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M. A. JACKSON, My Own Meals, 400 Lake Cook Rd, Suite 107, Deerfield, IL 60016

If you believe it's a racket ... that rabbis and Muslims show up at the plant's door step, bless it, collect their dues, and move on ... you'll be in for a big surprise. If only it could be so easy! This paper will review some key myths about certification and contrast them to what really happens in the production environment.

Deciding to go kosher or halal or already have certification? How do you document and manage the process? How can you bring the religious inspectors in as part of the production team to prevent and then resolve a problem if it later occurs? How do you choose the right certifying organization for your target market? Does the certifying organization train its supervisors properly? Whose problem and cost is it if your supervisor is late or fails to show for production?

What are the differences between kosher and halal? What differences in procedures are there for plants which run "simple" vs "complex" products? What is the trend, and what does the future look like? What is the outlook for the international market?

Religious supervision is a business, for all involved. The speaker will share ideas to help everyone succeed.