The mark

What the mark asserts, and the rules that come with it

The Emet mark is a claim about a product, made by us, on packaging we do not control. Every variant is below, drawn by the same generator that produces a holder's artwork — so what you learn here is what reaches a pack. Certificate holders receive these rules as the mark usage guide, which forms part of the certification agreement.

Every variant, drawn, and exactly what it means

There is no neutral Emet mark. The mark with no letter beside it is not a logo — it is a positive statement that the product contains neither dairy nor meat. If you are looking at a mark and cannot see a letter, that is the claim being made.

א — no letterPareve — contains neither dairy nor meat
א PAREVEPareve, stated explicitly
א DDairy — contains dairy ingredients
א DEDairy Equipment — pareve, made on dairy equipment
א MEATMeat
א PKosher for Passover — NOT an abbreviation of pareve

P means Passover. It has never meant pareve. This is the most consequential misreading in kosher labelling: someone avoiding dairy sees a P, reads it as pareve, and eats a dairy product. Pareve is the mark with no letter at all, or the mark reading PAREVE in full.

DE means the product is pareve but was made on dairy equipment. It is not dairy, and it is not unqualified pareve. Whether that distinction matters is a question for the person eating it, which is exactly why the mark states it rather than deciding for them.

The plain seal says there is no fish in it. Pareve here is a positive claim and a narrow one: no dairy, no meat, no dairy equipment, and no fish. Fish is pareve in itself, but it may not be eaten with meat, so the plain seal states its absence rather than leaving a reader to assume it.

The consequence is exact, and we would rather say it than have it discovered. Fish, fish oils and fish-derived ingredients are certified in the ordinary way — this is not a category we decline. But a certified product that contains fish is not released under the plain seal, because that seal would deny an ingredient the product has. Where the pack cannot carry the fish fact another way, the line is certified without a mark: the certificate covers it and the schedule lists it, and no seal goes on the pack. If you make something containing fish, raise it at application and we will tell you exactly what your pack can and cannot carry.

When the mark carries a designation

Some certifications go beyond a base status. Where one does, the words are drawn into a lockup of their own — the seal, the letter, and the designation set beneath it — and that file is licensed for the products that were granted it and for nothing else. A holder with a plain dairy line and a Cholov Yisroel line receives two different files, and moving one to the other’s product is misuse.

Cholov YisroelDairy, from milk supervised by an observant Jew from the milking onward.
GlattMeat, from cattle whose lungs were found free of adhesions.
Pas YisroelPareve, and a Jew participated in the baking — typically by lighting the oven.

Two rules come with it. The designation is set on the full cut only: at 8 mm the seal is 8 mm across and a second line under it would print below a millimetre, and an illegible designation is worse than none, because the reader still sees a hechsher and reads it as reassurance. And nobody sets those words but us — not in your typeface, not at your size, not as a caption beside a bare seal. A designation on a pack that is not in Emet’s artwork is a designation Emet did not make.

How it is drawn

Full · 11 mm upCompact · 8 mmReverse · dark packs

Two cuts, not one drawing scaled. The compact cut is stroked more heavily so it survives at 8 mm; the full cut is finer and is drawn from 11 mm up. Scaling the full cut down fills in the scallops, and is not permitted.

The reverse is drawn, never inverted. Inverting the positive artwork thins the ring and closes the letter. Holders are supplied a reverse file and must use it on any dark ground.

Clear space is half the seal’s diameter on all four sides, free of text, graphics and the edge of the pack.

The licence, in full

Granted with a certificate, not transferable, and it ends when the certification does. These are its terms — the same ones in the usage guide issued with every certificate, and in section 10 of the certification agreement.

1
Licensed, never sold — and never passed on.
The mark is a certification mark owned by Emet. Use is non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable and not sublicensable. A co-packer, a repacker and a private-label customer each need their own written authorisation; a holder cannot extend theirs to cover somebody else's line.
2
Only on the products, brands and facilities on the current schedule, and only while the certificate is valid.
The certificate covers named products made at a named site. The same product made on a different line, at a different plant, or to a changed formula is not the product that was certified.
3
Nothing bearing the mark is printed or published until Emet approves that exact artwork in writing.
Not the design — the file. Written means an email or letter from us naming it. A conversation is not approval, and approval of last year's carton is not approval of this year's.
4
Reproduced only from artwork Emet supplies, unaltered.
No redrawing, recolouring, screening, stretching, rotating, cropping or effects. A mark rebuilt in a design file is the single most likely way a dairy product ends up carrying a pareve claim.
5
The designation is part of the mark and must match the product's current status.
The letter is not a caption beside the seal. A holder may not add one, remove one, substitute one, or set it in their own type.
6
Never below 8 mm compact or 11 mm full, with clear space of half the seal's diameter on every side.
Below that the scallops fill in and the letter stops being legible — and an illegible designation is worse than none, because the reader still sees a hechsher and reads it as reassurance.
7
One colour at full strength.
Black, or the darkest single line colour on press with our written approval. On dark backgrounds only the supplied reverse artwork — never an auto-inverted copy, which thins the ring and closes the letter.
8
Any change is approved before it happens.
Ingredients, suppliers, formulation, processing aids, shared equipment, place of manufacture. Use of the mark after an unapproved change is unauthorised use, and approval is never granted retrospectively.
9
On suspension, use stops. On withdrawal, packaging is destroyed.
A suspension pauses the right to apply the mark to the suspended products and stops advertising that refers to their certification; it does not require unused packaging to be destroyed, because a suspension states what ends it and is meant to be lifted. Withdrawal, expiry without renewal, and removal of a product from scope do: unused packaging, labels and films are destroyed or surrendered within thirty days and certified to us in writing.
10
Product lawfully marked while the certificate was valid may sell through.
Unless we determine its kosher status is affected — then the holder cooperates with recall, over-labelling or public notice at their own cost.
11
Unauthorised use is trademark infringement.
We may seek injunctive relief and damages, and may publish a corrective notice identifying the product and its status. The mark protects the person eating the food, and that is what it is enforced for.

Where it goes on the pack

Yes	Never
On the principal display panel, near the product name, in the same position across a range.	On the bottom panel, a glue flap, a seam or a gusset, where it cannot be found without turning the pack over.
Whole, on a flat area, on a background that holds its contrast.	Split across a fold or a crease, printed over a photograph or a pattern, or knocked out of a colour that leaves the ring grey.
On the products the certificate lists.	On a carton mixing certified and uncertified items, in a company logo, on a vehicle, on a building, or anywhere implying the business rather than the product is certified.

Getting artwork approved

Holders receive an artwork pack with their certificate: print and digital files for exactly the variants that certificate authorises and nothing else, a prepress sheet for the printer, and the usage guide. Nothing else is authorised — a file from an old pack, one sent by a supplier, or anything rebuilt from this page is not.

Before a print run, send the final layout — the file going to press, not a mock-up — to artwork@emetkosher.com. We answer in writing, naming the file. Keep that reply: it is what shows the run was approved, and it is the first thing we ask for if a question is ever raised about a pack.

If you think a mark is being misused

Anyone may tell us, and you do not have to give your name. Quote the certificate number if the pack carries one and we will link it to the record automatically. A mark on a product we never certified is a matter we take up ourselves.

Report a certificate or mark problem · Check a certificate number · What certification requires