OUkosher.org
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Reitzel International Spans the Globe with Gherkins
As one of the largest producers of gherkins in the world, Reitzel International is well entrenched in markets throughout the globe and its delicious pickles and other food items can be found in many of the major supermarkets under private label brands. With more than 65 percent of the gherkins private label market in France, 85 percent in Switzerland, and a very sizeable presence in Russia, Germany and the United States, all of it products are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.
“Reitzel International’s roots date back more than 80 years and throughout this time we have continuously strived to provide quality products and service to our customers,” said Jean-Bernard Misrachi, Reitzel International’s Director. “OU certification, which we acquired in early 2000, is something we cherish as it has both a traditional meaning for our company due to my family’s Jewish background, and as an enormous aid in helping us achieve our goals of entering new markets because having it establishes in many customers’ minds that our company abides by a certain level of standards.”
For the past 15 years Reitzel has been concentrating its efforts on pickle production in India as well as providing olives, artichokes, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes from Peru. However, the firm’s roots go much deeper.
It all started when a dynamic Jewish entrepreneur from Algeria named Eli Benichou decided in 1917 to come to France to start his own company, importing thousands of tons of cereal from the Soviet Union. During World War II, he hid in a monastery in the South of France. In 1945, he was freed by the United States army and his daughter soon married a young Jewish logistics expert, Claude Misrachi. In 1951, Claude established a domestic transportation company, drawing on his own knowledge along with Eli’s trading expertise.
Transports M. Misrachi was born, became quite successful and grew into Misrachi International SA in 1986. From 1951 to 1991 the company specialized in providing logistics services to its customers in the food business. Beginning in 1992, after Jean-Bernard Misrachi, Eli’s grandson, joined the company, the focus was switched to goods, and the company invested heavily in the pickle industry, introducing the crop in India in 1993.
Beginning in 2000, Misrachi International SA was involved in building a state-of-the art factory near Bangalore in India, thus establishing the company as one of the world’s leading pickle producers. The company was sold in 2004 to the Reitzel Group, a Swiss conglomerate, and became Reitzel International SA, but management was retained by Eli’s grandson, Jean-Bernard. The main product focus remains on gherkins; however, other vegetables such artichokes, asparagus and olives have also been added to the product line, all OU certified of course.
Obtaining OU certification for the factory was crucial to the company for several reasons. It provided products with access to many markets which would otherwise have been closed to them, a necessity for the company’s growth. Certification also reassured many potential customers that certain food safety standards were being adhered to during production, in a sense providing a third-party audit. Most importantly, certification ensured that the company’s strong Jewish roots were respected and not forgotten.
Reitzel International SA’s gherkins can be found on local supermarket shelves throughout Europe, North America, Russia and Canada, among other countries. With all production from fresh-pack, a rarity in the gherkins business, this ensures a crunchy and tasty final product the customer will come back to time and time again. With recipes originating from France, the land of gourmet cuisine, these perfectly grown pickles are irresistible. Try one for yourself and be the judge; you can rest assured you won’t be disappointed.
Rabbi Shaul Gold is Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Reitzel International.
Tales from the Far North: In Any Language, Québec Has Some Very Impressive OU Certified Plants
I recently had the pleasure of doing some plant inspections in the province of Québec, home to some of the home to some of the proudest French speakers this side of the Seine. Without visiting this area yourself, it is hard to imagine the animosity felt by native French speakers here toward English speakers (Anglophones, as we are called). While driving from Québec City to Montreal, the top news story on local radio was a law being passed through the legislature to permit Francophones (native French speakers) to attend English-speaking schools.
Apparently, the native French speakers have tried over the years to insulate their own from mixing with their English-speaking countrymen, and made their best efforts to preserve the French language in Québec by forcing the French speakers to attend French-only schools. Alas, their efforts are failing and most French speakers in the province also speak English. That was good news, because French is all Greek to me! Even my GPS had a hard time with the language, trying to valiantly to pronounce the French street names with an Anglo-computer accent.
My first stop in Québec was the BSA plant in Montreal. Les Ingredients BSA is one of the finest spice-blending facilities on the continent, regardless of language! Here, raw spices, starches, flours, cheeses, extracts and more are blended together to create the flavorings which enhance everything from French fries to dessert foods. Rabbi David Rosen, the OU’s rabbinic field representative for Atlantic Canada (featured in these pages in the Winter 2009 Issue) is the eyes and ears of the OU at this plant. Rabbi Rosen conducts his visits here together with the epitome of OU Kosher contacts, Ms. Valerie Duval, Document Specialist, and Mr. Marc Landry who heads Quality Control. An immaculate and notably organized facility, BSA’s blends can be found in the finest factories around the United States and Canada.
Next I drove to Québec City, home to a nearly three hundred-year-old Jewish congregation “Congregation Beth Israel Ohev Sholem,” one of the oldest congregations in North America! The original synagogue was sold during a period of “downsizing” many years ago, and the congregation moved to an area better serving its current constituents. I was fascinated to see ancient plaques donated to the congregation honoring members and memorializing loved ones lost more than a century ago.
Rabbi Dovid Lewin, the 20-something French-born current rabbi of the congregation, described the hard work involved in organizing events for the community when kosher food is hard to come by, and of the work involved in spiritually uplifting a congregation removed from the nearest Jewish community by a drive of more than three hours. He must send his own kindergarten-age son to live with family in Montreal in order to receive the basics of Jewish schooling, seeing him only on weekends.
