If you purchase dairy products, it is important to consider the source of your milk or cottage cheese. Although very social animals, most of today’s dairy cows live in confined operations where they have limited or no movement, socialization, or access to the outdoors. Learn more about the lives of cows used to produce conventional dairy products here.
As with kosher meat products, a simple rule for buying authentically higher welfare dairy is to buy welfare-certified products, and dairy from 100% grass-fed cows. We’ve included a list of animal welfare and grassfed certifications to look for below that you can find on kosher milk, yogurts, butters, and more. Since finding kosher hard cheese is especially hard, we’ve also included a list of grassfed, organic, and welfare certified kosher hard cheeses as well.
Animal Welfare Certifications
Redwood Hill Farm – These artisanally crafted goat cheeses are delicious and kosher-certified, and some of their products are also Certified Humane. They offer creamy chevres, goat feta, and several other varieties of goat-milk cheeses. While Redwood Hill Farm is not certified organic, they use almost exclusively organic practices.
Beth El Creamery: The country’s only organic certified Chalav Yisroel Dairy.
Grow and Behold – Better known for their kosher meats, G&B has some grassfed and organic cheeses available.
Mainland Grass-fed Organic: This New Zealand-based company now offers a grass-fed organic cheddar that is OK-certified.
5-Spoke Creamery – Cheesemakers Alan and Barbara Glustoff start with raw milk from grassfed cows that are hormone- and antibiotic-free, and produce delicious, hand-crafted artisanal cheeses. Their varieties include: Cheddar, Herbal Jack, Colby, Tumbleweed, Talcott, and Browning Gold aged cheddar and are Kof-K certified.
Reducing dairy consumption is a great way to stay healthy, eat more humanely, and reduce your carbon footprint.. Luckily, today a majority of dairy free foods are kosher! The following are just a small handful of the many companies that offer an increasingly delicious variety of kosher dairy alternatives:
Earth Balance (vegan)
Spreads are kosher.
Almond Breeze (vegan and kosher)
So Delicious (vegan and kosher)
We’re currently transitioning our Kosher certification from Kehilla Kosher to Orthodox Union (OU).
Coconut Bliss (vegan)
All but 3 of our flavors — Chocolate Walnut Brownie, Ginger Cookie Caramel, and Chocolate Chip Cookie — are certified kosher pareve.
Daiya Foods (vegan)
Our shreds, blocks, slices, cream cheese style spreads, Cheezy Mac and Greek Yogurt Alternatives are certified Kosher by the Orthodox Union. Our Pizzas, Cheezecakes and dairy-free Dressings are not certified kosher at this time. None of our products are kosher for Passover.
Silk (vegan)
All Silk products are certified Kosher OU-D. This means that our dairy-free products may have been processed on equipment also used for dairy. It does not indicate the presence of dairy components in the products. We have extensive protocols in place at our facilities to detect and prevent contamination by dairy components.
Tofutti (kosher)
All tofutti products enable you to enjoy a creamy spread or frozen treat completely dairy free.
Not all Tofutti products are vegan. Although all of Tofutti frozen dessert and cheese products are completely vegan, our Mintz’s Blintzes are not. Mintz’s Blintzes use egg whites in the crepes. All other Tofutti foods, including Tofutti Ravioli and Pizza Pizzaz, are completely vegan.
Follow Your Heart (vegan)
We offer a variety of spreads, dips, cheeses, dressings, and sauces that are either vegan, organic, gluten-free, soy-free, or kosher.
For more plant based food recommendations, check out the Plant Based Foods Association member list.
