Dear OK Kosher Client,

OK Kosher Certification recognizes that this is a busy time of year, as you deal with the demands of closing 2016 on a high and driving to achieve all of your targets. 2017 is around the corner and brings another year of opportunity for growth. As your partners in kosher certification, OK Kosher Certification appreciates the deep commitment that you invest in kosher. We want to honor that partnership by continuing to help your businesses grow in 2017.

In the past 12 months, we’ve significantly simplified our processes while adhering to the same stringent level of kosher regulatory standards OK Kosher is known for.  We have also expanded our staff with several high-caliber individuals across all departments.  This means we are stronger and better equipped to guide our clients than ever before, moving into 2017 and beyond.  Our commitment to excellence will forever be our guiding principle.

As you continue to drive growth through innovation and product launches, Kosher is a significant part of your marketing strategy. To support the success of your 2017 plans, here are a few key factors to bear in mind regarding your kosher programs:

• To maximize your investment in kosher, it is important for the kosher symbol to be printed clearly on your labels – prominently displayed and large enough that consumers can easily see it.
• As part of our promise to be your advocate for all kosher matters, we encourage you to give added consideration to the design and placement of the OK Kosher logo on the labels of existing certified products.
• To assist in this endeavor, OK Kosher has developed an easy-to-follow guide for proper use of the symbol. Please contact [email protected], to request copies of this guide.

We thank you for your loyalty and look forward to showing our appreciation in ways both big and small. It is our goal that you consider OK Kosher your in-house kosher experts for any and all kosher matters.

With best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2017.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Eli Lando,

Executive Manager & Chief Customer Relations Officer

DigitalKosher has added another layer of flexibility for customers that wish to create their own custom kosher certificates online. In addition to the ability to create a certificate with all your items on it, you can also click to “Create a certificate with specific items” from the Custom Kosher Certification Letters page. After choosing which labeler you need your certificate for, you can search your product list using specific criteria (or no criteria at all) and Select All products or only specific products that come up in the search results to add to a custom kosher certificate.

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!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ok-kosher-food-guide/id424950041?mt=8&ls=1
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9vzZ9r8NzA&w=640&h=390]

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.

Online real-time access to your product list.

1. • Download your list as an Excel document and view all of the data behind certificates and products, including: labeler information, production location, kosher status and restrictions.
   • All changes to products (i.e. name change, etc.) that are made in K-Cert, the OK database, will be automatically updated on DigitalKosher.
   • The ability to list all of your kosher certified products on your website without commissioning your IT department.

Online, paperless submission of products and ingredients, including real-time status updates.

1. • Ingredient and product (formula) submissions can be made electronically.
   • Real time updates of your ingredient and product submissions are available for online viewing.
   • This translates into complete control of submissions and updates. You will always know the status of your submissions and will  be able to schedule productions accordingly.

Every few years, nutritional discoveries provide the food industry with hot new trends – propelling sales and building brands positioned to capitalize. The latest? “Kosher,” reports an industry analyst, is “becoming the ‘new organic’ certification for consumers.” The hottest new trend … is in fact the oldest continuously -practiced dietary tradition. For over 3000 years, the kosher laws have provided a complete dietary standard – tested and proven, with the divine “seal of approval” trusted literally worldwide.

What Makes it Kosher?

“Kosher” – from the Hebrew kasher (“fit”, “prepared”) – has entered common parlance to describe anything done right, whether in business, politics or simple decency. This derives from its strict meaning in Talmudic tradition: in ritual and civil law, something “kosher” is correctly prepared, proper in every detail.

For over three millennia, however, “kosher” has been so identified with dietary laws that it is instantly recognized as a type of food preparation. What makes it “kosher”?

Contrary to classic misconception, it is not a rabbi’s blessing that grants kosher status; the kosher supervisor ensures that products conform to a clearly-defined code concerned with a) which foods are permitted; b) how food is prepared; and c) which foods may be cooked or eaten together.

From animal slaughter to vegetable preparation, kosher demands strict standards of ethics and purity; every ingredient matters. Biblical law requires separation of meat and milk, creating three categories – meat, dairy and “pareve” (“neutral”) – making kosher certification ideal to an ever-widening consumer base.

What draws consumers to kosher?

One study asserts, “With more than ten million kosher consumers in the US, the Jewish population is a very low percentage of this number … indicating that kosher has ‘converted’ into a generic product.”

Kosher has long been a niche market. But a new multi-cultural appeal gives it explosive marketing potential. While the fast-growing observant Jewish community demands more (and varied) kosher products, diverse consumers adopt kosher certification to meet their own specific needs.

For the expanding Muslim market, kosher symbols on meat and other products satisfy its Halal standards. Vegetarians are assured that kosher “dairy” or “pareve” products contain no meat. The lactose-intolerant can be sure that “pareve” foods contain no dairy. And health-conscious consumers choose kosher for perceived quality.

With the US market leading, kosher is an international phenomenon. Long a standard in Europe, well-known kosher symbols now guarantee mainstream consumers of quality products in emerging markets from Brazil to South Africa.

Kosher certification is today’s best marketing move – as the NY Times says, the “shrewd way … to gain market share for a minimal investment.”