Savor the authentic taste of traditional cuisine. The flavor of food of days gone by. That’s the essence of Exter. The pure flavor of traditional food made from ingredients sourced from nature and the farm. Food cooked like your grandmother used to – with passion and care.
This is what Exter has done for 70 years. Exter, started as a family business, has grown into a company that exports to 42 countries around the world. The company, located in The Netherlands, just north of Amsterdam, employs 65 people.
As a niche player Exter is committed to delivering the taste you want to create. It’s no wonder that Exter works together with food manufacturers from around the world, always with a personal touch and in close cooperation. Exter creates sophisticated taste bases of cooked meat, fish or vegetables. Imagine the delicious flavor of grilled chicken with sautéed onion and tomato or clear beef bouillon with leek and fennel.
Exter’s flavors are based on vegetable protein and it is this basic raw material that allows Exter to produce most of its products kosher certified by OK Kosher Certification.
Grilling, stir-fry, steaming, boiling and roasting – in Exter’s kitchens everything is cooked in traditional style. Slow cooking, respecting time and the purity of the produce. The aim is to tempt the consumer to taste and appreciate the difference and above all to keep coming back for more.
The five basic tastes have no secrets as far as Exter’s chefs are concerned. Bitter, salt, sour, sweet or umami, the chefs know how to transform these into the flavor you need for your product. A flavor that lingers. Not only in your mouth but also in your memory. That’s how Exter and its customers work together for their success. The worldwide network of distributors is ready to help you to make your food a genuine experience. Always personal, always available. Together they give flavor to life.
Exter has worked with the OK for the last 18 years. First supervised by Rabbi Spiro, and now by his son, its liquid aroma factory has been completely kosher for many years. As a matter of fact, the cooperation has been so successful that Exter is now moving from kosher campaigns that took place 4 times per year to full-time kosher production in its powder factory as well.
Mr. Ad van Vugt of Exter BV was recently honored at the Annual International OK Mashgiach Conference for his commitment to the kosher consumer and his longstanding relationship with OK Kosher Certification.
OK Kosher Certification Held Its 13th International Annual Mashgiach Conference
On Monday, 2 Kislev (November 28), OK Kosher Certification held its 13th annual International Mashgiach Conference in Chovevei Torah in Brooklyn, NY. Over 150 OK personnel and rabbis were in attendance, including rabbis from Japan, India, Greece, Israel, Poland, Germany, Belgium and others from around the world.
As in past years, the OK honored two rabbis. This year’s honorees were Rabbi Shloime Bistritsky, the newly elected Chief Rabbi of Hamburg, Germany, and Rabbi Binyomin Neufeld from Israel. Both rabbis were chosen for their dedication to upholding the rigorous kosher standards set forth by the OK.
Every year the OK features a company that is making strides in increasing their kosher offerings and goes above and beyond to work with their mashgichim and rabbis. This year the OK honored two companies: Post Foods, LLC and Exter B.V. (a flavor company in Europe). For over 50 years, Post cereals have been kosher certified by the OK providing their customers with high quality kosher breakfast cereals.
Rabbi Levy, Kashrus Administrator, opened the conference with words of Torah, inspiration, and the latest happenings at the OK. Attendees were also honored to have HaRav Yosef Braun, Rabbi of Crown Heights, share a few words of Torah. Rabbi Hillel Baron, from Columbia, Maryland, spoke about outreach opportunities within certified companies; Rabbi Yitzchok Ort, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, shared insights into the changing kosher dairy industry; professional basketball player Tamir Goodman, also known as the “Jewish Jordan”, introduced his new innovation, SportStrings Tzitzis that are now certified OK; Rabbi Eli Lando gave a brief talk on customer service; Mr. Menachem Lubinsky, CEO of Lubicom Marketing, enlightened the rabbis on the growth of the kosher food industry; Rabbi Yitzchak Gornish a rabbinical coordinator at the OK shared his scientific knowledge with a presentation on the Chemistry of Kashrus; and Rabbi Yisroel Stern of Chassidus Mevueres spoke about the OK’s contribution to spreading the wellsprings of Chassidus through Heichal Menachem. Rabbi Chaim Fogelman MC’d the event with his much-loved combination of Chassidic insights and humor.
One attendee commented, “This year the conference was an incredible success. It was so well prepared, and extremely interesting. We all benefitted greatly from the event.”
