New York ? Kosher food — it’s not just for Jews anymore.

In fact, most consumers would probably be shocked to know that a good number of the products already in their pantries and refrigerators are actually certified kosher.

From Pepperidge Farms and Oreo cookies to Heinz baked beans, Lipton Soup mixes and Wonder Bread, the variety of products certified for use by the kosher consumer is expanding at a pretty torrid pace to address the needs of a growing market.

“There has been over the last two decades an explosion in terms of interest in kosher. We’ve grown in 20 years by a factor of about 20,” said Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Kashruth Division of the Orthodox Union, the largest and most well-known of the nearly 600 agencies and individuals stamping their approval on kosher products.

Just look at Kosherfest.

Now in its 15th year, the show, which was last week at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, grew from 59 booths with less than 900 visitors to nearly 500 booths and more than 12,000 visitors with 30 countries represented at Kosherfest 2003.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, co-producer of Kosherfest and president and CEO of Integrated Marketing & Communications in New York, the U.S. produces about $500 billion worth of packaged foods, of which $170 billion is certified kosher. On the ingredient side, there’s also about $500 billion of which $300 billion is certified kosher.

“The industry itself, we believe, is at least a $7.5 billion market that has been growing at a rate of 15 percent a year,” he said.

The word kosher itself means fit and proper, meaning that the food has been prepared or is in consonance with Jewish law related to kosher.

Yet, many interpret the kosher seal as meaning healthy and quality.

Bruce Mills, vice president of operations and marketing for My Grandma’s of New England, which displayed an assortment of coffee cakes at the show, said he saw the value of making his product kosher when he and his partners took the company over from its founder about 11 years ago.

“It’s been our experience that people associate the word kosher with quality and purity, so it helps us sell our product even to the nonkosher, non-Jewish community,” said Mills, who noted that 95 percent of his customers were neither kosher nor Jewish.

Another reason for the increase in demand for kosher products is the “pareve” designation received by many items. “Pareve” the Yiddish word for neutral, tells customers that the product contains no meat or dairy byproducts, making the item acceptable to vegetarians.

Those who adhere to kosher biblical laws do not eat meat and dairy together.