As it turns out, kosher certification, along with other measures like halal, is winning increasing favour in China and elsewhere as we found out a little while back at an ingredients show in Shanghai where there was a conspicuous number of kosher certification agencies.
Increasingly kosher is purely and simply a mark of quality in manufacturing processes, and many who use it are unashamedly uninterested in its religious meaning or origin, certainly not the estimated 150,000 food, food ingredient and chemical manufacturers located in China.
Export ptotential
In Shanghai, rabbi David Moskovitz, CEO of Shatz Kosher Service (SKS), relayed why it is that kosher certification is so much in demand.
“The Chinese are interested in all kinds of certificates to help them export products to the world and kosher is one of the most important certificates export to the US and Europe – you need a kosher certificate so it is a big market.”
Moskovitz, whose firm has offices in China, Israel and the US, said his experience had taught him that the quality of ingredients coming out of China was on the rise and not so different from those in other parts of the globe, especially as more underwent QC measures such as those offered by his firm.
He added: “Some of the food scare stories that have come out of China are not unique to there – they happen all over the world. [Chinese ingredients] are surprisingly very high quality.”
“It’s not so different to say the USA in most instances.”