Now that “ice cream season” is well underway, we would like to share with you an important kashrut reminder: ice cream and frozen yogurt need kosher supervision. Please understand that an advertisement in The Jewish Link is not an implicit hashgacha and there are establishments that have no supervision that advertise in this newspaper.

There are a number of local ice cream and frozen yogurt stores and trucks in our area that claim to sell kosher products but have no kosher certification. Certainly, you can buy packaged products with a hashgacha on it from any store. However, products such as soft serve ice cream, frozen yogurt, cones and toppings need to be certified kosher. Merely asking the store owner or employee if an item is kosher is not sufficient. You must see the items in the original sealed container and be able to ascertain that the product in the container or soft serve machine is the same that you saw in the original box with a kosher symbol. There is truly no way to guarantee this when simply purchasing ice cream in a store. Therefore, we strongly recommend the purchase of ice cream only from a store that is certified kosher.

Some retail stores are part of national franchises that may be contractually required to use their specific brands. If the brands are certified kosher, this raises the likelihood that the ice cream in the store is kosher. However, it is important to ascertain whether a replacement would be possible. Additionally, toppings and cones in these stores may not be kosher at all and must be checked. Please consult with your personal posek with any questions you might have about this.

We would like to wish everyone a safe and kosher summer.