He regaled me with stories of the struggles faced with living outside of a major Jewish community, such as having a fresh hot pizza delivered by a commuter bus from Montreal, only to receive it frozen solid after having spent several hours of a winter drive in the cargo compartment!
After spending the night in a hotel at the edge of town (and buying some necessary victuals at the local Metro supermarket – where no one spoke English…of course), Rabbi Lewin and I drove to the Kerry facility in St. Claire, roughly an hour south on quiet, winding country roads (much like the ones I enjoy in Brooklyn, NY). Here Mr. Alain Lanouette, the head of Quality Control, took us on a two-hour tour of the process Kerry uses in blending, pasteurizing and packaging various shelf stable beverages for both American and Canadian markets. Rabbi Lewin and I were both duly impressed with Mr. Lanouette’s encyclopedic knowledge of the plant’s kosherization protocols, and all of the situations in which the plant might need to call in the rabbi to kosherize the equipment.
On the ride back to Québec City I treated Rabbi Lewin to lunch, OU field representative style! We enjoyed individually wrapped cheese slices from Israel, rice cakes from Belgium, American pretzels (all brought from my local store in New York) and enjoyed them with some Canadian kosher certified Coca-Cola products in the car on the drive home.
The following morning, I was privileged to do my first gluten inspection. People who suffer from celiac disease (also known as gluten sensitive enteropathy) can suffer terribly from eating even minimal amounts of gluten. Nearly one in 133 people suffer from this illness, according to the Gluten Intolerance Group, and this figure does not include people diagnosed with dermatitis herpetiformis, a skin disease which is treated by eliminating gluten from the diet.
The OU is proud to have its field supervisors receive additional training in the requirements of gluten free production, to make inspections for Gluten Free Certification Organization. The systems for gaining and maintaining gluten free certification are quite similar to those required in kosher certification. Plants must be diligent to only purchase ingredients from approved suppliers; equipment previously having handled gluten items must be meticulously cleaned (and the systems for cleaning monitored); and products containing gluten can never be included in add-back or rework into products which are gluten free. Gluten free productions also require monitoring of ingredient storage and ventilation systems, which we do not normally include in a kosher inspection.
After the inspection, I ran back to the airport to catch my flight home, where I was greeted by my nine-year-old daughter who gave me a souvenir from home, a pen she decorated with the words “Welcome Home from Montreal, Canada,” and a little airplane. After checking carefully, I confirmed that she, in fact, wrote it in my native English.
Rabbi Chaim Goldberg has been chasing both wild and farmed fish around the globe while managing the OU Fish Desk for the past eight years. A fan of thrills and adventure, Rabbi Goldberg frequently educates and amuses kosher fish customers from ages 6-99 both in scheduled lectures nationwide and through viewings of his critically acclaimed OU educational video, “The Kosher Fish Primer.” Rabbi Goldberg lives with his wife and three children in Brooklyn, NY.
Pickle-Icious! BTUS’s Favorite Chef Tells You Everything You Wanted to KnowAbout Pickles
What’s a corned beef sandwich without a pickle? Dill pickles are the perfect accompaniment to a deli sandwich because they help clear the palate. With each bite, the flavors of the sandwich begin to fade as your taste buds get coated with fat and zapped by spices in the meat. Pickle to the rescue! It cuts through the residue in your mouth and helps cleanse your palate, allowing the full flavor of the food to emerge once again.
The history of pickles stretches back to antiquity, more than 4,000 years ago. Pickles first started out as cucumbers. Today’s modern cucumbers are descendants of a plant native to northwestern India. It is unknown when cucumbers actually arrived in Europe – perhaps as late as the 13th century.
In the mid-16th century, nomadic Tatars and Turks brought the Chinese method of pickling vegetables without the addition of vinegar to Eastern Europe – a process called lacto-fermentation. Once the cucumber was treated with this improved pickling technique, pickles emerged as a staple of Eastern European Jewish food.
For many generations, Eastern Ashkenazim prepared crocks or barrels of cucumbers and let them ferment in a warm place until they reached the desired degree of sourness. Then they were moved to the root cellar or another cool place to last through to the spring.
Eastern European Jews brought their love of pickles with them when they came to America. Within a short time, countless shops appeared, especially on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, offering a selection of pickles sold from big barrels. Very few of these shops still remain today – most pickles are produced by major food manufacturers.
In 1869, Henry J. Heinz began offering his “57 varieties” of pickles to stores in the Sharpsburg, PA area. Heinz later introduced the concept of a national brand of food that was under kosher supervision. Kosher-supervised pickles soon followed. Today, Heinz is one of America’s main producers of pickles and relishes.
True “kosher dills” do not contain vinegar. The addition of fresh garlic also identifies cucumbers as kosher dills. There are three basic types of pickles: full-sours, half sours, and sweet. Sour pickles are fully fermented in a brine solution, half sours are partially fermented in brine, and sweet pickles contain a fair amount of sugar which acts as a preservative.
My mother made homemade pickles each fall, turning our tiny kitchen into a miniature pickle factory. We scrubbed countless cucumbers and then soaked them in cold water to ensure the pickles would be firm and crisp. (Years later, a friend told my mom her time-saving trick: She soaked the cucumbers in cold water in the washing machine, drained the water and removed the clean cucumbers – no soap, no spinning allowed!)
