Special Productions – Special Procedures
For many kosher agencies, handling regular productions is…regular. Once an organization has a system in place for handling plant inspections, ingredient substitutions, label changes, new equipment and production adjustments, the key is simply to maintain the status quo. That is, until a plant wishes to do a “special production”.
Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO OF OU Kosher, To Be Featured Speaker At Kosherfest, November 16
Coping with Modern Day Challenges of Kosher Food Production:
Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Chief Operating Officer of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, will be a featured speaker at the Kosherfest show, which will be held Tuesday, November 15 and Wednesday, November 16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.
OU Launches Universal Kosher Database (UKD)
We are pleased to announce that the Universal Kosher Database (UKD), a new and powerful tool, is now available to all OU certified companies. We are certain that this groundbreaking enhancement will simplify our companies’ kosher programs and provide them with important options that were not previously available. The UKD contains a record of tens of […]
Why Must You Always Check For Kosher Certification, Even On Products You Know Well?
Why must you always check for kosher certification, even on products you know well?
Good & Sweet Year (Honey, Corn Syrup & Other Sweeteners)
In the times of Chazal, honey was the substance that symbolized sweetness. There may have been several reasons for this, but one of them is certainly that honey was the sweetener that was available in those days. In the last few centuries honey was dethroned by sugar as the most popular sweetener in most of the world, and in the last few years even sugar has been challenged as the king of sweeteners. In food science laboratories around the world, chemists are bent on developing sweeteners that have low or no calories, have absolutely no deleterious effect on one’s health, are odorless and, like sugar, taste geshmak . Some of these are natural and some are artificial. A few of them involve real kashrus concerns.
New Food Safety Program: Independent Certification Program For Gluten-Free Food Processing
The Gluten Intolerance Group® is pleased to announce our gluten-free food certification program, the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO), the first program of its kind in the world! This new independent food processing inspection program will verify that food products meet the highest standards for gluten-free ingredients and a safe processing environment. Food products meeting these high standards will receive our GF certification mark, allowing gluten-free consumers to easily identify foods that are free of gluten and possible cross-contamination from gluten.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, On Visit To OU, Hails Accomplishments Of Kashrut Division
On a visit to the United States, Rabbi Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, accepted an invitation from Rabbi Menachem Genack, Chief Executive Officer of OU Kosher, to visit the Kosher Division and to learn about how it certifies more than 400,000 products in 83 countries around the world.
Kashrut FAQs
Glossaries of computer terms usually explain that a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a list of the most commonly asked questions (with the answers) on a certain subject. The original idea was that the author of the FAQ saved himself the trouble of answering the same question over and over again, but the FAQ has become such a popular format, because any given subject usually involves certain obvious information that an interested person would want to know.
Shelled Eggs, Peeled Onions And Garlic Left Overnight: Keeping Products Ruach Ra’ah-Free
Taste, health and convenience are some of the considerations consumers think about when making decisions regarding foods. Of course, kosher consumers also consider the kashrus of products. But one other principle discussed in Cha’zal, chamira sakanta me’isura – laws regarding danger are more stringent than those regarding prohibition — make food safety a primary consideration. This article will focus on one unique aspect of food safety.- ruach ra’ah.
Rabbi Moshe Klein, z”l
It is with a sense of great loss that we mourn the loss of our Rabbinic Field Representative, Rabbi Moshe Klein, z”l, who was tragically nifter on Friday night, August 12th, the 8th of Av.