Video Take a tour of Ottawa's kosher Rideau Bakery.

Ever since she became vegan over a year ago, Candice Campbell, 21, says she has been shopping for kosher-certified groceries — even though she’s not Jewish.

With the growing number of food labels warning their products may contain traces of milk or eggs, Campbell says she feels safer knowing a kosher-certified product will have eliminated the chance of these unwanted ingredients.

Kosher certification has tight standards which oversee everything from the sterilization of equipment to making sure quality ingredients are used. The Government of Canada says the kosher standard is a good basis for the safety of all food preparation, regardless of religious affiliation.

Last week the federal government annouced a grant of over $700,000 to support a kosher food initiative by the Jewish Community Council of Montreal.

The investment was made through the Canadian Integrated Food Safety Initiative, a government program that aims to prevent and manage risks in food safety.

Patrick Girard, a representative for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, says this is a step towards developing the current standards of food safety preparation and updating those procedures.

Certified kosher soup nuts from Rideau Bakery in Ottawa.

“Food safety is a top priority for our government as well as all Canadians,” says Girard.  “We will continue to work with farmers, processors, retailers, governments and consumers to strengthen the overall safety of our food supply.

Rabbi Saul Emanuel, the director of the Jewish Community Council of Montreal, says its no coincidence that people like Campbell are opting to go kosher. His council is responsible for the Montreal-Kosher (MK) certification of kosher food products, and he says the strict laws governing the inspection process for MK certification often result in cleaner, more thoroughly inspected food.

With the grant, Rabbi Emanuel says they aim to apply the rigorous standards of kosher food inspection to food products that aren’t marketed strictly to Jewish communities. In the next few months, the council plans to work with companies to recommend procedures for their foods to be kosher certified.

“Doing kosher inspections, we see many different things. We figured that there must be a correlation – or an overlap, even, in some cases – between what we are doing and what [other food safety groups] are doing in certain respects,” he says.

Kosher rules for non-kosher foods

Some of the kosher guidelines make demands on how ingredients should interact with other foods. One of the most prominent rules is the separation of meat and dairy. In Jewish culture, the two food groups cannot be eaten together, requiring a six hour seperation between consuming meat and dairy. As old as the Jewish dietary guidelines are, the processes that kosher certification use to ensure these types of rules are technologically up-to-date.

"We figured that there must be a correlation ... between what we are doing and what [other food safety groups] are doing in certain respects."

In a number of cases, these stiff standards for kosher foods correlate with other dietary restrictions. For example, lactose-free soy products use Clean-in-Place (CIP), a process of cleaning and sterilizing the food manufacturing equipment. A company using CIP can then print a symbol on their product indicating it is kosher-certified because CIP ensures remnants of unwanted ingredients do not mix with the product.

Beyond that, applying kosher food preparation rules can mean eliminating excess waste and the potential for bacteria. If a bakery stores flour in a silo and leaves it unattended, worms, insects and mice can invade the supply. Because kosher rules prohibit consuming insects, a kosher inspection spots and reports this type of problem before the bakery can release the product.

“By supporting the kosher food sector as they deliver safe, high quality foods to our grocery carts, we're also investing in the prosperity of the entire value chain,” says Margaux Stastny, the director of operations for the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of State (Agriculture).

Certified kosher bread from Rideau Bakery in Ottawa.

She says the government is offering support for the Jewish Community Council because of the increased presence of kosher processing in Canada.

“Kosher foods, although based on one of the world’s oldest dietary laws, are among the fastest-growing trends in food processing,” she says.

Heather Moxley is a nutritionist based in Ottawa who works in general nutrition counselling.  She says that in her experience, she has never had a non-Jewish client specifically request a kosher diet

“If you look at a product with a kosher symbol on it, it’s likely that it’s less processed and has less chemicals added to it,” she says.

Plan of attack

The Jewish Community Council’s kosher food standard initiative is more preventative than reflective, says Rabbi Emanuel, because the project would allow inspectors directly into the plant rather than simply recommending procedures or inspecting the product afterward. 

Rabbi Emanuel says the money for the grant will be used in the next few months, which is scheduled to be the pilot period to create manuals and recommendations by sitting with councils.  He says they hope to begin example checks soon after.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says the safety standards the council are set to propose would be based on the work of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points, which also rely on inspections.

Participation in the project is voluntary for the companies in the industry. Rabbi Emanuel says the council is ready to work with Canadian universities such as McGill to oversee the the inspections of companies who have particpated in the project.

He hopes the more proactive procedures of kosher food preparation will encourage the food industry to adopt more preventative techniques.

“[These measures] are important for food safety and kosher law as well,” he says.  "We’re ensuring both kosher and healthy eating.”

Tour Ottawa's kosher Rideau Bakery