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Modern food production involves many additives (such as emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives, anticaking agents, flavor enhancers, and food coloring). Many of them are produced from fats that are derivatives of non-kosher animals. Since the consumer cannot be expected to be familiar with all the food additives and their halakhic status, responsible supervision is required for all food factories. Without it, one may not eat the food. Supervision is not required for medicines that do not taste good. Medicines that do taste good, such as flavored syrups and lozenges, should ideally have supervision. However, if it is too difficult to find them with supervision, they may be used even without it. This is since the odds of their actually containing non-kosher ingredients are very low, so according to the letter of the law, it is not a concern.
