Consumer products, kosher

Kosher products cover a wide range of consumer products. In the food industry, beverages like teas and coffees, juices, nutritional supplements and dairy drinks are all available with the approval of the OU. The bakery industry produces cakes, muffins and breads that are kosher. Sweet products like gums, candies, yogurts and puddings are kosher. Cereals, soups, snack foods, etc., can be made a Kosher products. In some instances even toothpaste and cough medicines are available as Kosher products. Any one of these products that contain or require flavoring need to be supplied with Kosher flavors. 

In the flavor business, worldwide. Kosher and Halal certification plays an important role. There are several international kosher and halal supervisory agencies who work closely with those in the food business to provide reliable guarantees to the consumer by certifying hundreds of thousands of products each year. 

In order for a product to be kosher, the ingredients and the equipment must both be kosher. The retail product that the consumer sees is clearly marked with the OU logo on the product label, which indicates that this product contains only kosher ingredients and was made only on kosher equipment. 

Kosher status of retail products is protected in the US by local and states laws, but there is no legal requirement for import in any country, not even Israel. The biggest consumer population is in the US. Direct sales of kosher foods is a 165 billion industry (Sales for 2002), up from 45 billion in 1996, according to Integrated Marketing Communications, NYC. 

In many countries around the world religious requirements also influence the choice of natural colour product. To match consumer demands, colonrs mnst often be accompanied by kosher or halal documentation, which can inclnde certification of both raw materials and processing. 

The environmental benefits are (1) cheese makers are no longer dependent upon enzymes recovered from slaughtered calves and lambs for production of rennet needed for most cheese making processes, and (2) based on current demands for chymosin, commercial needs for rennet could not be met from animal sources. The consumer benefits are (1) plentiful, consistently high quality enzyme chymosin is available at low prices that help assure availability of excellent cheeses at a reasonable cost and (2) people who follow kosher and vegetarian eating practices can consume cheese since the enzyme is from a microbe and not a calf. 

Federal and State Meat Inspection Federal Grades of Meats Packer Brand Names Kosher Meats By-products Kinds of Meat Meat Preservation Fabricated Packaged Meat Qualities in Meats Desired by Consumers Meat Buying... 

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