Washington – Sales of kosher foods through grocery stores in the US have risen to over $200 bln in 2008 from about $150 bln in 2003, showing yearly growth rate twice that of the overall food market, according to Packaged Facts’ new study, “Market Trend: Kosher-and Halal-Certified Foods in the US.”
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
“US consumers who are not followers of Judaism or Islam are largely unaware of the specific qualities that distinguish kosher and halal from conventional foods. However, factors related to safety, quality and ‘truth in labeling’ should prompt these mainstream consumers to seek out kosher/halal more often, although marketers and third-party certifiers must make a greater effort to educate consumers before that can happen,” says Tatjana Meerman, Packaged Facts publisher.
According to Meerman, the potential customer base for such products is large and includes the large segment of the American population who are concerned about the safety of the food supply, as well as the increasing number of people on gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian or other special diets who want clearer food labelling.
i think that they sold less kosher food
Prices went up more that 34%
So everyone who buys a can of Coke whatever the reason, be they a Jew or not, is contributing to this figure. How many actually buy BECAUSE it is kosher?
were in a recession
$200 billion a year in US kosher food sales? Let’s be generous and say that 2 million people in the US keep kosher(the true number is probably closer to one million) . That works out to $100,000 a year in food sales per person who keeps kosher. 🙂 Obviously many people who aren’t Jewish are also eating these foods. In the NYC metro area for example, a very large percentage of vegetarian or dairy products that supermarkets sell are certified as being kosher.
I have read that kosher certifying agencies want to expand into other types of food certification, for example providing the service of certifying that some of the foods they watch aren’t just kosher, but are also vegan or vegetarian, perhaps gluten or lactose free. I wonder how many foods are vegan without being kosher?(are they only some grape products or certain fruit or grains grown in Israel, or perhaps certain fruit or vegetable hybrids?)
These are items that have some sort of “hechsher”. The sales don’t represent that people are buying these products because they are kosher. But trust me, the OU, OK, Kof K. etc. are use these numbers when they go on a sales call to some unwitting food manufacturer in the mid-west.
who says more was sold…..it was price increases/gouging….they jack up the prices on the chevra….its gevaldig
I’ve been in a (financial) recession most of my life: keeping kosher is not that pricey if you eat and shop right to begin with. Buy (or grow if possible) fresh organic veggies and fruit. Eat less meat (but kosher and organic( if available) Avoid prepared and junk food at all times. Eat less! look around you: we are becoming a nation of cows! At lunch at work my kosher chicken, steamed broccoli and brown rice costs about 3 dollars (from home) my younger colleges fast food junk meals average 6 dollars!
Just a thought….. If prices went up an average of 5% a year then the 150 billion automatically became 191 billion which is a 27% increase overall. the 200 billion figure is actually a 33 % increase. Now just take 1 example of a kosher food Hellmans Mayonnaise. The price went from $3 for the most commonly sold standard size at that time to about $6 for the most common size, which was actually reduced by 2 ounces, in that same time period. That is an increase of 115% in the price. A second example would be the price of kosher meat. Without using exact numbers I can report as we all know that the prices increased almost double just this year alone. Using these facts, that tells me that widespread usage is on a downswing. Probably due to the higher prices charges because of payments to the MAFIA. Just a thought…….
this report shows there resentment to jewdisem. while most repotrs elsewere were sayig that the non jewish consumers buy kosher for health resons and hygine, but this is the first time that a report mentioned halal too , and thats a slap in the face for kashrus since halal shares nothing with the jewish preperation practices, except the use of a knife and pork. but instead to report it in posetive light they mention us together with islam as to say this creepy pepoles and their rituals
It would seem that the $50 billion increase over 6 years is primarily due to the precipitous increase in kosher food prices (particularly meat) and not a significant increase in volume.
I’m in the kosher food business. I assure you this figure includes oreo, coke, hellmans, poland spring water, dasani, aqua fina, entermans, heinz, you get the picture. Its a broad and uneducated figure. Almost like saying moms local grocery store combined with walmart grew 30 billlion in sales. I would say the traditional kosher brands dont even represent 1% of that number.
I can hardly wait for the inevitable anti-semitic news story that will claim Jews are the source of the economic downturn due to profiteering in the kosher food market.