Mom made brine using kosher salt and boiling water and while it cooled, she put fresh dill, pickling spices and fresh garlic into sterilized jars. She then added the scrubbed cucumbers, packing them in tightly. Next, she poured in the brine, added more dill and spices, put the lids on and then shook each jar to distribute the spices evenly. The pickles fermented and bubbled on the kitchen counter – four or five days for half-sours, ten days for full sours. Then they were stored on shelves in our cold cellar, hopefully lasting throughout most of the winter. (Doubtful – my father adored pickles!)
PICKLE POINTS:
• One of the most popular ancient methods of preserving foods was pickling. Acid and salt were two of the most effective preservatives, used individually and in conjunction with each other. Vegetables were either mixed or cooked with a little salt, helping to preserve them for a few days, or brined with vinegar for a longer time to delay the growth of bacteria.
• America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, who was a pickle peddler in Spain before he became an explorer. He supplied ships with pickled vegetables, which prevented sailors from getting scurvy on long voyages because of the vitamin C content.
• Pickles were the only juicy green vegetable available for many months of the year so they were held in high esteem by America’s pioneers.
• In the early 1900’s, pickles were often sold from pushcarts on the Lower East Side in New York City. Big pickles might cost a nickel, little ones a penny or two.
• In the movie Crossing Delancey, a handsome Jewish pickle vendor gets rid of the pungent smell of pickles by washing his hands with vanilla and milk and wins the heart of his true love.
• Americans consume 26 billion pickles a year – that’s about nine pounds of pickles per person.
• More than half the cucumbers grown in the United States are turned into pickles.
• National Pickle Day is November 14 and National Pickle Week takes place in May.
• Pregnant women are said to have cravings for salty, crunchy pickles and ice cream, often at the same time.
• When my friend’s son was young, he declared, “A meal is not a meal without a pickle!”
IN A PICKLE?
• Add chopped pickles to potato salad, coleslaw or pasta salad to add some zing.
• Add minced pickles to chopped egg, chicken, tuna or salmon salad as a sandwich filling.
• Mix chopped pickles, green onions, radishes and tomatoes with cottage cheese or Greek yogurt for a light lunch.
• Mix minced pickles and onions or shallots with mayonnaise, capers, lemon juice and seasonings to make tartar sauce and serve it with fried fish. You can also spread tartar sauce on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise.
• Israelis like to add thinly sliced pickles to deep-fried falafel balls stuffed into pita.
• For a flavor boost, drizzle (that is, apply in fine drops) a little pickle juice into your favorite salad dressing.
• Some delis feature deep-fried pickles on their menu, even adding pickle juice to the batter!
• Pickles are the perfect condiment to serve with grilled burgers, hot dogs, a juicy steak or a scoop of chopped liver.
• Pickles taste terrific with a grilled cheese sandwich or tuna melt.
• One of my friends loves to eat dill pickles with peanut butter. Another friend shared that her three year old loves pickles with whipped cream!
PASTA SALAD:
This pasta salad is terrific when you’re expecting a big crowd. Pickles add a special zing! Instead of adding all the dressing at once, add about three-quarters to the pasta initially and reserve the remaining dressing to add just before serving. This technique helps prevent too much of the dressing from being absorbed by the pasta.
1 Tbsp salt (or to taste)
1 package (12 oz) spiral pasta, penne or ziti
1 medium red onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
2 or 3 dill pickles (or 6 sweet gherkin pickles), finely diced
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise (light or regular)
1 Tbsp pickle juice
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp dried parsley)
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Add salt to a large pot of rapidly boiling water. Add pasta and cook just until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl.
2. Add onion, bell peppers and pickles to pasta and toss together.
3. For the dressing: In another bowl, combine mayonnaise, pickle juice, lemon juice, parsley and dill, if using.
4. Add most of dressing to pasta/vegetable mixture and mix well. (Reserve about one-quarter of dressing and mix it in just before serving.) Season with salt and pepper.
5. Chill 2 to 3 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.
6. Add reserved dressing and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
Yield: 8 servings. This keeps 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator. Do not freeze.
TUNA PASTA SALAD: Add 2 cups green peas, 1 cup chopped celery and 2 cans tuna, drained and flaked, to the pasta. Increase mayonnaise to 1 1/3 cups (or use 2/3 cup mayonnaise and 2/3 cup sour cream or yogurt). You can also add a little pickle juice!
BLACK BEAN ANTIPASTO:
Serve this scrumptious mixture on a bed of salad greens as an appetizer or use it as a spread on crackers or flatbread.
1 medium onion
2 medium carrots
1 red bell pepper
1 cup cauliflower florets
2 cans (7 oz each) solid white tuna, drained
1 cup stuffed green olives, drained
1/2 cup sliced black olives, drained
2 cups sweet mixed pickles, drained
1 can (19 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups bottled chili sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1. Cut onion, celery, carrots and red pepper into 1/2-inch chunks. Break up cauliflower into bite-size pieces.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add cut-up vegetables and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. They should still be somewhat crunchy.
3. Immediately transfer vegetables to a colander and rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking; drain well.
4. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Don’t mash the tuna – it should be somewhat chunky in texture. Adjust seasonings to taste.
5. Store in tightly sealed containers in the refrigerator.
Yield: About 10 cups. This keeps about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Freezes well.
