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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
It was said about Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch that when he was well into his 70’s he decided to travel from Germany to Switzerland for a vacation. This was in the late 1800’s when cars and airplanes were unheard of. The trip was an arduous trek by train and coach. He was asked, ‘Rabbi, you’re an old man. Why are you taking such a trip?’ Replied Rabbi Hirsch, “After 120 years, I’ll meet my maker and he will ask me, ‘Raphael, did you ever see my Alps?’”
The world is truly a magnificent creation filled with all of God’s beauty. One of the benefits that I have in being a mashgiach (kosher supervisor) for the OU is that I have an opportunity to travel and see much of this beauty. My territory encompasses most of the Southeastern part of the United States, namely, Eastern Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Northern Florida. This area, known as the “Bible or Sun Belt,” offers much diversity as to scenery as well as to history. This is the South of Gone With the Wind fame. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of my territory.
Starting in Charleston SC, we come to the flower of the South. This city, with Fort Sumter in its harbor, was involved in the incident that began the Civil War. One can travel through the area and still see antebellum houses. Not far up the road in Summerville is an OU company, JW Aluminum. Taking the highway as well as side roads (watch out for logging trucks) we come to Augusta, GA, home of the Masters Golf Tournament. While there, we can stop by Kellogg’s Snack foods for some Famous Amos Cookies or go to Nutrasweet, makers of Aspartame Sweeteners. The Science Museum in Augusta is a hands-on/must see for families with children. Traveling south through back roads we come to Savannah.
Savannah is a beautiful city with old-time charm. The downtown area is arranged with small park squares that you have to drive and weave around. Tybee Island is just due east for a nice relaxing vacation spot. While in Savannah, we can visit a number of OU plants, among them Dixie Crystal and Fuji Oil.
We then travel south on I-95 to Jacksonville, FL where we can go to Heinz/ Portion Pak and Whitewave Foods. As one travels through Jacksonville one cannot help but go over the various bridges that span the local waterways. We then can take a trip up to Blackshear and Alma in Georgia. These small towns have OU plants like American Egg, Southland’s Best, and Richmond Baking. Then it’s on to Fitzgerald, GA to American Blanching and Deep South Products. Deep South bottles product for Arizona Tea as well as Winn Dixie sodas.
We are now in the heart of the South. As we drive through, we pass pecan orchards all around us. This is also peanut country. A side trip up I-75 takes us to Andersonville, GA— the site of the notorious Civil War prison and its cemetery.
I once was at the Holiday Inn in Fitzgerald and was talking to the hotel manager. He told me that it was a good thing that I came that week and not the week after. I asked him why. “Well,” he replied, “next week is your Jewish New Year and all of the old families come here from all over the South for High Holiday services and I wouldn’t have a room for you.” It seems that all of these small Southern towns had at one time been vibrant Jewish communities.
From Fitzgerald we continue to visit OU plants in Tifton, Ashburn, and Sylvester before coming to Albany, GA. I tell people that I go to most of the ‘nut’ houses in Georgia. This area is responsible for the vast majority of peanut production. It gets hot here in the summertime so a refreshing stop in Albany is the Miller’s Coors Brewing Co. Not far away we also can stop at Tara Foods. (Tara? Wasn’t that a plantation in a certain novel?) Just be careful in booking flights, cars or hotels. Many a time I have had the reservations made for Albany (all bany), NY rather than Albany (al beny), GA. Around an hours’ drive north of Albany, one can go to Warm Springs. There you can visit the Little White House — the summer home of President Franklin D Roosevelt, the place where he died.
Continuing west we cross into Alabama going through Abbeville, home of Golden Egg, and proceed to Dothan. Golden Oval, formerly known as Cutler Egg, processes eggs in both liquid and dried forms. Dothan touts itself as the Peanut Capitol of the world so naturally we go to Flavorhouse to see their operation. We then travel north towards Montgomery. There we visit Flowers Foods. Traveling west we proceed through rolling hills of beautiful countryside to Selma. Montgomery as well as Selma were key cities during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s, 60’s and ‘70’s.
