Robert Klute wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:02:49 -0500, Sqwertz >
> wrote:
>
>> SMS <SMS >> wrote:
>>
>>> Sqwertz wrote:
>>>> SMS <SMS >> wrote:
>
>> Happy now? This is getting boring. You will never convince me that
>> you and any other person who follows religious dietary restrictions
>> are of sane mind and body. And nothing short of a scientifically
>> conducted poll would convince us that kosher products do/don't sell
>> better among non-koshers because they're kosher.
>
> To an extent you are right - in this newsgroup we are just speculating
> as to why. We don't know for sure if it is people who keep kosher,
> believe kosher is purer or tastes better, have food allergies, keep
> halal, etc. But, it doesn't matter.

For the record, I have never kept kosher. I just don't like the
misinformation being spewed by the likes of Sqwertz.

> What matters is that the manufacturers believe that getting a kosher
> designation increases their sales and that the resulting profits more
> than offset the cost of getting that designation. If getting the
> designation didn't, companies other than those intentionally serving the
> kosher market, like Hebrew National and Empire, would not bother with
> it. After all profit is profit.

Note that the certification cost is a tiny part of the total cost in
many cases. What really costs is having to often have separate machinery
for processing kosher and non-kosher products. You can't cook and
package pork rinds on the same machinery used for potato chips that are
kosher.

One of the big target markets for kosher products is vegetarians and
vegans that are looking for parve products, though since fish is
considered parve, maybe the designation is best suited for pescotarians.