Norene Gilletz of Toronto is a cookbook author and culinary consultant. She is the author of nine cookbooks, including Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap). Her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good.” Norene’s world revolves around food and recipes. For more information, visit her website at http://www.gourmania.com, contact her at or call 416-226-2466. She includes as a reference for this piece, “The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food” (Wiley, 2010) by Gil Marks, which is featured elsewhere in this issue.
Italian Volcano® Juices: From the Mount Etna Volcano to the Supermarket Shelf
The mystery of Mother Nature has proven to be fruitful in more than one way for Dream Foods International. In Sicily, the eruptions of the Mount Etna Volcano in 2003 pushed Dream Foods International from being a one-woman operation selling blood oranges to a company selling award-winning organic juices throughout North America, with accolades from the press.
The history of Dream Foods International begins with the Founder and President, Adriana Kahane, who conceived the idea of her company for a student project while completing her MBA at the University of Southern California. Ms. Kahane was drawn to the citrus orchards surrounding the Mt. Etna volcano in Sicily. It was apparent how the volcanic ash-enriched soil of the land surrounding Mt. Etna nourishes the growth of the citrus trees. In fact, the European Union recognizes this as a special growing region for blood oranges the same way it recognizes special grape-growing regions for wine. In 1999, Ms. Kahane started her business by importing and distributing blood oranges from the Mt. Etna region in Sicily.
Not until 2003 did the forces of Mother Nature push the door open for Dream Foods to expand the business into organic varietal citrus juices. At that time, Mt. Etna erupted beyond its normal activity and the ash damaged the skin of the fresh blood oranges. From this, the opportunity arose to squeeze the blood oranges into juice, which marked the introduction of Italian Volcano® Blood Orange Juice that eventually became a NASFT Silver Sofi Award winner for outstanding beverage.
This juice is made in the traditional manner of the fresh-squeezed Succo di Arancia Rossa as found in Italian cafés. Shortly thereafter, Italian Volcano® Tangerine and Lemon Juices were successfully launched and found their way onto the grocery shelf. Ms. Kahane correctly predicted that the future of the organic food market would keep growing and foresaw organic food consumers to be brand loyal. Today, we see proof of her conviction.
The unexpected and fortunate expansion of Dream Foods’ business into the organic juice market is founded on a complex and interesting process of getting organic juices from Mt. Etna in Sicily to the supermarket shelf in North America. During the picking season, workers arrive at the orchards early in the morning and commence the ritual of getting a campfire started as the first order of business to prepare a perfect place to cook lunch. Then, the workers are ready to carefully hand-pick the fruit. One can see the patience and sense of pride each picker has as they work through the harvest season. They see their work as a part of their culture that partially defines their family’s and country’s history.
There is a saying in Italian, “Chi canta e’ felice,” which means, “He who sings is happy.” During the harvest, you will hear these workers singing while they work throughout the hillsides. When the picking is done, the fruit is brought to the packing house to begin the production process. Because Italian Volcano® Blood Orange, Tangerine and Lemon Juices are strictly 100 percent juice, only the best fruit is discriminately selected to be further processed. At this time, the fruit is then washed and brushed so that it can be processed in extractors. This first filtration allows the juice to be centrifuged to reduce the pulp and then stored in refrigerated stainless steel tanks before being sent to the filling machine.
Dream Foods’ premium juices are matched with quality packaging for the final processing step. Italian Volcano® Juices, Lemonade and Limeade are in glass bottles, which help preserve that fresh-squeezed taste. The new single-serve Italian Volcano® Blood Orange and Tangerine Juices are put into recyclable plastic bottles with UV protection in the labels and a tamper-proof aluminum seal. Volcano Lemon Burst® and Volcano Lime Burst® have a distinctively unique packaging similar to real citrus fruit shapes and a patented cap that sets this product apart from the competition. The finished product is palletized and sets sail for Dream Foods’ warehouses in New Jersey, Florida and California for distribution throughout North America.
Ms. Kahane’s choice of importing and distributing Italian Volcano® Juices was not based solely on their organic characteristics but also on their long history of health benefits. Blood oranges in Sicily were first mentioned in the 17th century. Today, we know that a health benefit from blood orange juice is its high level of antioxidants, which is higher than the levels in traditional blond orange juice. Research also shows that one 8.5oz glass of blood orange juice contains twice the RDA of Vitamin C than blond orange juice. Tangerine juice is a rich blood purifying agent and it has natural antiseptic qualities that defend against the bacteria that spread sepsis in the human body (See: http://bit.ly/dmzAWU).
Dream Foods also saw the chance to fill a tremendous need in the market to sell organic lemon and lime juices in squeeze bottles and to do so under the brand name, Volcano Lemon Burst® and Volcano Lime Burst®. Although the juicing process is the same, it is the patented cap with the lemon or lime zest that gives the juice the essential oils in every squeeze for the great fresh-squeezed smell and taste. Sales data have proven that Volcano Lemon and Lime Bursts® increase category growth by 30 percent. Volcano Bursts® have outsold competitors’ brands that use harsh chemicals as preservatives.Dream Foods has expanded even further with the introduction of its Italian Volcano® Juice line by adding new single-serve Italian Volcano® Blood Orange and Tangerine Juices. In the growing organic food market, Dream Foods wanted to offer these great tasting and healthy juices in a single-serve option for the organic consumer to conveniently enjoy on the go. This is the same 100 percent pure premium organic Italian Volcano® Blood Orange and Tangerine Juices that are sold in the family size. The interest and immediate acceptance of this product continues to confirm Dream Foods’ early vision of the growth of the organic food market.
