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                                                                    Exhibit 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Edward B. Cloues, II, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended
      September 27, 2003 of K-Tron International, Inc.;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
      report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
      the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.    The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
      and have:

                (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
          such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
          supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
          registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
          us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
          which this report is being prepared;

                (b) [paragraph omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238 and
          34-47986]

                (c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
          controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
          about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
          of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
          evaluation; and

                (d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
          registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth
          fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
          affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
          registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.    The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
      our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
      to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board
      of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

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            (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
      design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

            (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
      other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal
      control over financial reporting.

Date: November 10, 2003


                                       /s/Edward B. Cloues, II
                                       -----------------------
                                       Edward B. Cloues, II
                                       Chairman and Chief Executive Officer