Kosher: Private Regulation in the Age of Industrial Food Hardcover by Timothy D. Lytton (Harvard University Press) (IBRCookBooks)

This book really captures the American certification market and agencies very well. It provides a great history that even seasoned professionals in the industry are probably largely unfamiliar with. It was quite informative and insightful.

I hope the author considers a followup book and contrasts the Israeli certification market to the American one. It may offer some interesting insight into a Government regulator (the Rabbanut HaRashit and the various Local Rabbaniot) that is still supplemented by the thriving private certification market in Israel.

The central theme of the book is that Kosher Certification is a model of where private certification can supplement and compliment other regulatory schemes, and examines the factors for its success. He correctly identifies that the religious aspect is an important, but potentially exchangeable component for this success to transfer to other industries.

But the real value in the book is the amount of research done to gather the facts about the industry and its behavior. The specific statistics will grow stale with time, but the understanding of the dynamics of this part of the Kosher food industry will likely be relevant and timely for years to come.

Besides an interest in good reference material on the subject, if you have wondered what really goes into the symbols you see on food packaging, and what it really means for a Kosher consumer, this book really tells the story, certainly for the American market.