The conference ended with a lavish buffet lunch catered by Bunch-O-Bagels and time for the rabbis to interact and share their experiences.
Attendees received a brand new sefer by Chassidus Mevueres printed specially for this event.
Post® Cereals and OK Kosher Certification – Providing the Best to the Kosher Consumer
One of the greatest accomplishments of the kosher food industry was making mainstream products in the commercial cereal market kosher. When I think of breakfast cereal, the iconic Post® logo immediately comes to mind – that ubiquitous red oval logo that graces almost every American kitchen and conjures up childhood memories of countless bowls of Cocoa Pebbles and Raisin Bran. Every child that grew up in a kosher home eating Post® cereals shares in these memories.
Founded in 1895 by C.W. Post, the first products were conjured up in an old barn in Battle Creek, Michigan. Post’s first creation, “Postum” was a cereal beverage and one of the first packaged breakfast products marketed in America. By 1897, Post® Grape Nuts, one of the first ready to eat cold cereals, was available for purchase by the public. C.W. Post bought a large parcel of land in Battle Creek and built a state-of-the art production facility alongside modest homes for his employees. He created both employment opportunities for a large segment of the local population, as well as housing for their families. The company continued to grow and from 1925 to 1929, C.W. Post’s company acquired over a dozen other companies and expanded production to more than 60 products. In 1929, the parent corporation name changed to General Foods Corporation. In 1942, Post® introduced its iconic Raisin Bran cereal, which is a staple product in millions of American households. In 1971, the perennial favorites Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles debuted in supermarkets across the country and in 1992 Post® recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of Shredded Wheat cereal.
The OK has certified Post® Cereals for over 60 years. To date, over 3,500 kashrus inspections have been logged at Post® manufacturing facilities and seven rabbis oversee the kosher supervision program. Today, the OK certifies 64 varieties of Post cereals, produced in six different facilities. Some kosher certified varieties are pareve, while some are certified dairy (not Cholov Yisroel).
Post® takes its commitment to kosher compliance very seriously. Dedicated personnel within the company work continuously with the OK to ensure that every step of the kosher protocol is followed precisely and that all products are accurately labeled. There was a time that kosher cereal contained non-kosher promotional items. This posed absolutely no kashrus issue, since the promotional item was individually wrapped and clearly marked as non-kosher. Unfortunately, however, there were still kosher consumers who were confused. OK Kosher, known for its clear mission of kashrus without compromise, worked cooperatively with Post® management to protect the kosher integrity of Post® products and Post® went out of its way to discontinue the entire campaign despite the loss involved.
JaNeen Allen, Nutrition and Regulatory Scientist at Post and the liaison between the OK and Post®, reiterated the Post® commitment to providing a wide variety of kosher products: “As one of the fastest growing food manufacturing companies in the US, Post Holdings is always striving to provide a range of products for the consumer. Within that range, we want to ensure that if there is an opportunity for our products to be accepted as kosher, we follow that course. For years we have worked with the OK and we are looking forward to continuing our relationship and providing as many kosher products as possible to your community. Thank you so much for the opportunities you have imparted on our company.”
Rabbi Eli Lando, Chief Customer Relations Officer at the OK, whose team works directly with Post®, is continually impressed by Post® Foods’ respect for the kosher consumer. “It is heartwarming to see that Post® appreciates the importance of OK Kosher’s high kosher standards and the needs of the kosher consumer. This achievement is a direct result of our commitment to full cooperation with our customers and we look forward to an ongoing relationship and growth for the benefit of all kosher consumers.
The OK and Post® are proud to announce a new kosher certified variety of the famous, kid-favorite “Pebbles” cereals – Post® Chocolate Peanut Butter Pebbles Boulders.
Ms. JaNeen Allen and Mr. George Dover accepted the Featured Company Award at our recent International Mashgiach Conference on behalf of Post® Foods, LLC.
As we begin the new year of 2012, we at OK Kosher Certification would like to thank you for another exciting year. We are proud to serve your kosher programs and take great pleasure in the many new projects we are involved in with our existing and new customers around the globe.
This year you can expect innovation on all fronts. Your Rabbinic Coordinator and Account Representative at OK headquarters are committed to providing you with the quality service you deserve. We urge you not to hesitate to contact them at any time. We also want to hear your compliments, comments or complaints about our service.
