At a time when European parliaments are busy outlawing kosher slaughtering, it’s refreshing to discover that one hundred and four countries currently produce kosher products, under the Orthodox Union (OU) supervision according to Kosher Today.
The OU’s certification empire these days includes the Gulf state of Dubai and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (where Ivanka and Jared Kushner just had several lunches and dinners). The OK and Star-K are services are pulling behind the OU around the world, according to KT, including the Pacific states.
It is estimated that as many as 1,500 kashrut supervisors oversee the making of kosher products around the world, about 1,000 of whom work for the OU, according to Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of the OU Kashrut Supervision Division.
According to Kosher Today, the natural choice for kashrut supervisors around the globe are the Chabad emissaries, who are there anyway, and, in fact, the same emissary often represents several kashrut outfits..
The emergence of Kashrut certification agencies in markets that historically have been off-limits to Jews, and even more so Israelis, is one of the clear signs of a new political and economic reality. The fact is that a food product wishing to break into the American market would have a better opening position with a well-recognized kashrut certificate, which lends a note of trustworthiness regarding ingredients and process of production.