We continue traveling west going to plants in Marion, AL heading towards Mississippi. With OU plants in Hattiesburg, Jackson and Columbus, we literally travel around the whole state. While in Jackson, between visits to DeBeukelaer, Clorox and Reckitt-Benckiser, one can drop in at The Museum of Southern Jewish Life.
Another part of my territory is Tennessee. We will start in Crossville to see Mizkan Vinegar and another Flowers Baking facility, then proceed on I-40 across the Middle Tennessee Valley to Knoxville and Newport. This stretch of Interstate is simply gorgeous. Whether in the fall when all the leaves are changing colors; in winter when the trees are bare and sometimes white; or in spring and summer when they are in full bloom, this is a truly beautiful drive. Green Mountain Coffee, Bush Beans, and Rich products, among others, are situated in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains.
We travel down through the mountains to Cleveland and Chattanooga. With all of the abundant fresh water springs that come from the mountains, it is no surprise that many of the OU bottled water plants are in this area. Among them are Green Mountain, Crystal Springs and Nature’s Purest. While in Chattanooga, you also don’t want to miss The Tennessee Aquarium. From Lookout Mountain and Rock City you can seven states before heading back to Atlanta.
Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola so a must see is the Coke Museum, downtown. No visit to Atlanta would be complete without a visit to Stone Mountain. This large granite mountain depicts a carving of heroes of the Civil War as well as a plantation and museum about the War Between the States. Lastly, one can visit the Martin Luther King Memorial.
As one can see, traveling such a vast area inspecting over 100 companies is very demanding and time consuming. Yet, I have a chance to meet people from all walks of life. We talk about varied subjects from news to sports and I can truly say that I never have a dull day. The breadth of my work for the OU takes me to a vast diversity of products. I see facilities producing everything from baked goods to chemical companies making cleaning products. I recently went to a company that was making adhesives. At the plant, they were vastly impressed that the OU took the issue of kashrut so seriously that we would even check their product which is used to adhere foil to the cardboard core.
Let me end with one last story. I was at a plant on a day where everything was going wrong. I apologized to the plant personnel for coming on such a day, but I needed to do my inspection. “Rabbi Norm,” the official said, “I’m always glad to see you. Sometimes I’m glad to see you come and sometimes I’m glad to see you go. But I’m always glad to see you.” Talk about Southern Hospitality!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Orthodox Union Kosher Division, the world’s largest and most respected kosher certification agency, today announced the publication of the “OU Manual for the Baking Industry,” a compendium of the knowledge and experience of the expert OU rabbis who travel the world applying the time-honored laws of kosher to the industrial practices of today.
The manual, printed in full color with many illustrations, is the first in a series of such guidebooks scheduled for publication, with the objective that uniform standards of certification be established for entire industries conforming to the rigorous requirements of the OU. It is another in a series of departmental initiatives that makes OU Kosher a major force in kashrut education as well as in certification. In the case of the first manual, these standards are not only for the baking industry in the United States, but for Israel and around the world as well.
After all, as the kosher certifier of Drakes’, Entenmann’s, Nabisco, Famous Amos, Keebler, Kellogg’s baked items, Arnolds and Thomas’, the OU puts its coveted kashrut symbol on some of the most iconic names in the baking industry.
The intended audience for the manuals is a wide spectrum of kashrut professionals – including those at other kosher certification agencies – as well the vaadim, local bodies which provide kosher certification in retail businesses, food service facilities, and plants in their local communities. Laymen wanting to explore the intricacies of kosher law will be fascinated as well.
There is surely a need for this kind of material. Just as the baking manual was rolling off the presses, OU Kosher received an email from a Midwestern vaad, in which its administrator wrote, “I would assume that the OU had a mashgiach handbook that covers policy and procedures for various settings. Would the handbook discuss industrial bakeries? Can I get a copy? I would like to compare our policy with the OU’s to make sure that nothing falls or fell through the cracks.”
The manuals are the brainchild of Dr. Steven Katz, OU Senior Vice President from Teaneck, NJ who is also Chair of the Kashrut Commission, which oversees the worldwide activities of OU Kosher.
