Kosher food has never been more popular in the United States.

Arutz Sheva spoke to Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Orthodox Union Kashrut COO, about the popularity of eating kosher and the history of his organization.

How did the Orthodox Union (OU) revolutionize kosher food in the United States?

Over one hundred years ago “when kashrut in the United States was very weak and not regulated,” the Orthodox Union was born. At the time, they did a “major overhaul” of the kosher food industry and sought to bring “kosher food of the highest standard” to everywhere in the U.S.

“What makes the OU so very special is that the OU is not a private organization. We don’t own the OU. The OU is a communal organization that has many programs to help the Jewish community. Obviously kosher is a very important program,” Elefant says.

“We want anybody who wants to eat kosher food to be able to have kosher food anywhere in the United States and anywhere in the world.”

They are “particularly proud” of their programs in Israel. They are involved in the supervision of many Israeli factories, including all the major factories in Israel, all of which are OU certified.

“Every penny that the OU receives in Israel for kosher supervision remains in Israel to help build important programs for Jewish people in Israel,” Elefant says.

One such program is Zula, which “helps youth that need encouragement and need support.”

In Israel, the OU also runs youth community centers and programs helping soldiers.

“Everything that we do is to help the Jewish community,” Elefant explains. “First of all by having kosher food, and then by using those funds to support important programs.”

Kosher food in the United States today is more popular than ever before.

“Kosher in the U.S. is hot. It’s very popular,” Elefant says. “Just to give you an idea, the OU certifies over 10,000 factories in over 100 countries around the world. The realize is if wasn’t dangerous [in certain countries] we’d probably certify more factories.”

He adds that kosher in the U.S. has become extremely strong not only in the Jewish community.

“It’s also very strong in the Muslim community who are all looking for kosher. It’s also many other communities who aren’t religious but they believe that kosher is better. They believe that the fact that there is somebody going to look at the food is very important and makes them more comfortable with the food they eat.”