Quality, health image pushes kosher food market
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The kosher food market is soaring, but it’s not because everyone has decided to become Jewish.
Mintel, the Chicago market research firm, found in a survey that people purchase kosher food because they believe it’s a higher-quality product.
In the survey of Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists, 62% cited quality as a reason for purchasing kosher food. The second-most-common factor cited was ‘general healthfulness’ (51%), and the third was food safety (34%).
Only 14% of respondents said they purchase kosher food because they follow kosher religious rules. About 10% buy kosher because they follow some other religious rules with eating restrictions similar to kosher rules.
Of the 2,500 adults surveyed, 13% said they intentionally purchase kosher foods.
‘Kosher food has gained the reputation of being more carefully produced and thoroughly inspected than non-kosher food,’ said Marcia Mogelonsky, senior analyst at Mintel. ‘With recent food safety scares causing people to rethink even the most familiar food products, we can expect more adults to turn to kosher food as a way to ensure food safety and quality.’
The market for kosher food is strong and growing. Mintel said that sales of certified kosher foods totaled $12.5 billion in 2008, a 64% increase since 2003.
Mintel, which tracks new product launches, said that 28% of new food and drink products launched in the U.S. last year bore a kosher symbol. Kosher has been the top individual claim on new food and drink offerings in the U.S. since 2005.
Many foods have a symbol certifying that they are kosher. The most common is a circle with the letter U on the inside, which certifies that the food has been inspected by the Orthodox Union. Other common certification organizations include OK (a circle with a K inside) and Star-K Kosher Certification (a five-pointed star with a K inside.)
-- Jerry Hirsch
