Kosher

 

All products comply with a policy of laws that include cleanliness, purity, and quality. All ingredients must be certified kosher-compliant.

Purpose

Certify, educate, advocate, and promote Kosher

Applied Standards

Total separation of meat and dairy products (not cooked/eaten together). Products that are meat "must come from an animal that chews its cud and has split hooves (cows, sheep and goats are kosher; rabbits, pigs and fox are not)". All predatory and scavenger birds are forbidden, but cornish hens, duck, geese, and turkeys are permitted. "Animal and fowl must be slaughtered with precision by a skilled shochet, an individual extensively trained in kosher slaughtering. The meat must be checked for blemishes by a specially trained kosher inspector, then soaked and salted to remove the blood. The permissible portions of the animal and fowl must be properly prepared before cooking. All utensils used in slaughtering, cleaning, packaging and preparing must be kosher. After all of these requirements are met, the meat (or its derivatives) can be considered kosher, provided that no non-kosher additives or processes are introduced". Dairy includes any and all products with dairy or traces of dairy in them. The dairy must come from a kosher animal and be free of meat derivatives. "They must be produced and processed on kosher equipment". Pareve is a third category of kosher, which includes foods that are not meat or dairy. This includes all fruits, grains, vegetables, water and minerals in their natural state. "Certain fruits, vegetables and grains must be checked for the presence of small insects and larvae, which are not kosher. Eggs must be checked for the presence of blood spots, which are not kosher". Kosher fish have both fins and scales. The scales on the fish "must be removable without causing damage to skin of the fish". "Most seafood (shellfish, lobster, clams, sharks, etc., excluding kosher fish), insects, rodents, most animals indigenous to the wild and their derivatives" are not kosher. Wine is only kosher if produced by Torah-observant Jews.

Qualifications/Disclosures

Food produced on machinery previously used to produce non-kosher items may be rendered non-kosher. The same applies when alternating between dairy/meat and pareve productions.

References

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