Kosher Certification Agencies, Around the World
A kosher certification, or hechsher, is only as meaningful as the agency behind it, and different agencies hold to different standards. Here are the main certifying bodies you will run into, region by region, and how to read the symbol on the door. For what the individual terms mean, see our guide to kosher terms.
United States and Canada
North America has a handful of large national certifiers whose symbols you will see on packaged food and restaurants alike, plus a local vaad (rabbinical council) in most Jewish communities.
OU (Orthodox Union)
The largest kosher certifier in the world, its symbol a U inside an O. National in the United States and active globally, on both products and restaurants. If you learn one symbol, learn this one.
OK Kosher
A major national American agency, its symbol a K inside a circle. Widely trusted across products and food service.
Star-K
A highly respected Baltimore-based agency, a K inside a star, national on packaged goods and the main supervisor of Baltimore's own restaurants.
Kof-K
A national agency based in New Jersey, a K inside a K, common on products and on restaurants across the tri-state area.
cRc (Chicago Rabbinical Council)
The dominant agency in Chicago and the surrounding Midwest, certifying the great majority of the city's kosher restaurants.
COR (Kashruth Council of Canada)
Toronto's main certifier, whose symbol is on most kosher restaurants across the city and its northern suburbs.
MK (Vaad Ha'ir, Montreal)
The Jewish Community Council of Montreal, whose MK symbol appears on the great majority of that city's certified establishments.
Local vaadim
Most communities run their own rabbinical council: the RCC in Los Angeles, RCBC in Bergen County, the Vaad of the Five Towns, the VHQ in Queens, Kosher Miami (KM) and ORB in South Florida, and many more. A restaurant's hechsher usually tracks its neighborhood's vaad.
United Kingdom
British kosher certification is organised around a few Batei Din (rabbinical courts) and communal authorities, and the difference between the mainstream and the stricter bodies matters to many diners.
KLBD (London Beth Din)
The Kashrus division of the London Beth Din, the mainstream British standard, on the great majority of London's kosher restaurants.
Kedassia
The stricter Charedi authority of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, common around Stamford Hill and on many packaged goods.
Federation (KF)
The kashrus board of the Federation of Synagogues, another recognised London authority.
SKA (Sephardi Kashrut Authority)
The certifying body for the Sephardi community in the UK.
Manchester Beth Din (MBD)
The mainstream certifier for Manchester, home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Britain outside London.
Continental Europe
Across Europe, certification tends to sit with a country's consistoire or chief rabbinate, or with a strict local communal authority.
Beth Din de Paris (Consistoire)
The mainstream French standard, whose seal is on most of Paris's kosher restaurants and patisseries. Helpfully, it keeps a live public register of every business it supervises.
Machsike Hadass (Antwerp)
The strict certifying authority of Antwerp's traditional community, alongside the communal Shomre Hadas. Antwerp standards are high and taken very seriously.
National rabbinates and communities
In many European cities the local Jewish community or chief rabbinate provides supervision. Because a single city can have both mainstream and strict options side by side, the certificate on the wall is what tells you which body and which standard.
Israel: the Rabbanut and the badatzim
Israel is different: because most restaurants carry at least a baseline certification, the real question is usually the tier and the supervising body, not simply whether a place is kosher. For the underlying terms, see our kosher terms guide.
The Rabbanut (Rabbinate)
The Chief Rabbinate and each city's religious council issue the standard teudah, the baseline that a large share of Israeli restaurants hold. You will see it named by city, for example Rabbanut Tel Aviv or Rabbanut Netanya.
Rabbanut Mehadrin
A stricter tier of the city rabbinate's supervision: tighter meat sourcing, closer oversight, and more careful produce checking. Standards vary a little from city to city.
Badatz Eda Haredit
The best-known of the independent badatzim (a Beit Din Tzedek, a private rabbinical court certifying to a strict standard), layered on top of the Rabbanut rather than instead of it.
Badatz Beit Yosef
A Sephardic badatz following the stricter Beit Yosef ruling on meat (halak), the standard many Sephardic diners require.
Other badatzim
There is a whole world of them, including Rav Rubin, Rav Machpud (Yoreh Deah), Chug Chatam Sofer, Belz, and Agudas Yisrael. For stricter communities the badatz name is the real trust signal, so we show it on Israeli listings whenever we can confirm it.
Everywhere else: Chabad
In cities with smaller Jewish communities, one name comes up again and again.
Chabad
In places without a large kosher infrastructure, the local Chabad house often provides the supervision, runs the community kitchen, and arranges Shabbat meals for visitors. For a traveler landing somewhere off the beaten track, Chabad is frequently the first and best place to ask.
How to read a certificate
Wherever you are, the same rule holds: the in-date teudah on the wall, naming the agency and its expiry, is the real proof of kosher status. Directories, ours included, can lag behind reality, so it is always worth a glance. If a specific standard matters to you, look for that agency's name rather than a generic sign.
Every listing on KosherAtlas shows its certifying agency where we have confirmed it. Browse kosher restaurants by city and check each one against the agency on its page.
These are practical summaries to help you navigate, not halachic rulings, and they do not rank agencies by strictness. Standards and acceptance differ between communities; when in doubt, ask your rabbi and confirm the teudah on site.