Kosher certification comes from a private agency, not the government, and getting it follows the same path at the large agencies: you apply, list every ingredient and its supplier, a rabbinic field representative inspects your kitchen, the agency tells you what has to change, you sign a contract with the fees, and you get a letter of certification. Your labels with the agency's symbol are approved before printing, and the agency visits from then on to check that nothing has changed. The hard part is the ingredients: every one has to be approved by your agency, most need a current kosher letter from the supplier, and no new ingredient or supplier goes in without approval. Each product is designated pareve, dairy or meat, and the symbol shows which. In the example below, a New Jersey jam and granola maker applies when a grocery chain asks, and finds one ingredient not yet approved, one letter expired, and one granola that will be dairy. Below are the steps, the ingredients, the symbols, the cost, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- Choose an agency your buyers accept; grocery chains and distributors often name the agencies they take.
- Apply, then list every ingredient with its supplier and brand, every product, and how each is made.
- An agency representative inspects the kitchen, and the agency says what has to change.
- The contract lists your approved ingredients, your products and their symbols, and the fees.
- Most ingredients need a current kosher letter; a few, like cane sugar, are approved without one.
- Products are pareve, dairy or meat; dairy ingredients, or dairy equipment, make a product dairy.
- The agency approves your labels, then visits periodically.
- TaroStack keeps each lot's kosher letter with it, and records which lots went into each batch. More below.
The steps
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Apply | The company, the plant, the products, what else is made there and on what equipment |
| 2. Data forms | Every ingredient with its supplier and brand, every product, how each is made |
| 3. Inspection | A rabbinic field representative tours the plant and files a report |
| 4. Assessment | The agency says whether it can certify, and what has to change first |
| 5. Contract | The approved ingredients, the products and their symbols, equipment instructions, visits and fees |
| 6. Letter of certification | Issued once the contract is signed and the terms are met |
| 7. Labels | New labels with the symbol are approved before printing |
| 8. Visits | Periodic visits check ingredients, products and labels against the contract |
These are the steps the OU and STAR-K describe; other agencies are similar. The OU calls the approved ingredient list Schedule A and the list of products and their symbols Schedule B.
The ingredients
The agency evaluates every ingredient in the plant, including ones not meant for kosher products, because what runs on shared equipment affects everything made on it. A few raw materials are approved without a letter: STAR-K names cane sugar, corn meal and vanillin. Most others need a letter of certification from an agency, naming the product and whether it's pareve or dairy. Letters expire, and a supplier can change a source, so the letters are kept current. A new ingredient, or the same one from a new supplier, goes to the agency before it's used. How a supplier list works is in approved supplier list.
The symbols
| Designation | What it means | On the label, at the OU |
|---|---|---|
| Pareve | Neither milk nor meat; may contain fish or eggs | The symbol alone |
| Dairy | Dairy ingredients, or made on dairy equipment | OU-D |
| Dairy equipment | No dairy ingredients, but made on dairy equipment | OU-DE |
| Meat | Meat or poultry ingredients, or made on meat equipment | OU-M |
| Passover | Kosher for Passover as well as all year | A P with the symbol |
Each agency has its own symbol and suffixes, and the contract names the symbol for each product. If a kitchen makes both dairy and pareve products, the agency writes special instructions for the shared equipment: cleaning and kosherization, or separate lines. What else goes on the label is in food labeling requirements for small business.
The cost
Agencies quote each company. The OU bills a processing fee and a travel fee before the first inspection, and the contract sets out the fees from then on; STAR-K says it never bases its fee on a share of your sales. Ask for the full quote, the visits included, before you sign. Certified ingredients can cost more than the ones you buy now, so price your recipes with them.
New Jersey's disclosure
Some states have kosher consumer laws. In New Jersey, where the example is, a "dealer" is any business, manufacturers included, that represents food as kosher, and it posts the state's disclosure statement where the food is sold, plus a kosher supervision disclosure if it says it's supervised (N.J.A.C. 13:45A-21.2). This is general information, not legal or religious advice; your agency's contract decides what's kosher.
An example: a jam and granola maker applies
Pine Barrens Pantry, the made-up jam, granola and hot sauce maker in Hammonton, New Jersey, I use in these examples, applies when a grocery chain asks for kosher. Its ingredient list after the data forms:
| Ingredient | Letter | Pareve or dairy | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolled oats | OU, to March 2027 | Pareve | OK |
| Maple syrup | None yet | Pareve | Submitted, not approved |
| Almonds, raw | Approved without one | Pareve | OK |
| Cane sugar | Approved without one | Pareve | OK |
| Sunflower oil | STAR-K, to November 30, 2026 | Pareve | Expires within 60 days |
| Dark chocolate chips | OU, to January 2027 | Dairy | OK, but dairy |
| Dried cranberries | OK, to August 31, 2026 | Pareve | Expired |
| Pectin | Kof-K, to June 2027 | Pareve | OK |
| Distilled vinegar | OU, to February 2027 | Pareve | OK |
The maple syrup waits for the agency's approval, the cranberry supplier sends a current letter, and the oil's new letter is asked for now. The chocolate chips are dairy, so the chocolate cranberry granola will be dairy; the maple granola, the jam and the hot sauce stay pareve. The kitchen's next question for the agency is whether it can switch to pareve chips and keep every product pareve. How a co-packed product gets certified instead is in kosher co-packer.
Get the checklist
Download the kosher certification checklist. Three sheets: ingredients, each with its supplier, the agency on its letter, pareve or dairy, the letter's expiry and whether your agency approved it, with a status that flags expired and expiring letters and anything not approved; products, each product's designation and what goes on its label; and steps, the certification steps with dates and the fees from your quote. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Certification depends on every delivery. A distributor that sends a different brand of oil, a letter that lapses in June, or a new cranberry supplier nobody told the agency about can put an unapproved ingredient into a certified batch, and a spreadsheet of letters doesn't know which brand came in on Tuesday.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each lot's kosher letter with it, and records which lots went into each batch.
The letter on the delivery. Receipts and lots take fields of your own, such as the agency, the brand and the letter's expiry, so each delivery's paperwork stays with that lot.
Batches that record their lots. A batch of granola notes which oil and cranberry lots it used, automatically, so the agency's question about a jar, or a supplier's lapsed letter, leads straight to the batches.
Certified and uncertified apart. A certified ingredient and an uncertified one are separate items, so a certified recipe can't quietly use the wrong one. How lot tracking works is in what is lot tracking.
| The job | Folder of letters | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A delivery's kosher letter | Filed somewhere | Fields on the lot |
| Which batches used a lot | Unknown | Lots recorded on the batch |
| Certified and uncertified oil | One line on a sheet | Separate items |
Lots, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.