Does Certified Food certify foods?

Nope, we just provide data as a service. We offer a convenient and centralized way to get data from many different food certifiers. We are not food supervision or certification specialists.

Isn't all the certification data already public?

Yes, all the data is technically public information but the data is not organized, practically accessible, or well formatted. certifiedfood.info provides an API with real-time updates.

Do you provide certification data for other non-food products like pharmaceuticals, supplements, or cosmetics?

Not yet. For now, we are currently only focused on food products. Though we plan to support certifications for non-food products in the future.

How do you provide access to the data? How would we integrate Certified Food’s data?

We offer multiple standard options but can also meet your custom needs. Just contact [email protected] to learn more.

1. Direct database access via our Hosted Dolt deployment.

2. REST API for on demand queries.

3. Custom solutions to meet your specific needs.

As an online food retailer/distributor/marketplace, why do we need you? Why can’t we just integrate and pull data from food certifiers directly?

1. Certified Foods offers a more convenient (quicker/simpler technical integration), more cost effective solution, and a more robust database which we maintain and support as our top priority.

2. There are many certifiers and many online retailers. It wouldn’t make sense for every certifier (of 100s) to try and integrate with every online retailer (of 100s). Most certification agencies don’t have the technical capability to set up a robust technical data pipeline. Many don’t even have websites.

3. It’s not core to your business. Your core business is being “the easy way to get the food you love delivered.” You are experts in logistics and providing great retail customer experiences..

As a certifier, why do we need you? Why can’t we just integrate our data directly?

1. There are many certifiers and many online retailers. It wouldn’t make sense for every certifier (of 100s) to try and integrate with every online retailer (of 100s). Online retailers don’t want to have to integrate with 100s of certification agencies. 

2. It’s not core to your business. Your core business is food supervision/consulting and certification particular to benefiting the community you serve.

As a food delivery marketplace or restaurant directory, how can we ensure that we are extremely sensitive about user trust and don’t mistakenly mislead our customers about food certification?

1. We get the certification directly from the certifiers themselves so the data integrity is highly reliable.

2. As an additional precautionary check, it’s possible to offer digital confirmation of the certificate by the merchant/restaurant directly so that they take on responsibility for representing themselves as certified. For example, before officially listing a restaurant as certified on your platform the merchant/restaurateur could (if desired) be required to opt-in to confirm the third-party certification.

Don’t people already know which restaurants in the local area are kosher or halal certified?

In many cases yes, but also in many cases no. For example:

1. People traveling to a new location or even just out of the neighborhood. 

2. People who are not knowledgeable but want to be inclusive and considerate of others who have dietary restrictions.

1. It is a common problem that even when people who kindly try to be accommodating of dietary restrictions (e.g. ordering food from a restaurant listed as “kosher style”) still out of innocent lack of familiarity and available information are still are not being fully inclusive of standards of kosher needs. 

3. People looking to explore new restaurants outside of their usual favorites that are unfamiliar to them.

Additionally, restaurant certifications can change. They are revocable at any time.

1. A new restaurant may open or may become newly certified (or higher level of certification) or

2. certifications may be revoked or expired or changed to a different standard.

How will you get accurate data from smaller local (e.g. mom & pop) restaurant certifiers who don’t have advanced database/IT capabilities?

We offer a certification database web application for these certifiers so that they can manage their business needs in a digitally organized manner. Then with the consent of the certifier we are able to share their data so they have the same capabilities as a larger certification organization. To learn more about this or get a free demo, click here to contact us.