Judaism has a strict set of laws that detail which foods are permissible and which are not. These laws were set out in the bible and are followed to this day. Food that is certified as kosher not only meets these criteria, but has been inspected and approved by a rabbi. Religious Jews differ in the strictness of their interpretation of the laws and there are accordingly several types of kosher certificates, with some certificates indicating a stricter interpretation of the dietary laws. Secular Jews and people from all religions can benefit from the kosher certificate since it helps identify certain types of food that people might want to avoid for non-religious reasons.
Dairy
Kosher dairy products cannot contain any meat products. Cheese is often made with rennet, a product extracted from the stomachs of slaughtered lambs. Kosher cheese is made with vegetarian rennet, often called microbial enzymes. A tag identifying the food as kosher dairy must appear on the food item. Dairy must be prepared and eaten separately from meat. A cheese pizza with pepperoni, for example, will not become Kosher if you remove the meat. In order for the pizza to be considered Kosher, it must be made with kosher cheese in a pizzeria certified as Kosher, using dishes and utensils that were not used to prepare meat.
Meat
Jewish law prohibits the consumption of many types of animals. Pork is perhaps the most well-known. Cattle, sheep and goat are permitted, while rabbit and camel are forbidden. Blood is forbidden, therefore kosher meats must be drained of all blood, boiled and slated to complete the process. Chicken is permitted and turkey is considered kosher by some religious Jews, but not by others. Meat and poultry must carry a symbol of "kosher meat."
Parve
Parve refers to food that is neither meat nor dairy. Apart from fish, this group contains the entire range of foods from the plant kingdom--grains, beans, nuts, vegetables and fruit. Seafood can be eaten only if it has fins and scales. Tuna, salmon, mackerel and herring are all permissible. Shrimp, lobster and eel are forbidden. Adding either dairy or meat to a parve food, even in a minute amount, will render it dairy or meat and it will no longer be considered parve.
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