• Largest and oldest Kosher supervising agency in the world. The OU has supervised Kosher products for seventy five years. The OU certifies over 2300 companies with 4500 plants in 70 countries around the globe with a total of over 300,000 labels.

• Name recognition around the world as a symbol of excellence in Kosher supervision.

• New York headquarters office staff of 50 Rabbis who are ready to serve as account executives for OU certified companies.

• Nearly 500 Rabbinic field representatives who are available to visit plants in every part of the globe. These Kashruth personnel are proficient in the intricacies of Jewish law, modern food production and chemical and biological processes.

• State of the art computer system to store and track ingredients and product information. The OU database contains information on more than 170,000 food ingredients.

• The OU regularly features new products in its magazine, Jewish Action, which enjoys a circulation of 25,000 copies, and on its web site (http://www.ou.org).

• Association with the Orthodox Union, which is a non-profit communal organization. Because no one has any financial interest in the OU, the staff of the Kashruth Department maintains the highest levels of integrity without any possible conflict of interests. In addition to providing supervision, the Orthodox Union coordinates many programs of social welfare as well.

Who are some companies certified by the OU?

Alberto-Culver, American Home Foods, Armour Foods, Best Foods Baking, Borden Foods, Chock Full O’ Nuts, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Dannon, Dow Chemicals, Drake Bakeries, Durkee, Elite, Empire Kosher, Entenmann’s, General Mills, Green Giant, Haagen Dazs, Hershey’s, Hiram Walker, Slim Fast, J.M. Smucker, Kraft, Land O’ Lakes, Lever Bros., Manischewitz, McCormick & Co., Nabisco, Nestle’s, Nutrasweet, Pepperidge Farm, Pillsbury, Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee Bakery, Starkist, Thomas J. Lipton Tea Co., Van Camp Seafood, Welch, White Rock, 3M Corp… and many more.

What is the Orthodox Union?

The Orthodox Union of Jewish Congregations of America is a non-profit communal organization which began over 100 years ago. In addition to the Kashruth Department which offers Kosher supervision, the OU is comprised of an array of different divisions that provide important social services throughout the world. Among these departments are the following:

What happens when I apply for certification?

• You will complete and send your application back to the OU office. The application asks for logistical information about your company as well as a list of products you want certified and a list of ingredients used in your plant.

• An account executive (also known as a Rabbinic Coordinator or RC) is assigned to handle your application. This individual will be your designated point person at the OU during the entire set-up-phase. He will be available to answer your questions, address your needs and guide you through the certification process.

• A qualified Rabbinic field representative will visit your plant to review and observe your operation and determine the feasibility of certifying your products. (There is a processing fee and a travel expense fee that is billed prior to this inspection.) The inspector will ask you questions and tour your plant and will then file a written report to the OU office.

• Your application and inspection report are reviewed by your Rabbinic Coordinator and by a committee of Rabbinic specialists. The RC will advise you whether or not the OU can provide supervision. In some instances, special systems of operation may be required for Kosher supervision.

• If necessary, we may solicit further information from you, such as letters of Kosher certification or spec. sheets for specific ingredients. In addition, we may recommend that you change sources of supply for certain ingredients that do not have proper Kosher certification. The RC will help you locate compatible alternate sources. Our ingredient department will review the list of ingredients used in your facility and establish the Kosher status of these materials.

• The RC will draft a contract which includes all of the requirements of the OU for Kosher certification. If acceptable to you, the contract is signed and returned to the OU office, and a letter of certification is sent to you. 

• A Rabbinic field representative is assigned to visit your plant on a regular basis.

How long does the certification process take?

The OU makes every effort to complete this process as quickly as possible. However, the actual length of this phase will depend on the complexity of your operation and how compatible the plant is with Kosher requirements, as well as the level of commitment on your part to work in partnership with the RC. On the average, it takes approximately three months for a company to become certified by the OU.

What about confidentiality?

The OU observes the strictest levels of confidentiality. We are extremely sensitive to your needs and fully understand the proprietary nature of your confidential information. If desired, the OU will be happy to sign a confidentiality agreement with your company.

How often will a Rabbinic field inspector visit my plant?

This will depend on the nature of your operation, the level of complexity of the operation and the number of Kosher sensitive ingredients. Inspections may be as infrequent as semi-annual or as much as full time supervision.

Why must I be inspected? Don’t you trust me?

We only enter into supervisory arrangements when we feel comfortable that we can trust our clients. However, supervision, by definition, is not built on trust alone. The same is true for any regulatory agency, such as the USDA. The consumer is relying on the independent verification of our organization, and this can only be achieved by regular visitations by our trained representative.  The OU symbol is the mark of trust for millions of consumers because of our exacting standards and our rigorous inspection requirements.

Does the OU accept ingredients that are certified by other Kosher agencies?

Very often. There are different standards of Kosher supervision. For example, some agencies visit facilities more frequently than others. The OU accepts numerous supervisions of other certifying bodies, provided the standards are at a level that is comparable to OU standards.

Jewish Kosher law does not allow the consumption of dairy and meat products together. Even if only one ingredient in a product is dairy or meat, or if an item is processed on equipment previously used for dairy or meat production, the product has a dairy or meat status. To alert the Kosher consumer to the status of a product, dairy items are labeled OU Dairy or OUD, meat items are labeled OU Meat, and neutral items are labeled OU Pareve (pareve= neutral) or just plain OU.

Jewish Dietary law prohibits the consumption of various leavened grains and legumes during the 8 days of the Passover holiday. (Passover occurs in March or April.) OU Passover or OUP indicates that a product is processed under special supervision which renders it acceptable for Passover consumption.