Jewish Food
Other countries, other customs: The mandatory information of food packaging is supervised by countries/regions worldwide. In Germany, among other things, the labels of ingredients, nutritional values and manufacturers must be transparent and obvious. However, consumers are not always able to know in detail whether the product meets their requirements.
Jewish food alone has many labels. Like organic labels, there is no unified official certification body. Instead, the certification body or rabbi decides what kosher is. For example, in some foods, gelatin from non Jewish animals may be used, or Worcester sauce may contain anchovies. However, it is not only the rules that determine what is kosher, but also the certification fees vary. This is a key factor because food manufacturers can choose their own testing laboratories.
These four basic symbols often appear on the packaging of Jewish food:
OU symbol
The most common is the "OU label" of the Orthodox League. This shows which modern foods still conform to the Jewish food law in history. It is considered the strictest Kosher certificate of all, and has been recognized by about 350 international organizations. The symbol of the letter "U" in the circle provides a basic symbol for further variations.
When food is marked with the symbol "OU", it means:
The product is kosher (although Passover with stricter rules may not be kosher).
This product does not contain milk, meat or any derivatives of milk or meat.
No machines are used to prepare products that are also used to produce milk or meat products.
These foods can be eaten with dairy products or meat and reheated in kosher equipment.
The OU-D symbol is used to identify Jewish foods containing milk or milk derivatives, or foods that have come into contact with machines that process dairy products. For example, Nutella cans can carry
The OU-D symbol is used to identify Jewish foods containing milk or milk derivatives, or foods that have come into contact with machines that process dairy products. For example, Nutella cans bear this mark. Photo: Ferrero
OU-D symbol
The food label with the symbol "OU" - D means:
The product is kosher dairy (although it may not be kosher for Passover with stricter rules).
This product contains milk or milk derivatives. perhaps
This product does not contain milk or milk derivatives, but is manufactured using machines that are also used to manufacture dairy products.
These foods shall not be cooked or eaten together with foods containing meat. They shall not be heated in cooking utensils that are also used for meat preparation. The benchmark should be at least 30 minutes before and after eating meat.
OU-M symbol and OU-F symbol
These two variants basically correspond to the marks of OU-D symbols. However, the letters behind the basic logo do not represent milk and its derivatives, but meat and fish or their derivatives.
This means:
OU-M certified products are kosher food from meat or meat derivatives, or corresponding
OU-F certified products are kosher food made of fish or fish derivatives, or corresponding
Here, too, there are stricter requirements during Passover.
Similarly, these foods can only be cooked or eaten together with certain other foods: for meat products, dairy products cannot be eaten within half an hour before and half an hour after consumption, nor can they be heated in such cookers: the same applies to fish.
The symbol K indicates that the food packaging of the product has been carefully designed and is suitable for use as Jewish kosher food for Passover. Photo: OK Kosher certification
The symbol K indicates that the food packaging of the product has been carefully designed and is suitable for use as Jewish kosher food for Passover. Photo: OK Kosher certification
Good kosher
PAREVE/Passover:
Further requirements are put forward for products and products suitable for Passover. This is usually shown on the package with the basic symbol "OK". In this case, food is kosher at any time of the year.
Pareve is a food that does not belong to any meat or dairy product category and must be stored, cooked and eaten separately.
