cRc kosher certification comes from the Chicago Rabbinical Council, one of the five largest kosher certification agencies in the United States. It’s a Chicago-based nonprofit founded in 1932. Its mark on a label means a rabbi checked the ingredients and the production line and signed off. By its own count, it currently covers more than 126,000 products across roughly 1,840 companies. You can look up any fish’s kosher status on KosherFish while you’re at it, since a hechsher works the same way whether it’s stamped on a jar of pickles or a fillet of salmon.
Who Runs cRc Kosher Certification
The cRc’s founding dates to 1932, when a group of Chicago-area Orthodox rabbis organized to serve the city’s Jewish community. Today the group describes itself as the largest regional Orthodox rabbinical organization in North America. It has more than 120 member rabbis. Its certification arm, marketed under the name cRc Kosher, is one part of that larger rabbinical body’s work, alongside a rabbinical court and community programs.
Three rabbis lead the organization today. Rabbi Levi Mostofsky serves as Executive Director. He oversees operations. Rabbi Sholem Y. Fishbane holds the title of Kashrus Administrator. He’s the rabbi who heads the certification division and has final say over what earns the mark. Rabbi Yona Reiss serves as Av Beth Din, leading the rabbinical court, the Beis Din that rules on questions of Jewish law beyond food supervision. That split, one administrator running operations and one rabbi holding final authority over kashrus decisions, is common across the major kosher agencies. A rabbinic ruling, not a marketing department, decides what earns the mark.
What cRc Kosher Certification Covers
As of late August 2026, the agency’s own site counts more than 126,000 certified products made by roughly 1,840 certified companies. It updates that number as new certifications are added. Its Kashrus Supervision division reviews food manufacturers, ingredients, and food-service operations, and issues the mark once a rabbinic coordinator has inspected the facility and the ingredient list. Publications that cover the kosher industry, like the Forward, group it with the OU, OK Kosher, Star-K, and Kof-K as the “Big Five.” Together, those agencies certify more than 80 percent of the kosher food sold in the US.
How to Verify cRc Kosher Certification on a Product
The records don’t live behind a single search box on the main site. The organization splits the work across a few connected tools. consumer.crckosher.org is the consumer-facing hub. It has food and beverage category lists and an “Ask cRc” search form built right into the page. Submit a company or product name there and it queries askcrc.org, a dedicated lookup tool built to answer “is this certified” questions directly. For business-level detail, like the exact certification a company holds, letters get published through a third site, ezcrc.org. If you’re holding a product with a small mark and want to confirm it’s current, start at the Ask cRc form rather than guessing from the symbol alone. Certifications can lapse or change.
How the cRc Compares to the Other Big Five Agencies
Five agencies get named together often enough that the industry calls them the “Big Five”: the OU, Star-K, OK Kosher, Kof-K, and the cRc. None of these marks is more “kosher” than another. Any of them is a reliable signal that a rabbi verified the product. The differences show up in scale, specialty, and which communities know the symbol best.
| Agency | Headquarters | Founded | Known For |
|---|---|---|---|
| OU (Orthodox Union) | New York, NY | 1923 (certification began) | By far the largest, close to a million products worldwide |
| Star-K | Baltimore, MD | 1947 | Pioneered Sabbath Mode appliance certification in 1997 |
| OK (OK Kosher) | Brooklyn, NY | 1935 | Over 700,000 products across 1,500+ companies, strong presence in Asia |
| Kof-K | Teaneck, NJ | 1970 | Family-run, food and restaurant certification nationwide |
| cRc (Chicago Rabbinical Council) | Chicago, IL | 1932 | Certification covers 126,000+ products across 1,840 companies |
Star-K doesn’t compete with the OU on raw volume. Neither does the cRc. What it has built instead is a Chicago-based regional footprint backed by a genuinely large rabbinical membership, plus a public-facing kosher-education arm that publishes consumer guidance well beyond a simple product list.
Does cRc Kosher Certification Cover Fish?
