Steven Genack

Steven Genack has worked at OU Kosher for more than ten years with a specialty in ingredients. He is an attorney and former editor of a newspaper. He has a wide array of interests including playing tennis, golf and basketball and reading biographies and memoirs.

Speaking With Furmano Foods

I had the privilege to speak with Frank Furmano, the Director of Sales for Foodservice Corporate Accounts at Furmano Foods. This dexterous OU kosher-certified domestic and international food service manufacturer, which offers retail products as well, specializes in producing top-grade beans, grains, tomatoes and sauces. We discussed the nature of their business as it relates […]

Creating a Kosher for Passover Certified Product 

What Is Kosher for Passover? Every year, OU Kosher certifies thousands of products with a special OU-P (P for Passover). The OU-P symbol indicates that all the ingredients have been approved for their Passover status, the production equipment has been inspected and is Passover-compliant, and an OU inspector was present for a special Passover production. The Expanding […]

Approaching the Mediterranean Diet

For the seventh year in a row, U.S News and World Report rated the Mediterranean diet as the best. Considering that February is American Heart Month and National Self-Check Month, exploring a diet that is both preventative and active in ensuring good health is aptly relevant. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes such foods as legumes, whole […]

2024: A Flavorful Return to Nature

Last year, we highlighted cookie butter as a trending flavor. For 2024, Senior Staff Food Editor for the New York Times, Tanya Sichynsky, sees a new trend, as evidenced by her article, “The Year of the Vegetable.” This is because consumers are returning to incorporate vegetable-based flavors into their diet. In regard to laws of […]

Celebrity Bars

In a recent webinar, Food Business News discussed new developments in the plant-based market. One OU kosher-certified company mentioned in the forum was MOSH PBC that produces a wide array of protein bars, some exclusively plant-based. The name stands for Maria Owings Shriver Health, as Maria Shriver and her son, Patrick Schwarzenegger are co-founders. Though […]

Sustainable and Smart Packaging Solutions

In a green and smart economy, food and beverage companies are looking for sustainable and technology-based solutions for packaging. Nestle and Mars, two OU kosher-certified companies, are heavily invested in sustainability, especially in using recycled plastic and biodegradables in the packaging process. This is reducing a carbon footprint. Smart packaging has entered the market as well. […]

Kosher Wash Stations for Food-Grade Liquid Bulk Tank Trailers

Independently owned OU kosher-certified wash stations clean the interior of stainless steel tank trailers to ensure that they remain kosher compliant. These trailers often carry such items as milk, chocolate, juices, wine, vegetable oils, corn syrup and glycerin. If a tanker trailer is part of an OU kosher-certified dedicated fleet, then only a kosher maintenance […]

The Cottage Cheese Comeback

People have reimagined how cottage cheese can be used. Always a celebrated food, now it’s being blended into its creamy form and standing as the core ingredient to transform other known foods. Popular examples include cottage cheese bagels, cottage cheese pancakes, cottage cheese cookie dough and cottage cheese ice cream. Kosherization of soft cheeses, like […]

Rabbi Menachem Genack Talks OU Kosher and More

OU Kosher is a leading nonprofit organization that certifies over one million products with more than 13,000 plants worldwide. It also views educating the public in kashrut as vital. Rabbi Menachem Genack is the CEO of OU Kosher, standing at the helm of the operation. We had a chance to sit down with him to discuss […]

Rabbi Kalman Scheiner Talks Kosher Chocolate

When you think chocolate, you think Hershey’s. We sat down with Rabbi Kalman Scheiner, the Rabbinical Coordinator (RC) who manages OU kosher certification for Hershey’s. We probed the comprehensive meaning of the word confectionary, discussed new dairy-free Hershey’s chocolate products, arrived at a clear conclusion of what to learn from the philanthropic life of Milton […]