A Woodbridge food distribution company has been found guilty of forging food certificates and passing off run-of-the-mill cheese as kosher.

Creation Foods has been ordered to pay $25,000 for contravening the Food and Drugs Act and selling falsely labelled, non-kosher cheddar to two summer camps for observant Jewish children in 2015.

This marks the first time in Canada that a case has been brought before a provincial court in relation to the misrepresentation of a kosher food product, according to a statement released by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

“The fine is significant and may lead to improved future compliance under this statute,” said the notification on the food regulator’s website.

“This case, and the conviction, reinforces the CFIA’s commitment to food safety, and demonstrates how the agency takes issues related to food fraud seriously. Investigation and legal action will be taken, when warranted.”

The term “kosher” refers to food that follows Judaism’s strict dietary rules that dictate not only what observant Jews can eat, but how the food is prepared and handled.

In the case of kosher cheese, a rabbi would be responsible for adding the coagulation enzyme at the first stage and certifying that no non-kosher products touched the kosher cheese on the line. Food certified as kosher often bears a symbol, such as “COR,” that indicates it has been certified as kosher by a mashgiach — a specialized rabbi — and is acceptable to consume.

Companies that comply with and pay for kosher certification charge a premium to customers. For instance, kosher Gay Lea cheese is about two to three per cent more expensive than non-kosher varieties, Gay Lea spokesperson Robin Redstone told the Star earlier this year.

The CFIA’s investigation found that the cheese Creation Foods sold to the two summer camps, one in Peterborough and the other in Haliburton, did not meet the requirements of Jewish dietary laws. It also found that the company forged kosher certificates to make the cheese seem like a kosher product.

These provincial offences charges against Creation Foods were laid in October 2016 after the forged certificates were brought to the CFIA’s attention by The Kashruth Council of Canada, a non-profit that provides kosher certification to about 1,000 businesses across North America — including Gay Lea, the maker of the cheese.

Kefir Sadiklar, vice-president of the family-owned Creation Foods was also charged criminally at the time, but the charges were withdrawn in June.

A Kashruth Council employee discovered the phoney kosher certificates in June 2015 when he noticed some of the boxes of cheese that Sadiklar delivered to one of the two overnight camps bore a COR symbol while others did not.

When the employee asked Sadiklar to send in kosher certificates to verify the “kashruth” of the cheese, Sadiklar sent in a kosher certificate for the wrong food, at first. A few hours later he sent what appeared to be the correct one, said a Kashruth Council synopsis provided to the federal inspection agency and used in the case.

Other employees scrutinizing the certificates noticed that a single digit in the product code on the kosher certificate had been photoshopped — from a “5” to a “6” — altering the number to make it match the one on the box, and making a non-kosher box of cheese seem kosher.

In an emailed statement to the Star, Richard Rabkin, managing director of the Kashruth Council of Canada, said he is “pleased” this matter has come to a conclusion.

“We are thankful to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Canadian judicial system for their diligence in prosecuting this crime. Their efforts demonstrate the severity with which Canada takes its kosher labelling laws and how far it is willing to go to protect kosher consumers. This is a milestone.”

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Sadiklar did not respond to questions relating to the conviction and fine. Earlier this year, Sadiklar told the Star in a brief interview that he has “so many things to say,” but cannot say them while the matter is before the courts.

He said he thinks the council is “doing the wrong thing against us. They want to see us closing the business, they don’t look for anything else but revenge . . . . We say we didn’t do, and they say we did do. I don’t want to put myself in jeopardy.”