In the US, only 15% of all consumers who purchase kosher food do so because they observe the Jewish dietary laws.
Most people buy kosher products for other reasons. Vegetarians and those sensitive to dairy rely on kosher parve labels. Observant Muslims may buy kosher meat when halal isn't available.
Many people think that kosher means safer and healthier. Some even think that kosher food is blessed by a rabbi. That must make it better.
Kosher food certainly has gained in popularity.
Supervisory agencies have multiplied from a handful to hundreds. It started with a simple can of baked beans. Now there are thousands of products in every supermarket.
Except for meat and poultry, earlier generations didn't have a big need for kosher certification. That's because their diets were fairly simple. Kosher supervision grew as food technology advanced and processed food became a major part of our diet.
Does kosher mean safe? Does it mean healthy?
In one study, salting and rinsing chicken reduced salmonella levels significantly. But when kosher, organic and conventional chicken was compared in another study, kosher chicken had the most contamination from listeria.
When I browse the lists of newly certified kosher products, I don't see much in the way of healthy products. Baked goods, candy, soft drinks and highly processed food top most of the lists. Remember the excitement when Oreos became kosher? Now Tootsie Rolls are the big deal.
Equating kosher with purity, quality and goodness seems like a stretch.
Several years ago I contracted salmonella poisoning at a restaurant in the US whose mashgiach (kosher supervisor) was on the premises throughout the day. Later I discovered that the restaurant had been sited repeatedly for sanitation violations. While I don't expect a mashgiach to get rid of rats, I would hope that he wouldn't turn a blind eye.
The same kashrut agency published a full-page article, signed by one of its rabbis, praising a popular brand of high-fat ice cream. While it's perfectly acceptable to announce a product that's under your supervision, it's not acceptable to encourage people to buy a blatantly unhealthy product that you're being paid to supervise.
I'm not suggesting that we equate kashrut with anything but what it is – the Jewish dietary laws according to halachah. I don't expect kosher certifiers to stand in for the health department or for nutrition educators. But I do think it's time for them to take responsibility and not ignore public health issues that are staring them right in the face.
Food-borne illness is a real problem. Halachically, if food is not safe, it's not kosher. Rats in the kitchen, poor sanitation and contaminated eggs are certainly not safe. Rabbis who are quick to give a heksher when a product meets kashrut standards are noticeably quiet on issues of food safety and nutrition.
Should kashrut agencies address these issues?
The recent Agriprocessors scandal prompted the Rabbinical Council of America and the Orthodox Union to re-write their guidelines. Their employees are now being asked to withhold supervision if a company doesn't abide by civil law. That's an acknowledgement that supervision has a role beyond the strict letter of kashrut.
Perhaps food safety and nutrition issues will be addressed in the future. Meanwhile, consumers should realize that kosher food passes only one set of standards – the Jewish dietary laws. It's not healthier, safer or purer than any other food.
It seems to me that if hashgacha agencies refuse to certify restaurants which allow smoking, and many of them do, then surely they can and should refuse to certify restaurants with food safety issues.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, the agencies often withhold certification for far less appropriate reasons. My father, a Conservative rabbi, once told me that the Bar Mitzvah teacher at his synagogue, who owned a Kosher restaurant, was told by the mashgiach that the agency would drop his certification if he didn't stop teaching at a Conservative synagogue. The mashgiach told him this while eating lunch at his restaurant, so clearly kashrut was not the real issue.