How Can I Tell If a Food Package Is Kosher?
There are several levels of keeping kosher, depending on how strict you are. Some people believe that keeping kosher is healthier, while others do it to uphold a Jewish tradition, but most people who keep kosher do it for religious reasons and need to verify that packaged foods are certified kosher by a rabbi or rabbinic organization. There are many organizations that have the authority to proclaim a food package kosher and allow it to bear the symbol of a kashrut (kosher laws) certification. The symbol is different depending on the organization.
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Instructions
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Familiarize yourself with kashrut. Read up about all the kashrut on the Internet or consult a family who keeps kosher already. You can also talk to a rabbi about what kashrut means to you.
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Examine the food inside the package. If it is obviously treif, or nonkosher, you need not look for a kashrut certification symbol. This might include a package of pork rinds, a can of clamsor frozen cheese steaks, all of which obviously violate various kashrut, in these cases against eating pig and shellfish and combining meat and dairy together. For some people, not selecting food that is obviously treif is kosher enough.
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Look at the list of ingredients on the back of the package. If there are nonkosher ingredient listings, you know that the package of food is not kosher. For example, if lactose (dairy sugar) appears on the same list as beef broth, you know that the food package isn't kosher. However, because ingredients and additives ranging from acetoglycerides to riboflavin to vanilla may include nonkosher animal derivatives, processed, packaged foods with more than a few ingredients will be difficult to analyze while standing in a supermarket isle, even if you have a list of potentially nonkosher ingredients.
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Look for kashrut certification symbols on the packaging of the food. The easiest and surest way to guarantee that all the ingredients in a food package are kosher, that the machines they were processed on are kosher and that the packaging itself is kosher, is to look for the kashrut certification. Symbols include a circle with a "U" inside it (The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations), a circle with a "K" inside it (The Organized Kashrus Laboratories), a star with a "K" inside it ("Star-K" Kosher Certification), A "D" (for dairy) with a star inside it (National Council of Young Israel) or the Hebrew letter kof with a "K" inside it ("KOF-K" Kosher Supervision) are all common certifications within the US. There are other, regional symbols you can also look for that indicate that the food package is kosher. These symbols can be found near the bottom or on the side of the package and are usually 1/8" to ½" tall.
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If you are very observant of kashrut, join an email list such as the one found at Kashrut.com, which lets you know if the labeling on particular food packages is outdated or is still bearing kosher symbols even though the foods are no longer kosher.
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Tips & Warnings
The more ingredients a food has, the more likely it is to contain something that isn't kosher.
To avoid having to search everything you buy for a kashrut certification, get as much fresh produce as you can.
Small symbols may be present next to the kashrut certification indicating if a food is considered dairy ("D"), meat ("M") or kosher for Passover ("P").
If the word "pareve" appears next to the kosher symbol, that means the food is neutral, neither meat not dairy.
If one food pack is kosher but labeled dairy and another is kosher but labeled meat, they won't be kosher if served together.
References
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