Kosher Belgium

Jewish community of Antwerp SHOMRE HADAS
We provide internationally recognized kosher certificates on a wide range of food and non food products.

We can make your product/production kosher!

Would you like to produce Kosher, contact us, the certifying agency for Kosher production with a long and outstanding reputation.

The word kosher means proper or acceptable and it has informally entered the English language with that meaning. You may already be familiar with some of the more well known requirements, but you may be surprised at the extent of the regulations with which you are not familiar.

Contrary to popular misconception, rabbis or other religious officials do not "bless" food to make it kosher. There are blessings that observant Jews recite over food before eating it, but these blessings have nothing to do with making the food kosher. Food can be kosher without a rabbi  ever becoming involved with it: the vegetables from your garden are undoubtedly kosher (as long as they don't have any bugs, which are not kosher).

The Bible lists the basic categories of food items which are not kosher. These include certain animals, fowl and fish (such as pork and rabbit, eagle and owl, catfish and sturgeon), most insects, and any shellfish or reptile.

Why do so many foods require kosher supervision? For example, shouldn’t cereals and potato chips be inherently kosher since they are not made from meat, fowl, fish or insects?
The answer is that all units and subunits in a food item must be kosher as well.

Thus, for example, a cereal may be non-kosher because it has raisins which could be coated with a non-Kosher, animal-based glycerin. Potato chips can be non-kosher if the vegetable oil used in the fryer has been pasteurized and deodorized on equipment used for producing non kosher items.

In fact, equipment used for hot production of non-kosher products may not be used for kosher production without kosherization).

Why the world's best known brands choose for Kosher certification

Most people eat some kosher food every day, but chances are they're not aware of it. Take a walk down the aisles of any supermarket and you will see that some kosher certification appears on over 60% of foods produced in certain parts of the world that are certified kosher, from the well known cereals to the world renown Coca-Cola. Over €150 billion of kosher certified products are consumed annually, and spending continues to rise dramatically.

The kosher logo has become an increasingly important marketing device which generates additional revenues by expanding the size of the market. Supermarkets favor brands with koshercertification because it gives the product a competitive edge that makes it sell faster. That also means that kosher certification can lead to an increase in a company's private label business.

There is clear evidence that a kosher symbol boosts market share, which a kosher product can win more favorable shelf space, and that positioned next to a competing non-kosher brand, a kosher product will do better by 20%. This data has remained constant even in the smaller cities, far from heavier concentrations of kosher Jews. (Source: Integrated Marketing Communications.)

Going kosher is an investment your company makes in order to increase market reach and share. If you are interested to work with us for your Kosher certificate We will support you in any way we can in achieving your goals.

Most importantly, be sure that all your certified products, whether retail or industrial, feature our kosher logo prominently on the label or packaging, as well as in your advertising. This will not only help your sales, but will also make your products easily identifiable as kosher by food industry personnel, kosher inspectors, and consumers throughout the world.

To have your product or production process kosher certified

This should enable you to offer a much wanted qualification: KOSHER both a certificate for a single product, several products or certificate for a whole production process are worth thinking about. This is what the chief rabbinate of the Shomre Hadas can do for you. Our first visit is free of any obligations except a one time flat rate and legally acepted travel expenses.

A kosher certificate of the Chief rabbinate of the Shomre Hadas offers you surplus value. We work fast after having received your application. We maintain direct lines with you. We know the Belgian market while we operate on an international level at the same time.

A new application for kosher production can be dealt with within 1-3 weeks.

Shomre Hadas Kashrus Department

The Shomre Hadas is the Belgian kosher certifying agency since 1945, for ingredients, semi finished products and end products. The Shomre Hadas is a respected and worldwide well known and recognized certifier of kosher products. We work with a wide variety of clients in and outside Belgium. The Chief Rabbinate’s certificates are accepted all over the world.
In over sixty years of experience the Shomre Hadas has issued thousands of kosher certificates for all kinds of products.

Our team

Rabbi Lieberman
Chief Rabbi of Shomre Hadas congregation in Antwerp
Tel: +32 3 226 0554
Fax: +32 3 226 3123

Rabbi Schmahl
Dayan of Shomre Hadas congregation in Antwerp
Tel: +32 3 232 01 87
Fax: +32 3 226 0438
Email: dayan@kosherbelgium.org

Company Application for the Shomre Hadas Kosher Certificat

Becoming Kosher certified is made easy through the 3 step system.

1. Apply in writing requesting that your company receive Kosher certification.
2. Submit all ingredients used in the manufacturing of all products produced at your company.
3. Enter into a contract with the Shomre Hadas, which authorizes you to use the SH registered trademark on your products.

Once your application is received, an application form is sent to yourself for completion. This may be downloaded by clicking below. All ingredients used in the manufacturing of your products must be clearly detailed on the application form and Kosher certificates must be attached for each ingredient. Once all Kosher certificates have been approved, an initial inspection takes place at the plant to inspect manufacturing procedures. Should everything be found to be in order, a contract is entered into between the manufacturer and the Shomre Hadas whereby ongoing inspections take place at the company. The contract authorizes the manufacturer to use the MK registered trademark on his products which can now be sold throughout Europe and the entire Kosher world.

Please contact us