Updated February 2025 

Catching a red-eye flight back to JFK after a business meeting in L.A.? Landing in Newark at 5:50 a.m., after a 12-hour flight from visiting the grandkids in Israel? Leaving for LaGuardia too early to eat breakfast before going on that long-awaited Saint Martin Island vacation? Have no fear, Fresko Green Label is here. No longer do you have to subsist on pretzels and candy marked with a reliable kosher symbol. 

The estimated 1.5 million kosher travelers who fly domestically and internationally from JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark airports annually can now avail themselves of a large variety of kosher prepared food options packaged under the Fresko and Yummy Sandwich labels under STAR-K Kosher supervision. 

The STAR-K certified Fresko/Yummy Sandwich menu includes: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, Curry Chicken Wrap, Fresh Roasted Turkey Sandwich, Turkey Pastrami Sandwich, Grilled Chicken Caesar Wrap, Herb Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Tuna Salad On Greens, Tuna Salad Wrap, […]

The hefty $20-$50 price per pound of handmade shmura matzah may cause you to raise your eyebrows, especially when comparing it to the price of machine-made matzah, but if you only knew what goes into manufacturing the crisp, paper-thin, artisanal specialty item you would understand why it is so pricey.

To keep up with the increasing demand for handmade shmura matzah, matzah bakeries around the world start baking as early as October! But, actually, the labor-intensive process of producing STAR-K certified shmura flour began a few months before, in July. That is when HaRav Moshe Heinemann visited the 28-acre Migrash Farm—located inside the Chesapeake Watershed, just a stone’s throw from STAR-K’s Baltimore headquarters. The farmer, R’ Yosef Hertzmark, who doubles as a STAR-K menaker, accompanied the Rav as he walked the fields to supervise the shmura wheat harvest, deeming its extra level of scrutiny– “shmurah m’shaas ketzira” (guarded from the time […]

It didn’t take long for the boardroom at STAR-K Kosher Certification’s headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, to be converted from a lecture hall, where STAR-K Kashrus Administrator Rabbi Zvi Goldberg presented a PowerPoint about mislabels and fraud, into a makeshift “operating room”. Dressed in a starched white butcher’s coat, performing the delicate “surgery” on the bright red, fleshy section of a beef forequarter laying before him on the table, was STAR-K Kashrus Administrator Rabbi Mayer Kurcfeld. The 38-year veteran menaker explained every step of the process of the ancient mesorah of traiboring to the huddle of the agency’s 14th Annual Kashrus Training Program’s participants surrounding him. The crash course on removing the prohibited veins, arteries, chailev (prohibited fats), and portions that attach to and get nourishment from the chailev, including enabling free flow of blood during the kashering process, was just one of the many invaluable skills that they learned from […]

A colorful, cutesy “Kosher Basics” PowerPoint was the springboard for a well-received interactive presentation made by STAR-K Kosher Certification Assistant Director of Supervision Rabbi Mayer Kurcfeld for Cornell University senior dietetics students, on February 28. It preceded a tour of the STAR-K certified kosher kitchen on the Ithaca, New York, campus for the future registered dietitians.

The presentation topics included: The Torah basis for Kashrus, ingredient sources, ritual slaughter, dairy and meat, vegetable checking for infestation, grape and wine products, Bishul Yisroel, the role of a Kosher certification agency, how to set up a kosher kitchen, and the practical application of the Kosher rules. Chef Jason Haus and mashgiach Gavriel Ress were also present to provide a comprehensive overview of the Cornell Dining team who work together to accomplish STAR-K certified dining at Cornell.

“To make it practical for them, we formulated and discussed various menus,” notes Rabbi Kurcfeld. “I emphasized the […]

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center, famous for hosting the official inaugural balls for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, earned its newest claim to fame, March 20-22, when it hosted the largest Kosher event ever—the 2016 AIPAC Conference. Actually, the 2,300,000-square-foot facility in Washington, D.C., was not large enough for the event which was addressed by Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential hopefuls Senator Ted Cruz, Governor John Kasich, and Donald Trump. The 1,020,000 square foot field Verizon Center and the 105,000 square foot Marriott Marquis, were utilized, as well.

Here are just some of the stats so you can try to fathom what it took for the The Vaad Harabanim of Greater Washington (the “Capitol K”) to ensure the event was kosher: 18,700 attendees; 55 mashgichim; 10 kitchens; 4 caterers; 12,000 lamb chops; 5 actual days of catering; 14 carriers of Kosher […]

SAN DIEGO (April 5, 2016) – White Labs , the premier pure yeast and fermentation lab, is proud to announce that house yeast strains and enzymes produced in the company’s San Diego and Davis, Calif. facilities have been certified kosher by STAR-K. The official kosher certification logo, a star with a “K” inside, may now be seen on the back of all U.S. produced product packaging.

The STAR-K Kosher Certification is a guarantee that White Labs house yeast strains and enzyme ingredients meet all kosher requirements. Those requirements include the Jewish religion’s laws that determine which foods are acceptable and conform to the Jewish Code. To become certified, White Labs worked with STAR-K representatives to evaluate the company’s ingredients and products. As a condition of the certification, STAR-K audits the production facilities regularly throughout the year to ensure kosher compliance.

“Having our house yeast strains and enzymes kosher certified is an investment in our company that we hope our customers will appreciate,” said […]

The Summer Fancy Food Show is scheduled for June 26-28, 2016 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York.

The STAR-K booth is #4428.

ALPINE VALLEY BREADS NOW CERTIFIED PAS YISROEL

STAR-K  is happy to announce that ALL Alpine Valley Bread products baked after 3/16/2016 are certified pas yisroel. Products with the number Q076 or higher on the plastic bag fastener were baked after 3/16/2016

Alpine Valley Bread is available at Costco and other major retailers nationwide

http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/graeter-s-coming-to-crocker-park-next-summer/article_038edf3a-b495-11e5-8267-27407b9aae50.html

JULIA FAIR
Special to the CJN

Graeter’s first Cleveland location will offer ice cream, sundaes, milkshakes and old-fashioned sodas, all with a star-D kosher rating.

Graeter’s, which opened in Cincinnati in 1870, plans to open an ice cream parlor in Crocker Park in Westlake next summer.

“Our first Cleveland scoop shop will allow us to share our love for authentic ice cream with the community while staying true to our vision of quality and integrity,” Richard Graeter, fourth-generation owner of Graeter’s Ice Cream, said in a news release.

The 2,000-square-foot store will look like an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, accommodating up to 50, according to the release.

“It’s still in the relatively early stages,” Chip Graeter, chief of retail operations for Graeter’, said about the Westlake location. “We’re still setting up all the details with the lease and making sure all of our T’s are crossed and our I’s are […]

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=363787961&

At Muhlenberg College’s dining hall, Jonathan Powers turns on the ovens, makes sure the eggs contain no blood spots, and inspects the broccoli and cauliflower for forbidden pests.

They are some of his duties as the Allentown college’s mashgiach, a Jew who supervises a food establishment to make sure the dietary laws of his faith are followed.

“We’re here to make sure everything is kosher,” explains Powers, 41, “and that all the food that comes in is kosher.”

The college hired him five years ago when it opened two kosher food stations in its new dining hall in an effort to better serve Jewish students.

For Powers, the work is a family tradition; his mother, Louise, 66, is a kosher supervisor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., and his father, Mark, 66, holds the job at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.

Nearly a third of Muhlenberg’s 2,200 students are Jewish, among the highest percentages […]