1. Packaging of certified product must include Product name, brand name, and Company name so that a recipient can match it to the Letter of Certification, which contains these 3 pieces of identifying information.
2. The OU may only be placed on products that have been authorized and certified as listed on your Schedule B (list of certified products). The OU D must be used on products certified as Dairy.
3. Private Label Product (a brand not owned by the manufacturer and “distributed by” a company other than the manufacturer) may not bear the OU unless a Private Label Agreement (a three way licensing agreement, signed by the manufacturer, the distributor and the OU) is signed.
4. The OU symbol cannot be rubber stamped or a sticker separate of the original packaging or product label.If you have existing packaging that does not have the OU and these products are now certified, arrangements can be made to address this situation.
5. Application of the label bearing the OU to the certified product must take place in the certified plant. “Loose Labels” may not be sent out with product to be applied elsewhere. The “Loose Labels” may accidentally by applied to non-certified product.
6. The Orthodox Union does not dictate requirements as to size, color, or where the OU symbol is placed. However, we recommend that it be place conspicuously, so that it can be seen on a store shelf by a purchaser or a recipient.On most retail labels, the OU symbol appears to the immediate right of the product name.
7. Products which are certified as Dairy must have the “D” or the word “Dairy” in equal size font to the OU symbol. The “D” should not be a subscript.
8. OU certified product may not contain a food item that is not OU certified. For example, the OU symbol should not be printed on a cereal box that contains a non-certified candy, although this cereal generally bears the OU symbol.
9. When bundling items of different status together (i.e. kosher and non-kosher or dairy and pareve), the OU symbol should not be used on the composite bag or tray.The certification should only appear on the individual items. For example, a tray containing dairy and pareve potato chips should not have an OU on the tray,as consumer may think that all the items contained are pareve. Alternatively, the tray may be marked as OU/OU-D. A multi pack of granola bars containing kosher and non-kosher varieties should not have an OU on the outer box but rather the OU should only appear on the certified items.
10. It is not recommended to print the OU symbol on blank boxes, cartons or bags since not all products produced in a plant may be certified. Private Label customers may be ineligible or choose not to sign the OU Private Label Agreement; as a result the OU symbol may not be used on their packaging.
11. A Website, letterhead, or brochure that bears the OU, can be misconstrued to mean all products are OU certified. Unless all products are OU certified, you must include the qualification each time the OU appears “Products certified when bearing the OU symbol” or “Not all products are OU certified”.
12. When to use OU Pareve vs a Plain OU symbol? If a product is obviously Pareve, then it is safe to use the plain OU (i.e. water, peanut butter). If the product might be dairy because of ingredient or equipment issues (Sour Cream & Onion potato chips, roasted nuts, pretzels, margarine) you want to clearly convey to the kosher consumer, including vegetarians and those with dairy sensitivities, that this product has a Pareve status.
13. In order to comply with USDA regulations [9 C.F.R. � 317.2(j)(1) and the clarification to kosher consumers, Imitation Bacon Bits must include the word Imitation.
14. When bundled products contain OU & OU-D products, the outer packaging should display OU/OU-D alerting consumers that the contents have different kosher designations.