An American airline has been accused of deceptive trading practices by a Hescher organisation after marking inflight food Kosher without its consent.

JetBlue Airways, a major low-cost airline operating primarily in the US, has been sued in the state of New Jersey for allegedly infringing on the trademarks of Kof-K, a leading Kosher certification agency.

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The Kof-K Hescher mark that appears on thousands of products all over the world (Kof-K)

In their lawsuit, Kof-K accused JetBlue of trademark infringement, false designation of origin and deceptive trade practices after a small package of artichokes was labelled as Kosher despite not being approved by the company.

The product in question is part of JetBlue's $9 Mediterranean-themed snackbox which contains a range of products and is labelled as Kosher on their website.

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The snack box in question (JetBlue)

According to documents filed in federal court, Kof-K said that JetBlue's actions were likely to "deceive and confuse the Kosher eating public" and demanded punitive damages from the airline.

However, Kof-K did not dispute the Kosher status of the item but said that as it had not been certified by their agency, the use of the Kof-K logo was erroneous.

In a statement, JetBlue said: “The recent complaint filed is the first we were made aware of Kof-K’s trademark concern. We are currently investigating their claims.”