History of Kosher

1275 - BC The Torah, given from God to Moses on Mount Sinai, imposes dietary restrictions that form the basis for kosher food requirements.

1654 - The story of kosher food in America begins when twenty-three Sephardic Jews arrived in New Amsterdam. Following the expulsion from Spain in 1492, (known as the Spanish Inquisition), Sephardic Jews fled to Greece, the Middle East, England, the Netherlands, and finally the Americas. This particular New Amsterdam band first sought haven from the Spanish Inquisition in Recife, Brazil but eventually ends up in New Amsterdam.

1739 - New York Jews rely almost exclusively on Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue founded in 1654 for kosher meat. By the middle of the 18th century New York kosher beef was being exported to Jamaica and Curacao.

1887 - Dov Behr Manischewitz started a small matzoh bakery in Cincinnati, which gradually became the B. Manischewitz Baking Company, the largest concern of its kind, with subsidiaries in all parts of the world. By the turn of the century Rabbi Manischewitz was shipping his product to England, Japan, France, Africa, Hungary, New Zealand, and Egypt. The matzoh - manufacturing pioneer owed his success to the invention of a machine that produced fifty thousand pounds of matzoh a day.

1924 The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation of America was founded in 1898 as a means of bringing cohesion to the fragmented immigrant Jewish populations and offered Rabbinic supervision for foods. In 1924, it created its women’s branch, and four years after women won the right to vote, the Union’s official kashrut supervision and certification program was introduced.

1937 - Celebrating its 60th Anniversary, the Coca Cola Company obtained Kosher certification.

1965 - Hebrew National hot dogs launched its “We answer to a higher authority” ad campaign to appeal to Jews and non-Jews alike. It quickly becomes a symbol of quality for all classes of consumers.

1987 - The first International Kosher Food and Jewish Life Expo was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. More than 50,000 people attended as an additional 50,000 could not get in. The show which was a combined consumer and trade show moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center in December attracting 25,000 people.

1999 - For the sixth consecutive year, the kosher food industry experienced 15% growth, reaching more than $4 billion in sales.