Dream Foods also launched its refreshing Italian Volcano® Lemonade and Limeade. The Italian countryside inspired the development of these premium traditional beverages when one summer day in Sicily, Ms. Kahane was traveling among what seemed to be an endless horizon of lemon groves. In this old-fashioned premium lemonade and limeade, the consumer will taste how Dream Foods brought back the essence of this longtime favorite beverage by using organic and simple ingredients to achieve great flavor.
There are no powders, chemicals or preservatives in Italian Volcano® Lemonade and Limeade like in other lemonades and limeades. The three simple ingredients in these products are proportioned in such a way that gives a smooth refreshing flavor and a refined balance of sweet and citrus. Dream Foods has developed in its Italian Volcano® Lemonade and Limeade the same great taste that you find when buying these types of beverages in little kiosks in Sicily where they squeeze the lemons to order by hand. As with the Italian Volcano® Juices, the new Italian Volcano® Lemonade and Limeade have gained immediate nationwide distribution.
Dream Foods has been aware of the importance of its products being organic and kosher. Today, more than ever, there is a synergy between organic and kosher specialty products that health-conscious consumers are requiring. Ms. Kahane stated, “While all of our products were kosher certified, the prestigious OU certification is an important recognition of the quality of our beverages and juices. The certification will help to meet the demand of the growing organic and kosher markets. We are delighted that our consumers will enjoy seeing the OU kosher certification on our entire product line in the first quarter of 2011.”
Rabbi Nosson Neuberger is Orthodox Union Rabbinic Coordinator for Dream Foods International.
Marcatus QED and the OU – Sharing a Worldwide Emphasis on Quality Control
Marcatus QED is an essential service provider for businesses, as a source for high quality, safe and secured food products and raw materials from around the world. Our product focus is on preserved fruits and vegetables such as small cucumbers, onions, olives and peppers. As a global company, we work in several countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia sourcing large volumes of produce for consumer packaged food brands. Our team of quality assurance and sourcing experts works directly with supply partners to validate and continuously improve agriculture and factory conditions.
We believe that quality assurance is only possible through integration into every link of the supply chain. Our team members are strategically positioned in key sourcing countries and have knowledge of indigenous practices combined with a deep understanding of the processes specific to each supply partner. We work to monitor and validate compliance, which cannot be determined by a spot check, but must be monitored on a daily basis from A to Z. With our commitment to on-the-ground validation, we often see our team members living out of their suitcases and away from their families for weeks in order to monitor production around the world.
As much as this is a commitment to quality assurance, it is also a commitment to our supply base, heightening relationships and bringing awareness only achievable through human interaction and sharing. Through our efforts we are seeing our global rejections reduced and we are broadening our understanding of risk specific to regions and culture.
When Marcatus QED started almost ten years ago, we had the goal of integrating kosher certification into our business. In fact, just prior to opening the company our CEO travelled to the OU to meet with Rabbi Eliyahu Safran who not only provided encouragement but also blessed the company. The OU is an iconic organization of great interest to Marcatus QED because we share many of the same values. We share as well many of the same challenges of managing suppliers abroad in order to achieve specific guidelines on behalf of our member groups. We also recognized the importance of OU certification to the sustainability of our supply. In this regard we actively created an online library to track and monitor expiration dates of various supplier certifications so that we could take part in ensuring they were up to date. These roots have laid the foundation for our current relationship with the OU.
We recently travelled to New York to meet with OU team members in order to better understand how Marcatus QED could start to incorporate monitoring OU certification standards into our Quality Assurance and Food Safety model. Both OU and Marcatus QED validation processes share a requirement to be present at critical points throughout the agricultural and production cycles. Although incorporating OU certification standards into our current monitoring process does present an extra investment by our company and team, we see great potential in further developing our QA systems to capture critical elements of the OU certification process, as it will serve to protect the end client from unwanted surprises. Through this extension of our services we are able to detect early warning signs of non-compliance and work with our supply partners to design and implement correction plans.
Today we are working with certification bodies, such as the Orthodox Union, to design tools that gather information efficiently and effectively. We now plan and organize all OU certification applications and processes on behalf of our supply partner network. Our aim is to reduce the burden of the auditing process on suppliers, as well as on the OU, while increasing compliance across the supply chain. This relationship between Marcatus QED, certification bodies and suppliers increases dialogue and transparency across the supply chain and works to identify better practices to sustain global supply.
Rabbi Shaul Gold is Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Marcatus QED.
The Following Are the Orthodox Union Requirements for Placement of the OU Certification Mark:
• The OU symbol may only be placed on products that have been authorized and certified as listed on your Schedule B (list of certified products). The OU D must be used on products certified as dairy.
• Private Label Product (a brand not owned by the manufacturer and “distributed by” a company other than the manufacturer) may not bear the OU unless a Private Label Agreement (a three-way licensing agreement, signed by the manufacturer, the distributor and the OU) is signed.
• The OU symbol cannot be rubber stamped or in the form of a sticker separate from the original packaging or product label. If you have existing packaging that does not have the OU and these products are now certified, arrangements can be made to address this situation.
• The Orthodox Union does not dictate requirements as to size or where the OU symbol is placed. However, we recommend that it be placed conspicuously, so that it can be seen on a store shelf by a purchaser or a recipient. On most retail labels, the OU symbol appears to the immediate right of the product name.
