kashrut kosher - asking to see a kashrus certificate

A restaurant has a sign on its window, or a notation in an advertisement, indicating that it's under the kashrus certification of Rabbi So-and-so or Agency Such-and-such. The first time someone walks into the restaurant, he will ask to see the t'uda, the certificate from that rabbi or agency, and won't eat there if it can't be produced. (Not everyone will do this, presumably, but I know a good number of people who will.)

However, that same person will walk into a supermarket, find a new (to him) product on the shelf with a reliable kashrus certification mark on it, purchase it, and eat it. He won't call the company and ask for a copy of the certification, or call the certifying agency and ask for confirmation of certification. (Again, some people will, but I think there are many who will skip this step for a product even though they follow it for a restaurant.)

Why the double standard?

Is it simply, as I suspect, a matter of ease: that it's easy to confirm certification for a restaurant (since the certificate is generally on the premises) but hard for a product? Or is there something else to it?

And if it is simply a question of ease, then which of the following is true?

• Really, there's no need to see the certificate, but since it's so easy we do so in a restaurant to be extra-careful.



• Really, one should preferably (or one must??) see the certificate, but since it's so hard we don't bother for a product.

Answer

I think the issue is not so much ease of verification as much as it is ease of forgery. It's a lot easier for a restaurant to lie and state on a sign that it is Kosher than it is for them to forge a certificate from a certifying agency and also have someone at the phone ready to lie and give false answers should someone call the number printed on the certificate.

It's also much harder, by orders of magnitude, for a company to run an entire line of product with a false Kashruth label that they might then be forced to pull off of supermarket shelves and reprint/relabel, possibly costing them the entire run of their product if it's a perishable item. Instances of error and/or fraud in product labeling occur almost daily, so it's certainly not impossible, but it's a tremendous burden every time it happens.