Kosher Market Grows by 15% in 2005 – 2006, New Survey Shows

(New York) Sales of kosher foods in the US grew by 15% in the last 12 months, according to data released this week by LUBICOM Marketing Consulting, which co-produces Kosherfest with Diversified Business Communications of Portland ME. The annual survey released in advance of the upcoming kosher food show (November 14-15 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center) indicates that this is the 10th straight year for double digit growth by the industry. According to LUBICOM, an estimated 11.2 million Americans buy kosher food products on a fairly regular basis with nearly 3 times the amount (21% of all Americans) buying an occasional product, according to the 2005 survey by the Mintel Research Organization. While some of the growth is attributed to the core group of everyday kosher consumers (1.1 million), there is a growing number of consumers who say they buy kosher products for health and safety reasons. Others include vegetarians, Muslims, and members of other religious groups. The number of packaged good items on supermarket shelves is approaching 100,000 with nearly double that number for ingredient items. US sales of kosher certified items is estimated at $195 billion (nearly 40% of all foods sold) while the market for kosher products is $10.5 billion). There were more than 2500 new kosher certified items in the past 12 months.

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