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Kosher for Consumers
Useful articles and interesting information about Keeping Kosher and Kosher Supervision.
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FDA Guidelines on Carmine Bring a Boon to the Kosher Consumer
We have all heard of the dangers associated with artificial colors. With many artificial colors having been found to be carcinogenic, one certainly understands that consumers would prefer not to see “artificial colors” listed on the ingredient panel, and industry is proud to prominently display a “No Artificial Colors” disclaimer to win over the health conscious consumer. This has helped spur demand for cochineal extract and carmine (a more purified form of cochineal extract). These dyes are made from carminic acid which is extracted from the cochineal scale insect and are therefore natural products.
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Dear Rabbi: Our plant processes and cans fruits and vegetables. The raw fruits and vegetables are of course all kosher. Why would I need to receive OU kosher certification; wouldn’t everyone know that my products are kosher? Can you explain what would be involved in attaining kosher certification for my plant? Answer by Rabbi Leonard Steinberg
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Better Made Snack Foods Celebrates 80 Years
Cross and Peters company was founded in Detroit on August 1, 1930. The company was named after the founders' first names, Cross and Peter. Both set goals to make a better potato chip, hence the brand name, Better Made Potato Chips. In 1934, the company was incorporated by the founders, the late Peter Cipriano and the late Cross Moceri.
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Kosherizing an Agglomerator: They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. They Were Wrong.
One of the complex pieces of equipment used in the food industry today is the agglomerator. This machine is unique because of its high level of versatility, allowing for its many and varied functions. Through the application of dry heat and liquid spray, the agglomerator will effect physical and chemical changes to the texture of the product. The agglomeration process helps to produce a wide range of products: From medicinal herbs to dairy drink mixes, among the kosher products, and chondroitin and glucosamine, among the non-kosher items.
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OU Kosher Publishes Manual on Fish Industry, 3rd in Series
In its continuing initiative to establish uniform standards for kosher certification, the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest and most respected certification agency, today announced the publication of the third in a series of manuals for different industries, this time, fish. It follows the publication of manuals for the kosher oil and baking industries, both of which now are in their second printings.
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Ask OU Kosher: Nothing Fishy About OU Fish Standards
May 2011 By Rabbi Chaim Goldberg OU Fish Expert To submit questions for future columns, please send them to , or call the Kosher Consumer Hotline, at 212-613-8241.
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Sloop Betty Vodka Now Certified OU Kosher
Blackwater Distilling™, Inc.’s flagship spirit, Sloop Betty Vodka, a wheat and sugar cane-based craft product, is now certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, the world’s largest and most respected kosher certification agency.
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OU Kosher Announces 2011 Nationwide Essay Contest Student Winners
The Orthodox Union Kosher Division today announced that eight students coast-to-coast have been named winners of the 2011 OU Kosher Essay Contest for grades 7-12.
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OU Promotes Kashrus Awareness, Achdus With 4 Varied Progs in 12 Days
Beginning March 27 through April 7, the Harry H. Beren ASK OU OUTREACH Kashrus Program visited four varied communities in the New York City metropolitan area. The Sephardic community of Brooklyn was visited on March 27 at Congregation Shaare Zion. The Passaic-Clifton Community Kollel was next on April 3. This was followed by a visit to the predominately Chassidic community of Boro Park at Agudas Yisroel Zichron Moshe on April 6. The final destination was to Lakewood, NJ on April 7 at Rav Shlomo Miller’s Bais Hora’ah Kollel, one of the most prestigious kollelim in North America.
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The Pesach holiday is a time where we have an opportunity to reflect on our rich heritage and affirm our commitment to the continuity of our many traditions. The geulah from Mitzrayim was the point in our great history when we were freed from bondage to man, and culminated with our becoming a nation with the subsequent acceptance of the Torah at Har Sinai. What has sustained us and preserved us throughout the millennia? Observance of Torah and mitzvos is replete with many intricate details that require us to be highly meticulous in our performance, in order to properly fulfill what is required by religious law. During Pesach, this notion expresses itself through required measurements of the special foods we eat during the holiday. These basic measurements and their careful observance are very much a part of our heritage. Indeed, the Talmud states that halachic measurements are a part of the unique laws that were given to Moshe Rabeinu at Sinai[1].
