Kosher Words Explained

A mashgiach is a kosher supervisor. He is the agency’s eyes and hands inside a kitchen, a bakery or a plant, checking that what happens matches what the certification promises. The plural is mashgichim.

Kosher is the system of Jewish dietary law that decides which foods may be eaten and how they have to be produced, handled and served. The word itself is Hebrew, and it means fit, or suitable.

Kosher is not a blessing. Nobody walks into a kitchen, says a prayer over the food, and makes it kosher. That is a common misunderstanding and it is worth naming, because it comes up constantly.

Kosher is also not a health or cleanliness rating. Kosher food is not inherently cleaner or safer, and it is not the same thing as Jewish food. A pastrami sandwich with cheese on it is about as Jewish as food gets, and it is not kosher.

The symbol a certification agency puts on a package or a menu to show it supervises that product or place. There are well over a thousand of them in use around the world.

The body of law and practice around kosher food. The subject a mashgiach is trained in.

Dairy, meat, and neither. Pareve food contains no meat and no dairy and can be eaten with either. Keeping the three apart is most of what a kosher kitchen does.

Koshering a utensil by immersing it in boiling water. One of several methods, and which one applies depends on the material and on how the utensil was used. See our guide to koshering.

Koshering by direct heat rather than boiling water. Used where hagalah is not enough.

Making a utensil, a surface or a kitchen fit for kosher use. The method depends on the material and on how it was used before.

The rabbi with halachic responsibility for an agency’s certification. Questions a mashgiach cannot answer go up to him through the agency’s administrator.

Kosher supervision. Also used for the agency providing it.

A mashgiach who is present continuously while food is being prepared, as opposed to one who visits. Which situations require it is a question for the certifying agency.

A requirement that a Jew take part in cooking certain foods. What counts as taking part varies between communities and agencies.

A principle by which a small quantity of a forbidden substance can lose its status in a much larger quantity of permitted food. When it applies is a halachic question, not a kitchen decision.

The area of halacha dealing with mixtures, and what happens when kosher and non-kosher food come into contact.

Not kosher. Literally torn, from the laws about an animal injured before slaughter, now used generally.

Kosher slaughter, carried out by a trained shochet according to specific requirements.

A separate and stricter standard that applies during Pesach, mainly around leavened grain. A product can be kosher all year and not kosher for Pesach.

The organization that inspects, certifies and puts its symbol on food. Agencies employ or approve mashgichim. They set their own standards, and they decide who is approved to supervise for them.

The Association of Kashrus Organizations, the umbrella body for roughly 120 of the major kosher certification agencies. The AKO Mashgiach Course is endorsed by AKO.