I have seen packages which just have the words "kosher, pareve" on them and no other hechsher can be found. Does that make it kosher, because the words is all the hechsher it needs?
Additionally, who certifies these products which just say "kosher"?
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2Note, words on packages don't even make things kosher. Kosher is based entirely on the ingredients and their processing, not the label.– Double AA ♦Jul 14, 2017 at 17:03
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2 Answers
hechshers.info provides information about known hechshers. This page records information about logos which are not hechshers. For example one is said to be a commercial trademark.
There needs to be a hechsher recording supervision from an authority which you recognise and trust.
ADDITION: Certain civil laws exist which
prohibit the use of the phrase kosher in a product's labelling, unless it can be shown that the product conforms to Jewish dietary laws; however, the legal qualifications for conforming to Jewish dietary laws are often defined differently in different jurisdictions.
Whether the legal qualifications for conformance are good enough, you will have to ask your OR.
answered Jul 14, 2017 at 17:14
Avrohom Yitzchok's answer offers a good web site for some info on common kosher symbols used in U.S.
I would strongly recommend looking at or purchasing The Kosher Supervision Guide from http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/. This lists almost every Kashrut symbol in the U.S., Canada, and I believe they also include many international symbols. Every one has a different standard of kashrut, so, even if you see a kosher symbol on a package, it may not actually be reliably kosher for you. For example, few people I know will trust "Triangle K" because of a few "unusual" rulings by the head of this organization.
Additionally, you need to be updated and informed about "false" kashrut symbols. OU, Star-K and Kof-K, among the top U.S. kosher symbols frequently report products that show an unauthorized symbol, or a change in ingredients, or something else that would make that product non-kosher, despite their having a symbol. The Kashrut site as well as all the individual sites I mentioned would list these problems on their web site and / or in their own monthly magazine.
Despite the seeming complexities that I mentioned, B"H, in the U.S., today, keeping kosher is still far easier than it was 40 - 50 years ago, and earlier. And you can largely thank the internet for making knowledge and access to good information for this.
