Orthodox Union Kosher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hechsher of the Orthodox Union |
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| Certifying agency | Kosher Division of Orthodox Union |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Headquarters | 40 Rector St, New York, NY 10006 |
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OU Kosher is a special group that checks if food follows kosher rules. Kosher means food is prepared according to Jewish law. This group is based in New York City. It started in 1923 thanks to Abraham Goldstein.
OU Kosher is very important in the world of kosher food. It checks about 70% of all kosher food globally! It's the biggest of the "Big Five" main kosher checking groups. Other big groups include OK Kosher, Kof-K, Star-K, and CRC.
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How OU Kosher Started
OU Kosher was created in 1923 by Abraham Goldstein. He was a chemist from East Prussia. He made it the first independent group to check if food was kosher. Goldstein started this program under the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.
The first time the OU Kosher symbol was used was on Heinz's vegetarian baked beans. The symbol looks like the letter "U" inside the letter "O". This showed people that the beans were certified kosher.
Growing the Kosher Certification
In 1950, Rabbi Alexander S. Rosenberg joined the OU Kosher team. He helped the group grow a lot. During his 22 years there, the number of mashgichim (kosher supervisors) grew from 184 to 750. These supervisors helped certify over 2,500 products for 475 different companies.
Rabbi Rosenberg also worked to make sure the kosher certification process was fair and honest. He made sure that local rabbis working for OU followed the same rules. He also stopped companies from trying to bribe the supervisors.
In 2012, OU Kosher launched a special app. This app helps people easily find out which products are kosher. It also shares updates on new kosher products and products that are no longer certified.
Today, Rabbi Menachem Genack leads the OU Kosher Division. He started in 1980. The group now certifies almost 1,000,000 products. These products come from over 12,000 factories in 104 countries! With 886 supervisors and over 50 rabbinic coordinators, OU Kosher is the largest kosher certification group in the world.
Women's Role in Kosher Food
In the early 1920s, the Orthodox Union Women's Branch was formed. Rebecca "Betty" Goldstein led this group. The women created booklets to help Jewish women keep their homes kosher. They also made kosher cookbooks.
Since the Orthodox Union wanted women to keep kosher homes, the Women's Branch wanted to make sure store-bought foods were also kosher. Members of the Women's Branch visited food factories themselves. They pushed the rabbis in the OU to do more to supervise kosher food.
Understanding OU Symbols
OU Kosher uses different symbols to show how a product is certified. These symbols tell you important things about the food:
- OU: This means the product is Kosher Pareve. This kind of food is neither meat nor dairy.
- OU-D: This means the product is Kosher dairy. It contains milk ingredients or is made on dairy equipment. It might not be kosher for Passover.
- OU-DE: This symbol means the product was made using dairy equipment. Even if the food itself isn't dairy, it touched equipment that handles dairy.
- OU-Meat or OU-Glatt: This means the product is Kosher meat. It either has meat ingredients or was made on equipment also used for meat products.
- OU-Fish: This symbol means the product is kosher and contains fish ingredients.
- OU-P: This means the product is Kosher for Passover. Passover foods do not have leavened grain (called chametz) or kitniyot ingredients. These products can be used all year round.
- OU-Kitniyot: Like OU-P, this product is Kosher for Passover, but it does contain Kitniyot. Some people eat Kitniyot during Passover, while others do not.
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