Compliments − tell us when we get things right and when we should congratulate staff. Comments − help us with ideas for improving our services. Complaints − tell us when we are getting things wrong and we will make it right.
We welcome your feedback by telephone (718-907-9595) or by e-mail ([email protected]).
In this addition of QuicKosher, you can also read about the highly successful conference we held in November. Our representatives from around the world gathered together in New York to learn about the latest in the industry and make sure we offer you the best possible service. We also honored two of our companies, Post Foods, LLC and Exter BV, and they are featured in this newsletter.
We thank each and every one of our treasured clients from around the world for selecting OK Kosher to certify their kosher products and our exceptional staff for making it all possible. We are committed to keep being GLOBALLY YOURS.
On behalf of our President, Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, and the entire OK Kosher team,
The OK is always at the forefront of merging technology with kosher certification. From computerized product and ingredient data storage, to online access to thousands of kosher certificates, the OK takes pride in its high tech, user-friendly kosher database. Recently, we have taken technology a step further and put our full product list in the palm of your hand!
The OK’s complete product list (both industrial and consumer) is now available for the iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch. The OK Kosher Food Guide App (free in the iTunes store) enables you to search the extensive database of OK certified products by company name or category and have the kosher information at your fingertips, including Cholov Yisroel, Pas Yisroel & Yoshon status! The guide is automatically updated daily to give you the most up-to-date information.
Other great features include a direct link the OK website and current and past issues of Kosher Spirit magazine, as well as the link to download our popular Vegetable Checking Guide app. You can also use the app to suggest new kosher products to the OK.
We are currently in the process of developing an Android version of the app, which we hope to unveil in the coming weeks!
*The OK was recently featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. We are told that Rabbi Chaim Fogelman, Director of Marketing & Eduction and Editor-in-Chief of Kosher Spirit, is only the second orthodox rabbi to ever grace the cover of this prestigious paper.
Working 24/6 to Get the Leavened Bread Out of the Kosher Kitchen; What Isn’t OK
By Lucette Lagnado
Rabbi Naftali Marrus kosherizes a restaurant kitchen for Passover.When Rabbi Naftali Marrus does his spring cleaning, he doesn’t use a mop. He rolls with the Inferno.
The Inferno is a three-and-a-half-foot-long propane torch Rabbi Marrus uses during the critical days before Passover to scour commercial kitchens catering to observant Jews and obliterate the smallest particles of bread and other leavened foods, which are forbidden during the holiday that commemorates the Jews’ flight from Egypt.
Marching into the kitchen of My Most Favorite Food, a restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Rabbi Marrus runs his finger along stove tops, pokes his head inside the big industrial ovens, examines the coffee maker and inspects walls and floors. They have been soaked in boiling water and scrubbed clean with soap, detergents, degreasers and ammonia.
No matter. With the restaurant’s owners, Doris Schechter and her son-in-law Scott Magram looking on, Rabbi Marrus directs the flames of the Inferno up and down racks of steel rolling trays and deep inside the oven. His assistant will apply the Inferno to the pots and pans. Ms. Schechter takes the drastic cleaning in stride. “To me it is a renewal, you start over again.”
Rabbi Marrus, 6-feet-3-inches tall and built like a football player, handles the Inferno with care. “You have to be respectful to the blowtorch,” he says.
Passover, which starts Monday at sundown and lasts eight days, is the busy season for Rabbi Marrus. As a supervising rabbi for OK Kosher Certification, an agency in Brooklyn, N.Y., he and his colleagues are working 24/6—they don’t work on the Sabbath—to ensure that all restaurants, caterers, cafés, industrial kitchens and food manufacturers that want the OK Kosher for Passover label follow strict Jewish food laws.
But keeping kosher isn’t just for Passover, and it isn’t just for traditional Jewish food. OK gives its kosher blessing to items as varied as Perrier water and Tropicana orange juice.
Getting the kosher seal is a rigorous experience that requires OK’s 300-odd part-time rabbis to travel around inspecting plants where food is produced. They study every ingredient that goes into a product to make sure it conforms with religious law. Only then will they allow it to carry their trademark “K” with a circle around it.
“We like to say God is our silent partner,” remarks Rabbi Chaim Fogelman, an OK veteran.
