The Universal Kosher Database, (UKD), a listing of thousands of certified products, has gone public, and suppliers and distributors who work with OU Kosher certified companies are the beneficiaries of the decision. Now they will be able to easily secure Letters of Certification, signed by OU Kosher CEO Rabbi Menachem Genack.

Public UKD was designed to provide not only OU certified companies, but their suppliers and distributors, the ability to print the letters to show their own clientele that that their products meet OU Kosher standards.  Public UKD contains only products certified by the OU and not other agencies. Only non-confidential certified products are listed.

The database is not restricted to OU certified companies and is available at the OU website.

In a letter to OU certified companies, Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher, wrote: “Public UKD is user friendly and will benefit OU certified companies, because your suppliers and distributors can now easily print kosher Letters of Certification at their convenience.”

Rabbi Elefant explained in the letter, “We took this step because OU certified companies appreciated the ease with which they could print Letters of Certification to prove their kosher status on our OUdirect website. They expressed the wish to us that their suppliers and distributors have the same easy method of producing the letters.  We were more than happy to develop Public UKD to respond to their requests, just as we look forward to their continued suggestions to make their relationship with OU Kosher even stronger and even more convenient.”

In an interview, Rabbi Elefant declared, “As the premier kosher certification organization in the world, the OU’s primary goal is to service our clients who help us provide kosher food to the consumer.”