The Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Dr Yaakov Pearlman, has awarded Irish Pride a kosher certificate on its baked goods.

The certification makes Irish Pride's range of sliced pan, buns and speciality breads available to observant Jewish consumers for the first time and significantly increases the proportion of domestically produced kosher foods in Irish shops.

"The halachic [ Jewish legal] standards meet the most stringent level of kosher requirements," said Dr Pearlman. "Our community's kosher food resources have been significantly enhanced by the availability of so many choices in baked goods."

Observant Irish Jews rely heavily on imported food deliveries in order to adhere to religious dietary laws, known as "kashrut".

Though Jews make up only a small fraction of Ireland's population, the market for kosher products also includes Muslims - whose own dietary requirements are met by the kosher standard - Seventh Day Adventists, many vegetarians and consumers who want a guarantee of food purity. Non-Jewish consumers currently represent about 60 per cent of the demand for kosher foods across Europe.

Kosher describes food that meets the standards of Jewish dietary laws, which include prohibitions on the mixing of meat and dairy or using the same utensils for meat and dairy in food processing.

To guarantee Irish Pride's baked goods qualified as kosher, the Chief Rabbi spent months researching every ingredient in the company's recipes and visiting all of its production sites to ensure they satisfied Jewish norms of ritual cleanliness. "The demand for guarantees in food is growing rapidly," said Dr Pearlman.

"Consumers are demanding ever more openness in relation to the composition and production conditions of food products."

Last March Irish Pride opened a €10 million bun and soft roll bakery in Taghmon, Co Wexford, doubling its capacity to produce these products. In 2003, the company spent €1.5 million to rebrand its bread range.