OK Kosher started in about 1935 as a mom-and-pop shop called Organized Kashrut Laboratories. It’s now a multinational player, with rabbis in China, Japan, India, Belgium and Israel who certify nearly 500,000 products from about 3,000 companies. Its headquarters are still in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It operates as a nonprofit. Clients pay from $2,000 to tens of thousands of dollars annually.
Kosher dietary laws date back to biblical times. Several basic laws come with hundreds, even thousands of regulations or interpretations. Eating pork and shellfish, for example, is banned, while mixing meat and milk is also taboo. There are also intricate rules on how an animal must be slaughtered to produce kosher meat.
Establishments that serve kosher food, including restaurants, cafés, catering halls and butcher shops, need to have a mashgiach on hand, an on-site supervisor, typically a rabbi, assigned to stand around and watch, guarding against treif or unkosher ingredients that could slip in.
The U.S. kosher market is valued at about $12.5 billion. “The iconic brands of America are overwhelmingly kosher,” says Menachem Lubinsky, President of Lubicom Marketing Consulting. Familiar brands such as Coca-Cola, Snapple, Philadelphia cream cheese, Coors beer and Tootsie Rolls all have products with a kosher label.
“It is astounding when you figure that Jews are less than 2% of the population,” says Sue Fishkoff, author of the book “Kosher Nation.” Many non-Jews believe a kosher product is healthier and safer, she says. “Is it? Possibly the Kosher beef is. But certainly not the cereal or the aluminum foil.”
These days, more than 1,000 agencies world-wide vie with one another to bestow on products an alphabet soup of kosher insignia. These include the ubiquitous k with a circle around it favored by OK; there’s the OU—a U inside a circle—sign used by the Orthodox Union; while the Rabbinical Council of Chicago is known for its cRc in a triangle stamp.
“There is healthy competition, but we do work for a higher cause,” says Rabbi Sholem Fishbane of Chicago’s rabbinic agency. “We try to promote kosher.”
There are occasional disagreements, and what is kosher to some rabbis may not be to others. Ms. Fishkoff, for instance, recalls how the granddaddy of kosher products—the iconic Hebrew National Kosher Hot Dog—for years wasn’t considered sufficiently kosher by some of the key certifying agencies. These days, armed with a kosher seal from Triangle K, a Brooklyn agency, the hot dog has been embraced by Conservative Jews who observe kosher dietary laws.
Some Orthodox agencies such as OK and the Chicago Rabbinical Council still reject it. “It is much better than it used to be,” says Rabbi Fishbane, but “it is not certified glatt,” he says, referring to an even higher standard of kosher meat certification.
For Hebrew National to be certified as glatt, Rabbi Fogelman says, it would have to use only glatt kosher meat. Glatt certification, he explains, involves checking a cow after slaughter to see how healthy it was—specifically if it had lesions on its lungs. If it had too many lesions, then it won’t pass muster as glatt, he says.
Hebrew National, owned by ConAgra Foods, says on its website that its certification by Triangle K comes from an orthodox Jewish agency made up of “the most stringent Jews” that provide rabbinical supervision and make sure its products and ingredients meet the “strictest criteria” for kosher. ConAgra’s spokesman says it has no plans to pursue the glatt market.
Then there’s the question of how far to push the kosher brand. Rabbi Fogelman of OK says his agency has been asked to certify paper bags as kosher; OK is working on it. OK certifies a dog treat as kosher. Exclusively Pet Inc., in Milwaukee, manufactures dog cookies that carry the little K seal.
These days Evanger’s Dog & Cat Food Co. near Chicago sells dog and cat food that, in a manner of speaking, is kosher. They are deemed usable during the Passover holiday, though not kosher for human consumption, and have the endorsement of the venerable Chicago Rabbinical Council. Evanger’s website touts its products by showing a photo of a dog wearing a yarmulke.
They are a godsend to Terry Socol of Skokie, Ill. His two cats, Ashley and Coco, don’t like Passover because of the limited diet. He called Evanger’s and obtained cans of whole mackerel and beef tips with gravy. But he also bought them lox—certified kosher for humans: “Passover is such a hard holiday for them.”
*Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2011.
