My first batch of notes from Rabbi Moshe Heinemann’s lecture earlier tonight at the Young Israel of Brookline, on cutting-edge issues in kashrut. Any errors in the information below are my fault. (Besides, R’ Heinemann insisted that these are solely his opinions, and the only halacha that matters is from one’s own rabbi.)
SHEMITAH
Shemitah begins next year, which presents problems in the US with produce of Israeli origin, grown on Jewish lands. We must be careful only to purchase Israeli produce with a heksher. A custom in Jerusalem is to eat fruits and vegetables grown on Arab lands during this time, and the Star-K does likewise, having made agreements with Israel’s largest vegetable companies to only sell Arab produce. This causes an interesting economic situation: the price of normally cheap Arab produce doubles, and the price of Jewish produce drops. Since there’s generally less demand for Arab produce, Arabs simply don’t grow the quantities necessary to fulfill this unusual Israeli demand — and will sometimes purchase now-cheap Jewish produce to fulfill it, negating the entire shemitah-respecting effort.
As such, the Star-K has contracted with a French satellite company to take pictures of Arab farms every five minutes to discover any illicit deliveries of Jewish produce. The image resolution is high enough that a truck’s license plate can be read, and appropriate action may be taken.
BUGS
Insect infestation in produce is more of a problem today, not because of new chumrot or overzealous rabbis, but because of bugs’ increasing pesticide resistance and the government’s prohibition against using the levels of pesticide needed to kill this century’s uber-bugs. With stronger bugs, and fewer chemicals in our arsenal, there are simply more insects appearing in our food.
In response, the Star-K is refining a “leaf camera” system that can distinguish between a bug’s protein and a leaf’s carbohydrates. When installed in an industrial setting, lettuce leaves with detectable protein content can be pushed aside. Unfortunately, they’re not 100% sure it’ll work, and it still isn’t fast enough to satisfy industrial demands.
ORGANIC MEAT
An organic meat company approached the Star-K for certification, thinking that a heksher would attract more customers. The Star-K informed the company that about 80% of kosher slaughters are problem-free, and ultimately there’s a yield of 33% glatt kosher in a normal meat processing environment. Given that organically-raised animals are purported to be healthier, they estimated that an organic yield might be as high as 60-80% glatt. Before the Star-K agreed, they recommended that they observe the company’s existing non-kosher operations, and simply check the animals after slaughter to see if they’d have been glatt. The results were dismal: only 3% of the company’s organic beeves would have been considered glatt. Since they were raised without antibiotics, their livers were overwhelmed by parasites.
TROPICAL OILS FROM ASIA
Tropical oils are popular additives in shelf-stable baked goods, since they’re solid at room temperature. These days, the cheapest source of tropical oils is Asia, where the stuff is shipped out in massive, massive quantities. Before the breads and cakes hit your bakery’s shelves, the kashrut challenges have begun: the whole supply chain presents significant hurdles. The ships have huge carrying tanks, which may at any time be filled with kosher or non-kosher oils (i.e. animal fat). Because these fats become solid at room temperature, they must be heated during transit to stay liquid. When the ships arrive in the US, they unload their cargo into special terminals with heated storage tanks. One hot-water heating system may service up to ten tanks. From the coasts, the oils are sent by rail and truck (both, again, in heated tanks) to factories across the country.
Dealing with the ships is especially difficult since they’re quite resistant to kashrut oversight, but the Star-K has a lot of experience handling the trucks. Federal law prohibits the use of one tanker for both edible and non-edible liquids, but one tanker could easily transport alternating batches of kosher and non-kosher products. So the tanks need to be kashered, fine, but the cabs? They, too, present a problem. Since the pump used to fill and empty the tank needs a power source, it’s part of the cab, and not the tank. That must be kashered, too. Cabs are frequently swapped in and out — breakdowns, new drivers, etc. — so detailed record-keeping and tracking is key.
CHINA
According to R’ Heinemann, there are unique challenges in working with Chinese companies seeking kosher certification, because of the acceptability of deception within their business culture. For example, any foods made with glycerin — an animal byproduct — will render the endeavor mutually unprofitable, so the Star-K routinely asks for that information upfront. The Chinese company will say no — and when the rabbi arrives, lo and behold, the facility has 200,000 gallons of glycerin, and the company doesn’t think it’s a big deal. He says they’re not unlike Jews: a chuppah is called for 4:30, but it starts at 5 — does the family apologize to their guests? No, we just expect that a Jewish event won’t be on time!
Bugs are a particularly pervasive problem in China. Consider mushrooms. In the US, most mushrooms are grown in Pennsylvania, in underground caves where the temperature and humidity are constant year round. In such consistent conditions, mushrooms grow bug-free. In China, mushrooms are grown above-ground, and the mushroom industry is very much a mom-and-pop operation. An individual harvester will sell an individual basket of mushrooms to a produce company, where it’s mixed in with everyone else’s small batches. In this environment, widespread inspection for bugs (and use of kosher cutting tools) is near impossible.
Coming up in part 2: Appliances, propylene glycol, bishul akum of canned goods, use of cut fruit and fish.
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