Each of the manuals will focus on three important areas of concern for its specific industry – technology; practical kashrut concerns and the methodology of supervision; and halachic rulings of the OU decisors, or poskim, Rav Hershel Schachter of Yeshiva University, and Rav Yisroel Belsky of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath. The project is a collaborative effort of OU rabbinic coordinators based in OU Kosher New York headquarters; rabbinic field representatives, around the world; the poskim, and administrative staff.
To create the baking manual, a group was put together with Executive Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Yaacov Luban as editor, Rabbi Moshe Zywica, Director of Operations of OU Kosher as coordinator, and Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein, the OU Rabbinic Coordinator overseeing commercial bakeries to write the text. Rabbi Bendelstein, in turn, drew on his colleagues overseeing the industry, such as Rabbi Israel Paretzky and Rabbi David Rockove, for their insights.
They reported to Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Chief Operating Officer of OU Kosher. Because of his broad understanding of the Jewish community and its needs, Rabbi Elefant provided the guidance which was so helpful in seeing that the manual accomplished its objectives.
Rabbi Bendelstein was the perfect choice to write the manual. A graduate of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Queens, NY and of Yeshiva University with a BA in chemistry, he obtained his rabbinical ordination (semicha) from the REITS seminary at YU and has been at the OU for nine years, steadily deepening his knowledge of the baking industry.
The complexities of the kashrut involved with the baking industry are multi-faceted, Rabbi Bendelstein says. “We try to outline these complexities from soup to nuts beginning with the basics of kosher certification, focusing on ingredients and the nuances therein and the different categories of ingredients; then working through production and focusing on the different manufacturing processes of the various items manufactured in the baking industry; and finishing with packaging and labeling and how that manifests itself in kosher certification.”
There’s more. Rabbi Bendelstein says, “Then we have areas which are unique to baking which we touch upon such as Pat Yisrael (Jewish involvement in the baking process), yashan (seasonal flour), and hafrashat challah (tithing from the dough).” Standards are established for breads, cakes, cookies and crackers, breakfast items, and baking aids such as fillings, glaze, icing and mixes.
The entire project, including planning, research and design, took more than a year, with the writing taking four months; the text was reviewed countless times, mostly by Rabbi Luban, so that it could appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
“The work is very significant on several levels,” explained Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher. “It’s important to know that each industry has its own requirements and specifications; each of these manuals represents the standards for its industry and what a mashgiach has to be aware of. They enhance the departmental goal of kosher education. And in terms of our corporate culture, they provide transparent standards to be met.”
These standards are clearly intended for other agencies as well as for local vaadim. “We are very careful not to give away proprietary information of the companies we certify,” Rabbi Genack said. “But regarding OU information, the interests of kashrut have to come first.”
Industries such as oil, fish and flavors are in the pipeline with the texts already written and will follow soon, according to Dr. Katz, the originator of the idea. When the work is done, something new will exist in the kosher world.
Rabbi Genack declared, “This new manual will be a great addition to sources explaining Jewish law for our times. The halachic guidelines of Rabbis Belsky and Schachter, our poskim, will certainly make an extraordinary resource for the kosher world. Only the OU, with its knowledge and emphasis on education, could have done it.”
To obtain copies of the manual, contact Rabbi Bendelstein at 212-613-8253, or .
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
In Colombia, it seems the people are as bright and warming as the tropical sun. Like most of Central and South America, this is a country with a disturbing past and a bright future. Once known more for cocaine drug lords and kidnapping than for legitimate businesses and opportunity, Colombia is coming into its own. OU certified companies there offer excellent products ranging from consumer items like coffee, hot pepper sauces and tuna fish to industrial ingredients like tropical oils and citric acid. All are made with the finest ingredients – and just a bit of the brightness that comes with the tropical sun.
Like many Latin American countries, Colombia offers a number of opportunities to food manufacturers. Its weather and history provide for an abundance of agricultural based products and old-world know how in food manufacture. Because of its colonial and European roots, there are long established ties with the European Union. Due to relatively low labor costs, increasingly favorable trade terms and geography, Colombia offers special benefits to North American concerns. While the unfortunate past of the drug cartels continues to weigh heavily, a strong will and strong government are changing things.