Late in August, Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, CEO of OK Kosher Supervision (also known as “Circle K Kosher”) presented ConAgra Foods CEO Gary Rodkin with a plaque recognizing more than four decades of collaboration between the two firms. But it isn’t just the relationship between the two businesses that has gained meaning over the years. Increasingly, consumers are looking to kosher certification as a symbol of safety and quality.
“We certify thousands of companies,” Levy said, “but ConAgra Foods is unique. It’s a company that never takes shortcuts, and, for that and much more, we want to recognize its outstanding dedication to providing superior kosher foods.” Accepting the plaque, Rodkin observed that consumer insights show that consumers increasingly associate kosher foods with a high level of quality. “It’s become a way to make people feel better about the food they eat and, in our case, the food they love. We’re very proud of our many kosher-certified brands and are deeply committed to preserving their safety and purity.”
OK Kosher also recognized Research, Quality & Innovation’s Food Labeling team for the work it does to help ensure that kosher standards and practices are communicated throughout RQI and the supply chain.
Kosher’s cachet
According to the late author Leo Rosten, “kosher” well may be the most widely used Hebrew word in the English language, strange as that sounds. It’s a word that’s generally used with a great deal of affection, and for good reason. Food that is “kosher” is ritually clean according to the strict dietary laws of Judaism. And, at a time when consumer concerns about food safety are making headlines, kosher’s cachet is probably greater than ever. So the good vibes emanating from kosher foods extend far beyond traditional Jewish communities and have the potential to influence the purchasing decisions of a much wider range of consumers.
What’s kosher at ConAgra Foods
OK Kosher is one of the major global Rabbinical Authorities engaged in kosher certification for food and beverage makers. Its relationship with ConAgra Foods began with a simple, one-page contract and a handshake between Rabbi Berel Levy (Don Yoel’s father) and Hunt-Wesson exec Bill Kittredge in the late 1960s. One of the keys to the partnership has been the organizations’ shared commitment to quality and forward-thinking technology. DigitalKosher, utilized by OK Kosher for tracking the provenance of kosher ingredients and products, provides users with critical information relating to formulas, manufacturing facilities and the kosher effective dates of every ingredient. Currently, OK Kosher provides kosher certification services for:
Tomato products manufactured at plants in Oakdale and Helm, Calif., and in Newport, Tenn.
Edible oils processed in Memphis, Tenn.
Popcorn and snacks products made in Hamburg and Lakeview, Iowa, Morral, Ohio, Brookston and Rensselaer, Ind., and Lincoln, Neb.
Non-meat dishes created in Turners Falls, Mass.
Peanut butter manufactured in Sylvester, Ga.
Puddings made in Waterloo, Iowa, and pudding, gels and certain varieties of cocoa made in Menomonie, Wis.
Ice cream toppings and some tomato products processed in Humboldt, Tenn.
Asian vegetables manufactured in Archbold, Ohio
Seeds processed in Fresno, Calif., and St. Louis
Sauces created in Laval, Quebec
Snack bars made in Lakeville, Minn., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Some Lamb Weston product lines
A number of co-packers performing contract work for ConAgra Foods
In addition to celebrating the recognition ConAgra Foods received, RQI team members met with OK Kosher representatives to discuss possible future collaboration on educational, marketing and brand development strategies.
1. Ability for multiple personnel to access your kosher data online.
You have control over adding or deleting authorized users to your DigitalKosher account. Allow specified personnel to add/remove data, including ingredients and formulas, as well as alter the viewing settings for your kosher certificates.
You can use a K-ID as a place holder on your internal data warehousing system (e.g. SAP etc). Any internal staff with access to your system (e.g. plant managers, sales people, etc), can click on the hyperlink and get access to the latest kosher certificate.
You can allow plant personal or corporate access to full OK product lists and/or ingredient lists in searchable and downloadable format.
A kosher ingredient is one that is certified by a reputable kosher certification agency and approved for use by the OK.
Application for:
Receiving: The receiving department must check all incoming ingredients for kosher products to ensure that they are on the approved ingredient list and conform to the specifications on the kosher certificate (i.e. kosher symbol on package, bulk certificate, lot number, etc.).
Production: Only approved kosher ingredients with the correct designation (meat, dairy, pareve, or Passover) can be used in the production of kosher products.
![[KOSHER]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-BA250_KOSHER_G_20110417212258.jpg "Rabbi Naftali Marrus kosherizes a restaurant kitchen for Passover.")
