Mashgiach certification
Mashgiach Training and Certification
Whether you are starting out or renewing a certification that is running out, this is the page. Starting out comes first; renewal is further down.
Starting out
Two Ways In
There are two ways in, and which one is yours depends on a single question: is an agency sending you? The answer changes the course you take and what you hold at the end.
An agency is sending me
Agencies that certify with AKO each run their own edition of the AKO Mashgiach Course. You need your agency’s approval before you start its edition. That approval comes from them, not from us, and it is the only way in.
This is the only route that ends in an AKO Mashgiach ID card, and only if your agency decides you are eligible.
I’m training on my own
Anyone can take these two. Neither comes with an ID card, because a card is issued by an agency and only an agency can issue one. What you get is the training itself, and a certificate showing you completed it.
Mashgiach Certification
Foundations of Kosher Supervision (on our course platform)
This course does not qualify you to work as a mashgiach and does not come with an ID card. Your agency decides both.
- Spanish available
Certificate only. No ID card.
Enrollment and payment happen on our course platform.
Mashgiach Certification
Accredited AKO Mashgiach Course (on our course platform)
This course does not qualify you to work as a mashgiach and does not come with an ID card. Your agency decides both.
12.5 ACF credits. No ID card.
Enrollment and payment happen on our course platform.
Certification runs three years. The exact date is printed on your card and shown in the mashgiach database. It is not three years from the day you finished the course, so look it up rather than working it out.
Renewal is a review of the fundamentals plus the full exam, so it is a refresher and a re-test rather than buying the same course again. It takes about an afternoon and it is available in English, Spanish and Hebrew.
You keep lifetime access to your original course. After renewing you will see both courses in your dashboard, which is expected and not a billing error.
If your certification has already lapsed, you have not been removed from the database. Expired mashgichim stay listed as expired and go back to active when the renewal comes through.
What This Training Does Not Do
KIA does not decide who works as a mashgiach. Agencies do that, and each one sets its own bar.
Finishing a course does not put you in the mashgiach database and does not produce a card. Your agency has to approve you first, and agencies can revoke an approval at any time.
We train for foodservice and general kosher knowledge. Factory and industrial supervision is a different discipline and we do not teach it.
If you have a question of Jewish law, ask your agency’s rabbinic administrator or your own rabbi. We will not answer it, and you should be careful of anyone who would.