We\u2019ve compiled a sampling of kosher certification agencies in South Florida, with descriptions of their services.<\/p>\n
Glossary of terms<\/p>\n
Before we proceed, here are a few terms that are important in the kosher world.<\/p>\n
Kosher: Kosher means \u201cfit\u201d or \u201cproper\u201d in Hebrew. Judaism\u2019s kosher laws stem from the biblical books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, which detail which animals may be eaten, such as cows and lambs, and which are prohibited, such as pigs and shellfish. These rules have evolved over the centuries after being interpreted by rabbis. The animals must be killed according to detailed regulations, and meat and dairy products cannot be eaten together.<\/p>\n
Kashrut:\u00a0Also known as \u201ckashrus,\u201d it\u2019s the body of Jewish dietary laws that describe what may be eaten and how the foods should be processed.<\/p>\n
Mashgiach:\u00a0The mashgiach is a kosher supervisor who ensures food is prepared according to the rules of kashrut. According to the Kosher Institute of America:<\/a> \u201cThe work is hands-on and detail oriented. A mashgiach has to know how to verify kosher symbols, inspect produce, confirm that equipment was [koshered] properly, and watch for mistakes that could compromise a facility\u2019s kosher status.\u201d<\/p>\n Hechsher: A seal of approval that shows an establishment or a food product has passed inspection.<\/p>\n Glatt: According to the OU Kosher Certification Service<\/a>, the Orthodox movement\u2019s kosher arm, glatt \u201cliterally means \u2018smooth,\u2019 indicating that the meat comes from an animal whose lungs have been found to be free of all adhesions. Recently, the term \u2018glatt kosher\u2019 is increasingly used more broadly as a generic phrase, implying that the product is kosher without question.\u201d<\/p>\n Pareve: A description of foods that are allowed to be eaten with meat or dairy, such as eggs, kosher fish, vegetables and coffee.<\/p>\n Shochet: A Jewish ritual slaughterer.<\/p>\n \u201cJewish\u201d or \u201cKosher style\u201d: These are flexible terms that refer to the history of the foods and not their level of kashrut. There are many nonkosher South Florida restaurants that promote the cultural roots of their menus, such as Poppies, a Delray Beach delicatessen, where the menu shows \u201cJewish deli favorites.\u201d Similarly, Bagel Snack<\/a> in Pompano Beach offers a \u201cclassic Jewish breakfast scramble,\u201d made of lox, eggs and onions.<\/p>\n Then there are the restaurants that advertise their \u201ckosher style\u201d food. At Cafe Landwer<\/a> in Hallandale Beach and Boca Raton, meat is kosher, but the staff serves cheeses from the same kitchen, which observant Jews would traditionally separate.<\/p>\n At Motek<\/a> Mediterranean restaurants in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, which also bill themselves as \u201ckosher style,\u201d the chicken, beef and lamb are glatt kosher, but the staff does not maintain a separate kitchen or utensils for dairy. The restaurants are open on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, and there is no rabbinical supervision.<\/p>\n \u201cThis approach reflects a respect for the spirit of kashrut, particularly in ingredient sourcing, while not adhering to the full set of requirements necessary for official kosher certification,\u201d Motek spokeswoman Michela DellaMonica said.<\/p>\n Kosher certification agencies<\/p>\n Orthodox Rabbinical Board of Broward and Palm Beach Counties; orbkosher.com<\/a><\/p>\n The 26-year-old ORB is one of the major kosher certifiers in South Florida, supervising more than 235 sites, including caterers, bakeries, restaurants, senior living facilities and schools, said Rabbi Sholey Klein, the executive director. Its staffers monitor some of South Florida\u2019s most popular and biggest kosher supermarkets, including KC Market<\/a> (three locations in Broward and Palm Beach counties) and Aroma Market & Catering (two locations).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Aroma describes its meat on its website<\/a>: \u201cKosher meat must come from approved animals (such as beef, lamb, or venison) and be slaughtered in a precise, humane way by a trained shochet. The lungs are inspected for imperfections, and the meat is carefully soaked and salted to remove any remaining blood.\u201d Klein said the ORB has more than 400 kosher supervisors on staff. Restaurants and markets that serve meat have full-time monitors, he added, while establishments that don\u2019t serve meat have part-time supervisors and surprise inspections from ORB staff.