This was my second trip to Colombia in the past two years. During my first trip, the focus was primarily on palm oil products used in chocolates and other industries which use tropical oils. Interestingly, Colombia is one of the few places outside of Malaysia able to develop a significant palm industry. It is blessed with just the right weather and growing conditions: the palms that produce palm oil only grow in a narrow band around the equator. The company Acegrasas, a long established name in Colombia and in the oil business, is working hard to expand its United States exports. To date, the OU has worked with them on a limited basis to make special productions of palm olein and stearin. Long term, the hope is to develop a broad certification for a wide range of specialty fats and oils.
It is much more common in Latin America to find production and consumption of animal fat based products. As a result, oil companies are commonly more complicated than in the United States and Asia. This is especially true in facilities making hardened fats and margarines which often contain tallow and lard. As these items are intrinsically not kosher, their presence makes any kosher program much more complicated. Sometimes the effect is limited to specific equipment where items are blended; sometimes the entire plant may be non-kosher. For example, if there are common supply and handling lines or a common steam system – even between separate production areas — the entire plant may be affected. At the very least, it becomes necessary to set up segregated and non-compatible systems. When possible, we work with a company to segregate kosher and non-kosher in completely different facilities.
Of course, there are also more familiar issues with dairy components, many of which require careful kosher monitoring in and of themselves and must be sourced from acceptable kosher suppliers. For example, whey is a byproduct of cheese production and has special considerations. When curds and whey are separated to make cheese, a number of kosher concerns are involved. For example, Swiss cheese is traditionally started by adding rennet to milk. Rennet is a naturally occurring enzyme in calf stomachs and itself subject to many kosher complications. If the rennet is not kosher, the cheese is not kosher.
Since Swiss cheese making includes cooking the cheese and whey before separation, the whey itself is also not kosher. Other common dairy ingredients – milk powder, lactose — are often spray dried or processed in facilities that handle non-kosher production. Then, of course, there is the generic problem of making certain that dairy and non-dairy are strictly segregated.
Because of its tropical climate, Colombia is blessed with miles and miles of sugar cane production. The result is a prime opportunity for not only year-round kosher but for Passover as well. Many key products used in industry, including citric acid and alcohol, are products of glucose fermentation. In the United States, the primary glucose source is corn; in Europe, it is wheat and other grains. The Bible specifically forbids the use of anything made from wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye during Passover. Additionally, Jews of Ashkenazi (Western European) descent do not use products made from kitniyot, including corn and soy. Cane sugar, however, is clearly permitted.
The multinational Tate & Lyle is a global producer of citric acid with a strong interest in providing Passover grade product to the international market. Their Sucromiles facility near Cali, a world center for cane sugar production, is an excellent potential source. Since citric acid can start from any glucose source and since the plant also manufactures alcohol and other potentially grain-based products, the need arose for a thorough forensic audit of both raw materials and products to determine if cane sugar was, in fact, the only glucose source for the production in question. After many hours of work in the plant as well as extensive follow up, it was determined that the citric acid in question met strict Passover requirements for this year.
Among Colombia’s kosher assets is a long established Jewish community. While it has suffered during the country’s dark years, its presence means there are qualified people on the ground to develop and service kosher. The OU continues to work with these communities to make certain their kosher standards meet the highest standards and to help them bring those companies which are ready into the international kosher marketplace. Of course, having people on the ground also presents us with the ability to service companies locally – with all of the attendant benefits.
During my two trips, I have seen the areas around Barranquilla, Bogota and Cali as well as the surrounding countryside and have worked with local rabbis from all three cities. I have visited plants making exotic fruit purees and juices, candies and a wide array of other top-notch consumer products. While many of these firms have not yet joined the OU family, we are working with them and the local rabbis to make the transition when they are ready to enter the international kosher scene.
This tropical paradise, whose climates range from temperate mountain regions to steamy Caribbean coasts, produces a wide array of other OU certified products as well. These include world famous Juan Valdez brand coffee as well as hot pepper pickles and tuna fish. By working directly with companies, importers and local communities, the sincere hope is to bring more Colombian products to the world kosher marketplace. Especially as the world community increasingly embraces Latin influences, Colombia is well poised to be a key contributor to the world of OU certified products and ingredients.
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