Windham, NH (PRWEB)

HomeFree, LLC recently announced that HomeFree cookies have been selected as the About.com 2012 Readers’ Choice Award winner for best allergy friendly sweets. Now in its fifth year, the About.com Readers’ Choice Awards honor the best products, features and services across more than a dozen categories, ranging from technology to hobbies to parenting and more, as selected by its readers.

“This year’s Readers’ Choice Awards program had a record number of nominations submitted across dozens of categories and featured hundreds of finalists,” said Margot Weiss, managing editor, About.com. “We are thankful to all our readers for their participation and congratulate HomeFree on their success.”

HomeFree was started by Jill Robbins, a clinical psychologist and mom to a child with food allergies. Jill wanted to make it easier for people with special dietary needs to be included in social events that involve food. Jill is delighted to receive this award, saying “I am thankful to About.com for its ongoing focus on food allergies, and of course am very pleased with the growing excitement about our products and company as reflected by the outpouring of votes we received. We have heard from people that they voted for HomeFree cookies for many different reasons. Of course the biggest was the care we use for allergy safety, but the buzz was also about how delicious and healthy the cookies are not just for those with allergies but for everyone. People especially expressed appreciation that HomeFree cookies are natural or organic, non-GMO, and whole grain, and that most are now certified gluten free as well. Some people also told us that they love not only the cookies, but also supporting a small woman owned business and a B Corporation (bcorporation.net/homefree). We are grateful to HomeFree’s many fans for voting and for helping to spread the word.”

HomeFree cookies are available in retail stores nationally in 5 ounce and 6 ounce boxes. They also are available single serve for retail and for food service in a 10-pack point of sale box and a 100-pack bulk box, and bulk wrapped for food service in a 3 pound and a 10 pound box. All HomeFree products are certified kosher pareve by OK Kosher Certification.

HomeFree Gluten Free Vanilla Mini Cookies won a Best Snack Award 2011 from Shape Magazine, were a finalist for Best New Food at Natural Products Expo East 2011, and are being awarded on May 5th a Food & Beverage Product Innovations 2012 Award presented by the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show.

Jill Robbins can be contacted at http://www.homefreetreats.com, [email protected], http://www.facebook.com/homefreetreats, http://www.twitter.com/homefreetreats, or telephone 800-552-7172 for more information.

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 100^th 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.

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]

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.”