Rabbi Moshe Elefant is the Chief Operating Officer of OU Kosher.
Keeping kosher is an ancient set of stringent dietary laws, derived from the Bible and preserved by the Jewish people for millennia. The most famous tenant is probably a prohibition on eating pork or the meat of other animals that, like pigs, lack split hooves and do not chew their cud. Kosher laws also strictly prohibit the mixing of meat and milk products and the consumption of shellfish, among many other requirements. But today, many people who are not Jewish seek out kosher products, as some of the prohibitions of the kosher system and the ways that kosher goods are produced and labeled make them especially suitable for vegetarians, vegans, individuals seeking a lower-cholesterol diet, those with allergies and followers of other faiths, such as Hinduism and Islam, that include dietary restrictions.
According to experts the total market for kosher products in the U.S. is some 35 million people, including about 1.3 million observant Jews. Indeed, since the late 1980s, the number of new kosher-certified products and ingredients has grown at an average annual clip of between 10% to 15%. And that trend is likely to grow. As more Americans cut back on eating meat, whether for health issues, concern over the environment, or even for economic reasons, they will be seeking out more products that don’t contain animal or animal-based ingredients—which aptly describes a large majority of kosher-certified products.
