Is Coca Cola Kosher?

The Aish Rabbi Replies

Today Coke in both the US and Israel generally does have certification on it, and it really should be purchased only with certification. Coke’s original recipe contained animal-based glycerin (a mild sweetener which helps diffuse the flavor) and only proper supervision ensures that only plant-based sweeteners are used. (Glycerin can be made from plant oils and petroleum as well.) In fact, Coke produced outside the US and Israel may contain non-kosher glycerin (as well as other non-kosher raw ingredients) and should not be used.

However, there is a fascinating history behind your question. Years back, until about 1990, we used to all drink Coke without certification (or from bottles containing a generic “K” on them, not representative of a recognized certification agency). Yet even back then Coke was known to be kosher. It was initially certified by Rabbi Tobias Geffen in Atlanta in 1935. There is a legend that although Coca-Cola’s secret formula is a carefully guarded secret, the company provided the rabbi with a larger list of ingredients, not specifying which ones were actually part of the formula, and he approved them all. More likely, though, he was made privy to the actual secret formula – after signing a non-disclosure agreement with the company. Years later, in Israel (around 1990), the same arrangement was made with both the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Shapiro, and Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau OBM, who originally certified Coke in Israel.

In fact, as I mentioned above, Rabbi Geffen did find that Coke initially contained non-kosher glycerin. However, in order to receive certification (and of course increase its market share), Coca-Cola agreed to switch to a completely kosher recipe and began using glycerin derived from cottonseed oil (obviously quite common in the South).

Why then did Coke not actually have a kosher symbol on it for so many years? It was said to a marketing decision on their part – and anyway, it was well-known during those years that Coke produced in the US was in fact kosher. Thus, virtually all Jews drank it based on that reliable information. However, as I mentioned, this is only the case in the US and Israel. Coke produced elsewhere may in fact contain non-kosher sweeteners and should not be drunk. (Despite its unique recipe, some of the auxiliary ingredients, notably glycerin, are procured by local bottling companies.) Even in the US and Israel, you should be careful that it has certification and isn’t imported from elsewhere – or comes from a non-approved production facility.

Here is another “kosher Coke tidbit:” One of the main ingredients in Coke is corn syrup, which Ashkenazi Jews do not eat during Passover. So in cities with large Jewish populations, the local Coca-Cola bottling company will make a special batch of Coke using sugar instead. Actually, the original Coke formula called for sugar, and it was only in more recent years that the company switched to high fructose corn syrup. So it turns out that once a year, Coke aficionados (of all ethnic persuasions) scout out supermarkets in Jewish neighborhoods – buying up caseloads of “the real thing!”