An Axelrod To Grind At The OU

WOLF AXELROD began the Axelrod Company in 1896 by establishing a retail store and wholesale distribution business on Madison Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. As the business expanded, Axelrod began to manufacture more dairy products in small “cheese factories” in upstate New York, along the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River. Each factory produced a few hundred pounds of cheese per day and packed it in steel drums that were iced and then shipped to New York City by train.

In 1920, Wolf retired and left the business to his son, Abraham, to manage. Under Abraham’s direction the company flourished, concentrating its efforts on “soft” cultured cheeses and sour cream. Headquarters were moved to Brooklyn, with another branch in Freeport, NY.

After more than 15 years of various mergers and partnerships,Abraham had transformed the business into a full dairy products company, in the process setting strict quality standards for his suppliers, thereby making the Axelrod Company renowned for its wonderful products and reliability.

In 1949, a pint size container of plain Axelrod yogurt first appeared in many local New York City grocery stores, quickly followed by Axelrod labeled cottage cheese and sour cream.

In 1961, Abraham sold the company to Crowley Foods, with his son Herbert succeeding him as President and CEO. Under Herbert’s leadership, the Axelrod Company expanded from Massachusetts to Florida. Today, Axelrod products are a staple and tradition for many families in the Metropolitan New York area, New Jersey, New England and Florida.The OU symbol is proudly displayed on our yogurt as well as on all Axelrod cultured products.

At Axelrod, we firmly believe that our yogurt sets the quality standard, despite the fact that we still are a relatively small regional company. We attribute much of our success to the stringent standards OU certification stands for and the wonderful business relationship we have had over the years with the Orthodox Union, which works so hard to assure compliance with its kosher requirements.

OU POLICY REVIEW 1: Companies are requested to maintain a list of alternate plant personnel to escort the RFR during inspections. This procedure helps circumvent extended delays, allows the RFR to adhere to his route, and contributes to maintaining the efficiency of a plant’s kosher program.

OU POLICY REVIEW 2: Companies are reminded to double check label proofs, and confirm that the correct OU designation appears. The OU-D symbol is required for products containing dairy, or produced on dairy equipment. OU-P denotes that a product is specially certified for Passover.

OU Kosher Staff