There’s no species-by-species kosher fish list here, the way KosherFish maintains one. What gets published instead is guidance on how to check a fish yourself. A 2023 consumer article, written by Rabbi Dovid Cohen, walks through the method. The only reliable way to confirm a fish belongs to a kosher species is to inspect its scales directly. That’s because the Torah’s test in Leviticus 11:9-12 and Deuteronomy 14:9-10 requires fins and scales that can be removed without tearing the skin. The article also flags a known exception. A salmon’s pink flesh color isn’t on its own proof of species the way scales are.
That’s a genuinely useful method, but it puts the work on you. You’re the one standing at the counter trying to identify a scale type on a fillet that may barely show one. A packaged or restaurant fish product carrying its mark has already been through that check by a rabbinic coordinator. That’s exactly the gap this kind of certification closes once a fish is filleted, breaded, smoked, or served at a restaurant and you can no longer see the skin yourself.
Check Any Fish with KosherFish
Reading a hechsher tells you a rabbi checked the product. It doesn’t answer a more basic question, the one that fish guide is built around: does a species qualify as kosher in the first place? That’s what KosherFish answers directly. Search the full kosher fish list for the exact species you’re holding, or use the lookup tool on the homepage to check it in seconds. The iOS app and the Android app put the same lookup in your pocket for the next time you’re standing at a fish counter or reading a sushi menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cRc kosher certification?
cRc kosher certification comes from the Chicago Rabbinical Council, one of the five largest kosher certification agencies in the United States. It’s a Chicago-based nonprofit founded in 1932 whose Kashrus Supervision division inspects and certifies food products and the companies that make them. Rabbi Sholem Y. Fishbane serves as Kashrus Administrator, with final say over what earns the mark.
Is cRc kosher certification trustworthy?
Yes. It’s widely recognized as one of the “Big Five” US kosher certifiers, alongside the OU, OK Kosher, Star-K, and Kof-K. By its own count it covers more than 126,000 products across roughly 1,840 companies, run under a rabbinic staff that answers to a single Kashrus Administrator on every decision.
What does the cRc symbol mean on food?
The mark on a package means the agency’s rabbinic staff inspected the ingredients and the production facility and confirmed the product meets kashrut, Jewish dietary law. It works the same way an OU or Star-K mark does. Each agency’s symbol stands in for an inspection you can’t do yourself, especially once a product is processed.
How do I verify cRc kosher certification on a product?
Use the Ask cRc search tool at consumer.crckosher.org, which checks a product or company name against current records at askcrc.org. Don’t rely on the symbol alone if you’re unsure, since certifications can lapse or change. For a specific company’s certification letter, those documents get published through ezcrc.org.
Does cRc kosher certification cover fish products?
There’s no species-by-species fish list, but the certification does cover fish products and the companies that process them. Consumer guidance also covers how to check a fish’s kosher status by hand, based on the Torah’s fins-and-scales rule in Leviticus 11:9-12. A mark on a processed or restaurant fish item means a rabbinic coordinator already did that check for you.
Is cRc kosher certification the same as the OU?
No, they’re separate, independent agencies, each with its own rabbinic staff and its own mark. Both belong to the “Big Five” group of widely recognized US kosher certifiers, and both apply the same underlying kashrut law. The OU is the largest of the group by volume. The cRc is a regional Chicago-based agency with its own certification division.
The Bottom Line
cRc kosher certification is real, trusted, and Chicago-based, one of the Big Five in the US. Rabbi Sholem Y. Fishbane holds final rabbinic authority over certification decisions as Kashrus Administrator. It covers more than 126,000 products across roughly 1,840 companies. The cRc also publishes its own consumer guidance on how to check a fish’s kosher status by hand. There’s no species-by-species fish list here the way KosherFish runs one, but any fish product carrying its mark has already been checked against the same Torah standard every kosher agency applies.
If you’re trying to figure out what a symbol on your food actually means, start with what OU kosher means or the full rundown of kosher symbols explained, or see what Star-K certifies for comparison. If your question is about a specific fish rather than the mark on the package, check when fish actually needs a hechsher, search the full kosher fish list, or use the lookup tool to check any species by name.