📖 Reference Guide
Is It Kosher?
By Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz — a comprehensive guide to the kosher status of hundreds of common foods, ingredients, and food categories.
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Disclaimer: Please make sure to check the current kosher status of every item you intend to eat. Certifications change frequently and information in this guide may not reflect the latest status. When in doubt, consult your Rabbi.
Food Additives
Food additives are any substances used in producing, manufacturing, packing, processing, preparing, treating, packaging, transporting, or holding food. There are 3 different types of additives: intentional, incidental, and chance. Labels can hide as much as they reveal — care is required.
The following is a partial list of common food additives and their kosher status:
- Agar Agar (seaweed) — Kosher, pareve without supervision.
- Albumin (blood, milk, or eggs) — Requires supervision.
- Carmine/Cochineal (insect) — NOT Kosher.
- Casein (milk) — Requires supervision.
- Castoreum (beaver glands) — NOT Kosher.
- Gelatin — Requires supervision; must be from kosher source.
- Glycerine (beef fat, petroleum, or vegetable) — Requires supervision.
- Lecithin (soybeans, corn oil) — Kosher, pareve without supervision.
- Mono- and Diglycerides (animal and vegetable) — Requires supervision; most are animal products.
- Pepsin (hog stomachs) — Requires supervision.
- Polysorbate 60, 65, 80 (stearic acid) — Requires supervision.
- Rennet (animal enzymes) — Requires supervision.
- Shellac (insect secretion) — used in confectionery glaze.
- Stearic Acid (animal or vegetable) — Requires supervision.
- Vanilla — may be processed with glycerine; requires supervision.
Natural flavors per FDA definition can include derivatives of meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. Every one of these "natural" flavor sources requires supervision. Labels cannot be relied upon for kashrus information.