• Products which are certified as dairy must have the “D” or the word “Dairy” in equal size font to the OU symbol. The “D” should not be a subscript.
• OU certified products may not contain another food item that is not OU certified. For example, the OU symbol may not be printed on a cereal box that contains a non-OU certified candy, although this cereal generally bears the OU symbol.
• When bundling items of different status together (e.g. kosher and non-kosher or dairy and pareve), the OU symbol may not be used on the composite bag or tray. The certification should only appear on the individual items. For example, a tray containing dairy and pareve potato chips may not have an OU on the tray, as consumers might think that all the items contained are pareve. Alternatively, the tray may be marked as OU/OU-D. A multi-pack of granola bars containing kosher and non-kosher varieties may not have an OU on the outer box, but rather the OU should only appear on the certified items.
• It is not recommended to print the OU symbol on blank boxes, cartons or bags since not all products produced in a plant may be certified. Private label customers may be ineligible or choose not to sign the OU Private Label Agreement; as a result the OU symbol may not be used on their packaging.
For further clarification contact:
Howard Katzenstein
Business Manager, OU Kosher
212 613 8169
It’s More Than Curds and Whey: OU Kosher’s Dairy Expert Tells How to Kosherize a Cheese Company
Some time ago, I received the following letter:
As you know, I manage a cheese company, which manufactures kosher and non-kosher cheese, plus kosher whey powder. You are familiar with our equipment and how it needs to be kosherized, but my staff needs some education on this. Can you please explain the kosherization rules for the equipment so that I can share them with my staff? If you don’t mind, I would also appreciate if you could include a basic review of how the equipment works, so that new employees can also benefit from this.
Cheese Equipment:
Plate Heat Exchanger
Description
When cheese is manufactured, the milk must usually first be pasteurized (heat-treated to destroy harmful bacteria); this is typically done in a plate heat exchanger, in which the milk travels along metal plates with increasing intensities of heat. Once the milk reaches the desired temperature (usually 161° F), it is held for a required duration at that temperature and is then cooled, passing along metal plates with increasing intensities of coldness. For the sake of efficiency, incoming cold milk is heated by outgoing hot milk, before the outgoing hot milk is cooled down; the hot and cold milk pass along different sides of the same plates, such that the outgoing hot milk passes its heat to the incoming cold milk, through the metal of the plates.
This system does not itself heat or cool the milk sufficiently, and plate heat exchangers therefore need heating and cooling sections to fully perform the heating and cooling processes. The heating section of plate heat exchangers consists of extremely hot water on one side of plates; when milk travels over the other side of these plates, it becomes very hot. So too, cooling is accomplished though chilled water which is held on one side of the plates on which pasteurized, hot milk passes, so that this milk is chilled in the process.
Kosherization
The plate heat exchanger is among the most complicated equipment for the purposes of kosherization. Although dairy factories sanitize plate heat exchangers at least once per day, such sanitization (“CIP” – “cleaning in place”) usually does not constitute a kosherization for a variety of reasons – among them the fact the standard CIP is usually performed at 165-185 degrees, which is inadequate for kosherization, as well as the fact that CIP protocol often does not include certain areas of equipment that kosher law requires to be kosherized. Normal CIP also frequently features hot acid and caustic solutions followed by ambient water for cleaning, and some kosher law authorities do not accept kosherization with anything other than water.
To properly kosherize a plate heat exchanger, one must take the following steps:
• Assure that the equipment is totally fallow for 24 hours, or – according to some opinions in kosher regulations – embitter the equipment via an embittering solution, run at close-to-boiling temperatures through all areas which has hot product contact.
• Flow boiling water through the above areas.
This doesn’t sound too complicated; it seems to be kind of like a good sanitizing. However, it is anything but simple. Here is why, followed by what needs to be done to address some unexpected complexities:
• The heat exchanger’s regeneration (or “regen”) areas, where hot product heats cold product and vice versa through metal plates, are often not able to be easily kosherized with boiling water. Typical CIP often cannot reach such temperatures in the regen areas. The OU rabbinic field representative (RFR) and rabbinic coordinator (RC) must work carefully with the plant’s engineers to accomplish this feat.
• Similarly, the heat exchanger’s cooling section is often hard to kosherize. To do so, the cooling mechanism must be off, and the flow of kosherization water may need to be diverted from its normal course in order to reach the cooling section while the water is yet boiling.
• Before production, the heat exchanger’s balance tank, where cool product is metered into the heat exchanger, often has exposure to hot product. This is because part of the start-up of a heat exchanger involves recirculating hot product back to the balance tank until the heating areas of the heat exchanger are hot enough to pasteurize.
Boiling water run through the heat exchanger usually drops below boiling temperatures by the time it arrives back at the balance tank. Thus, boiling water must be specially diverted back to the balance tank by changing its normal course, in order to kosherize the balance tank properly. Again, this needs the involvement of the plant’s engineers in order to be done correctly.
• The water that passes heat to product through metal plates can have absorption of dairy or non-kosher product via seepage or via taste transfer through the metal plates. Thus, the heating water in these plates can be non-kosher or have a dairy status. The solution is to evacuate and dispose of the heating water (which is otherwise not changed and is used over and over again for months) before kosher-dairy or non-dairy (“pareve”) productions and to refill the plates’ heating water area with fresh, unused heating water — or to embitter the old heating water so that it cannot pass taste back to the new product.
