of the food industry has deepened. In many cases production methods have changed, thereby affecting the kashrus of the product.

It is vitally important that the agency deal with your company in a professional manner. Your phone calls should be answered promptly, and your request for information or ingredient approval should be handled as quickly as possible (of course, with all due diligence to assure accuracy).

Good certification depends on a good relationship. If the visiting rabbi or office rabbi with whom you deal is not professional, speak to his superior. Some people just don't hit it off together. The organization will work with you to smooth any ruffled feathers. Dr. Pollak noted firmly that an agency that gears its charge to an increase in sales should be avoided. When that happens, the agency has become a partner with the company, and can no longer be objective. We at the OK enjoy a very warm association with many of the companies for whom we provide supervision, but we still maintain the arms-length relationship necessary for making objective decisions. We are mandated to ascertain that the age-old laws of kashrus are kept; money cannot buy off G-d's laws.

Professionalism also requires keeping up to date with changing technology. I emphasized that as the world of food production has become more intricate, it is vital for a company to be computerized. One company we certify has approximately 4,000 ingredients. To manually track these is inefficient, to say the least. In choosing an agency for your company, make sure it employs state-of-the-art technology.

Additionally, you should ascertain that the agency keeps track of updated kosher letters from other agencies. Today it is rare that one agency certifies every single ingredient within a product. Thus, for example, the OK may certify a cookie that contains an ingredient from a supplier under the supervision of another agency. In the industry, a kosher certificate is issued for one year. It is imperative for the OK, when renewing the cookie company's certification, to ask for and receive the other agency's kosher letter for the ingredient.

More than once we have received frantic calls from rabbis representing other organizations, saying that after many years of relying upon an expired OK kosher letter, they had received an updated letter and found that a product that once was parve is now dairy, or no longer certified. If an agency requests new kosher letters every year, it will avoid the danger of relying upon an expired letter.

The Kosherfest discussion also covered changeovers in supervision. Often a company desires to switch from one hechsher to another. All the major agencies subscribe to the proposition that a company is free to switch hechsherim once the term of its contract is over. Of course, when the OK receives an inquiry from a company that was under the supervision of a different major agency, we ascertain that there have been no kashrus violations before we consider taking on supervision. We will not allow a company to play agencies against one another While most kosher supervisors are ethical, we recently encountered a rabbi who tried to blackmail a company that desired to switch away from him. This is despicable. Happily the company refused to be blackmailed, and the switchover was accomplished smoothly.

Ultimately, I said, the choice of your kosher supervision organization may boil down to chemistry. Everything else being equal, with whom do you have the best rapport? It is likely that your company will be best served by an association with that agency.

At the OK, Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Chaim Fogelman receives many inquiries concerning the acquisition of kosher certification. While some of the inquiries indicate some sophistication regarding kashrus, others betray a lack of understanding about the nature of kosher supervision. If companies do their homework, they will find the selection of a kosher supervision agency a much more pleasant endeavor.