What is Confectioner’s Glaze, and is it Kosher?

Confectioner’s glaze, also known as shellac, is a resin secreted by the female lac insect after it consumes tree sap. Shellac is commonly used as a wood varnish and as a coating on candies. Igros Moshe (Yoreh De’ah II:24) offered several reasons for why shellac is permitted. Rav Belsky zt”l maintained that the main reason to permit shellac is that, as a “waste product” of the insect, it is also categorized as nifsal mei’achila (unfit for human consumption). In many ways, the reasoning given to permit shellac is similar to the reason to permit bee’s wax. Minchas Yitzchok (10:65) offers another possible reason to be lenient. Because confectioner’s glaze is applied to candies and fruit in such a thin layer, approximately 1/1000th of an inch, it is batel (nullified) on the surface of the food.

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.