An RFR must carefully monitor this all; there is no automated recording of these details in most plants. (It is also critical that the heat exchanger’s plates be periodically opened and cleaned in the presence of an RFR, as these plates can accumulate build-up of product, which may be a serious kosher issue.)
Cheese Vat:
Description
After milk exits the heat exchanger, it enters a vat. This vat is normally made of steel and has jackets on it; these jackets hold hot water and are set to specific temperatures for cheese production. (Every cheese has its own production temperature.) When turned on, the jackets heat the vat in which the cheese is made.
The milk in the cheese vat is dosed with acid cultures (or direct acid, as in the case of a few soft, rennetless cheese varieties), and rennet is added as well. Cream (milk fat) and non-fat dry milk may also be added to regulate fat ratios, and vinegar may be added to regulate pH.
Kosherization
Unlike heat exchangers, cheese vats are usually not too complicated in terms of kosher protocol. The reason is that most cheeses (such as cheddar, mozzarella, Edam, Muenster, and Gouda), when made non-kosher, are not “hot vat” cheeses; these cheeses are coagulated at temperatures which are not high enough according to kosher law to render a vat non-kosher, and their vats thus do not need kosherization prior to kosher cheese production. A good washing, followed by inspection by an RFR, is all that is needed.
Vats used for hot-vat cheeses, such as most Parmesan and Swiss Emmenthaler, require kosherization before use for hot-vat kosher cheeses. In this case, the vats need to be cleaned, left fallow for 24 hours, and then totally rinsed with boiling water, with the jackets providing as much of the heat as possible. (In some cases of great need, embitterment, discussed above, may be done, if 24 hours of down-time is not feasible.)
Rennetless cheeses, referred to as acid-set cheeses (such as cottage cheese, cream cheese and farmer cheese) are normally made at very high temperatures, and their vats or kettles need full kosherization. (The cheeses discussed above, which use rennet to coagulate them, are termed rennet-set cheeses.)
Of critical import: After their removal from the cheese vat and formation, mozzarella and provolone cheeses are cooked in special cheese cookers, where they are stretched and manipulated in order to endow them with an elastic texture. These cheese cookers operate at 165-180° F and need full kosherization before kosher use.
Curd and Whey Separation:
Description
Once the milk turns into curd (cheese) and whey (the part of the milk that did not become cheese, and remains pure liquid), it is evacuated from the vat and separated, usually via a draining and matting conveyor (“ DMC”); the curd flows to one area and the whey drips down to dedicated vessels.
Kosherization
The equipment used for separating curd from whey does not have any heat applied. Thus, the curd and whey temperature at this point is always the same or lower than the curd and whey temperature in the vat, and the same kosherization or mere cleansing requirements of the vat surely pertain here.
Salting and Molding Equipment:
Description
The curd is then left to dry and is subsequently molded into cheese and salted; salting preserves the cheese from becoming quickly rancid. This salting may be performed on special salting tables, or by immersing the curd in brine (a solution of very salty water) for a long time – a day or more in many cases. This brining occurs in a series of brine tanks, in which the cheese is submerged in brine as per the relevant specifications.
Kosherization
According to most kosher certification professionals, modern cheese tables and molding equipment normally require mere cleansing (not kosherization) under the supervision of an RFR, before commencing kosher cheese production. Although cheese molding equipment as discussed by kosher law authorities hundreds of years ago required real kosherization, modern cheese tables and molding equipment normally do not. (Today, there is less salt used, the equipment has no crevices, and the cheese contacts it for shorter durations. Nevertheless, some kosher law authorities do require kosherization of modern salting tables, maintaining that the basic rationale necessitating this still pertains.)
However, brine tanks are another story. Since these tanks often hold cheese upwards of 24 hours and the same brine in them is reused over and over for months for non-kosher cheeses, it is absolutely required that new brine be used for kosher manufacture and that the tanks be lined or kosherized. (Kosherization is often not feasible, as brine tanks can be made from fiberglass, which cannot be kosherized). Cheese companies are hesitant to dispose of old brine, rich with flavor from non-kosher cheese absorption; so too are companies at times not happy to line or kosherize their brine tanks. Nevertheless, there is no other way to use brine and brine tanks for kosher cheese manufacture.
Cutting and Packaging:
Description
The cheese is then cut into desired size, packaged and labeled.
Kosherization
Cheese cutting and packaging equipment is the easiest to deal with from a kosher perspective. This equipment does not use heat, and kosherization is therefore not necessary.
There are two ways to handle cutting blades: Have them scrubbed with abrasive material and then inspected by the RFR for cleanliness and lack of residue; or, save time and use new blades. The truth is that cheese cutting blades are replaced pretty often, and most companies will readily use new blades for kosher production.
Packaging equipment needs to be inspected by the RFR for cleanliness and is then ready for use.
Whey Production and Equipment:
Description
We explained above that whey is drained from cheese after removal from the vat. Some small cheese companies dispose of their whey or sell it to farms to be mixed into animal feed. (Whey contains protein and is a good addition to animal feed.) Other cheese companies dry their whey into powder in spray dryers. This equipment consists of one to three chambers, in which liquid (whey, in this case) enters at the top (or the side, for certain types of dryers) and is ultra-heated by a flame or heating element.
The liquid is quickly atomized, or made into powder, at which point it passes through the dryer as tiny particles, to be collected for bagging at the exit of the chamber – or to enter another chamber or two for further removal of moisture. Although our case deals with whey, spray dryers are used for the manufacture of non-fat milk powder as well as for most food powders.