<\/p>\n Kosher Miami;\u00a0koshermiami.org<\/a><\/p>\n Kosher Miami was founded in 2002 and says it \u201cadheres to only the strictest standards of Kashrus.\u201d The agency supervises more than 150 sites, including restaurants, cafes, frozen yogurt shops, bakeries, grocery and candy stores. Among its members is Kosher Kingdom (Miami), 3 Scoops (Hollywood) and Holy Toast (Surfside, Wynwood). Several sites have full-time supervisors, but Kosher Miami also has other oversight systems, such as video cameras, the agency said in a statement to the Sun Sentinel.<\/p>\n Sephardic Kosher Supervision; Facebook.com<\/a> <\/p>\n Rabbi Moshe Otero, director of Sephardic Kosher Supervision, said he oversees 10 South Florida sites, mostly manufacturers. A Spanish speaker, he also works with Latin American food producers who want to get their products certified kosher. One of the manufacturers he supervises is NOSHY, a Pompano Beach plant-based<\/a> snack kitchen.<\/p>\n According to NOSHY co-owner Lindsay Perez: \u201cThey oversee our ingredient sourcing and production process to ensure everything meets kosher standards. This includes verifying that all ingredients are approved, reviewing our facility and processes, and providing ongoing supervision to maintain compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n Sunshine State Kosher;\u00a0sunshinestatekosher.org<\/a><\/p>\n Sunshine State Kosher started with one client in 2018 and now has 50, according to Rabbi Allen Saks, its founder along with Rabbi Moshe Berger. Saks said their goal is to make it easy for places of business to keep kosher, so they make themselves accessible to answer questions and visit.<\/p>\n They mostly certify sites that don\u2019t require a supervisor to be present at all times, such as ice cream shops where no meat is served. Sunshine State works with four Jeremiah\u2019s Italian Ice sites and seven Playa Bowls (acai bowls and smoothies), as well as multiple home bakeries. They also supervise The Lucky Dip (kosher pizza) and The Lucky Dog (chicken, hot dogs, burgers) in Hollywood.<\/p>\n Rabbi Paul Plotkin, supervisor of Ben\u2019s Kosher Delicatessen, Restaurant & Caterer (Boca Raton and New York)<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s restaurants are overseen by Plotkin, a retired rabbi who led Temple Beth Am, a Conservative congregation in Margate, for 33 years. The restaurants are kosher but not \u201cglatt\u201d kosher. Ben\u2019s only serves foods that are pareve or meat. Supervisors are on site six days a week on an unannounced schedule; Plotkin also does surprise checks and monitors video surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s is open on Saturdays, an unusual trait for a kosher restaurant because many Jews believe Jews should not cook or eat food cooked from scratch on the Sabbath. But Ben\u2019s can remain open, according to Plotkin, because a non-Jew takes temporary ownership each week: \u201cThe store is leased to a gentile on Friday before Shabbat candlelighting, and Ben\u2019s takes the restaurant back the next day after dark.\u201d<\/p>\n RAM Kosher Vegan & Vegetarian; ramkoshervegan.com<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-L-KC-Market-07.jpg\")
A variety of hummus combos are available at KC Market in Boynton Beach, which is certified by the Orthodox Rabbinical Board of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n![\"Rabbi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-L-kosher-supervision3.jpg\")
Rabbi Paul Plotkin examines a wine bottle for a kosher certification label at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen, Restaurant & Caterer in Boca Raton. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
![\"Cafe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TFL-L-cafe-landwer-08.jpg\")
Cafe Landwer in Hallandale Beach serves Israeli and Mediterranean food. (Mike Stocker\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Florida is home to an abundance of kosher and kosher-style restaurants, markets, bakeries, caterers and ice cream…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[8019,2808,190149,2538,97,2558,983,269,37652,4322,190147,2628],"class_list":["post-641387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-florida-jewish-journal","tag-food-and-drink","tag-health","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-nutrition","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-restaurants","tag-the-eat-beat","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}