Kosherization
How does one kosherize a spray dryer? One would think that spray dryers could be kosherized like ovens – turn on the heat full- blast and achieve a scorching effect, if and once the requisite temperature is attained. However, it is not so simple, as spray dryers are open vessels through which air passes, and the spray dryers’ metal walls cannot therefore become hot enough to kosherize via a scorching effect. Yes, the internal air temperature may become very high, but the metal walls never do.
Therefore, spray dryers must be kosherized via hot water purging. After being left fallow for 24 hours and checked for cleanliness, boiling water is run through the nozzles of the spray dryer, so as to kosherize the nozzles. Then, a series of spray balls, which are like ultra-high volume shower heads, must be lowered into the dryer’s chambers; these spray balls shoot boiling water all over the entire internal walls of the dryer. The RFR must verify that there are enough spray balls and that they emit sufficient volumes of water to coat the whole interior of the dryer, so that every single spot is covered by a cascade of hot water.
The RFR then makes sure that the exiting water, at the end of the chamber, is boiling. This is because it is easy to shoot boiiling water through the spray balls, but the water often cools down as it travels through the chamber. Thus, verifying that the water upon exit is indeed boiling enables one to know that the water was boiling when it was in the chamber of the spray dryer as well, at every single spot.
Rabbi Andrew Gordimer is an OU Kosher rabbinic coordinator and group leader at OU headquarters. He specializes in the dairy industry and is responsible for administering the OU Kosher programs of over 80 client companies. He is a frequent contributor on topics of kosher law and other topics to various publications including BTUS. His most recent article, “Greek Yogurt for the Cultured Among Us,” appeared in the Summer 2010 issue.
At Kaiser Pickles, the OU Symbol Signifies a Quality Product and Expanded Marketing
In 1920, Kaiser Pickles was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio by Harry T. Kaiser. The company operated solely as a food distributor with an emphasis on pickles and sauerkraut. As a distributor, its products were sold right off its route trucks to grocery stores, restaurants, and butcher shops throughout Cincinnati.
In the fall of 1990, Kaiser Pickles purchased the Farm Pack Pickle Company in Medina, Ohio. With this purchase we became a fully integrated pickle/pepper manufacturer. We currently have two manufacturing facilities located in Cincinnati made up of approximately 250,000 square feet. Attached to these facilities are two pickle-salting yards consisting of 10 -12,000 gallon tanks capable of handling five million pounds of pickling cucumbers.
As a manufacturer selling mainly to the food service and industrial accounts, it became apparent early on that in order for us to grow outside of our current market into more regional and national markets we would need to receive the Orthodox Union seal of approval, the famed OU symbol. Rabbi Michoel Coleman worked with us over the years to make sure our products met the high quality standards represented by the OU. Just as our customers demanded from us that we should be kosher certified, using the best ingredients representing added quality assurance, so we demanded the same from our raw material suppliers.
Working closely with the Orthodox Union over the years has helped Kaiser Pickles expand its market not only nationally but also to the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, and to countries in the Middle East. We supply products to national and regional restaurant chains under the Kaiser label as well as various private brand names.
Entering our fourth generation, Kaiser Foods and its subsidiaries Kaiser Pickles and Kaiser Transport strive for continued growth and expansion through new technologies as well as our dedication to providing our customers quality at a low cost.
Rabbi Michoel Coleman is Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Kaiser Foods.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Internet Presence: It’s All About Our Technology
Communications, the backbone of commerce and human civilization since time immemorial, has taken huge leaps over the past two decades. With the advent of the World Wide Web and Internet protocol, what once took much time to dispatch information can now be accomplished almost instantaneously with the click of a button. The global economy has rapidly shrunk because of this, and the amount of information readily available for access is mindboggling. However, what has become the center of attention in this era of the Information Age is the portal that allows access to all this information, the website.
At the Orthodox Union, we are no exception and like most other organizations and companies throughout the globe we have developed numerous websites and applications for our clients and consumers. Primarily, the main web page at http://www.oukosher.org, serves as the gateway to a vast array of information regarding our kosher certification services. Recently, the home page went through a redesign to allow for a more user-friendly, eye-pleasing informative experience. The page was designed to bring together both consumers and companies, so that each may explore what the OU has to offer. With a wide collection of articles and audio-visual presentations, vast amounts of kosher information are easily accessible.
Additionally, as a service to OU certified companies, we have a Featured Companies section on the home page, which displays the logos and information about various OU companies. Furthermore, the page now has scrolling information such as Newly Certified products and establishments, OU News, and Kosher Alerts. Especially important to consumers is our new Product Search function, which helps verify for them if a product is indeed certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. For industrial applications that require an actual letter of certification, we have a link (called LOC Letters) on the top right of our homepage, which will allow interested parties to view and print kosher certificates of non-confidential OU certified products.
OU companies can garner tremendous exposure from their placement on our website. As described above, each time consumers log on to our homepage, they will automatically view the profile of various companies with links to their website. These profiles constantly refresh, exposing a wide range of OU Kosher clients to a vast array of food production corporations. Additionally, companies can find out the latest trends in kosher food production, as well as articles relating to kosher law. For companies and products requesting additional exposure, newly certified companies, products, and brands are periodically refreshed.
This is but the beginning of a constant redesign, redevelopment, and upgrades to our website. Essentially, in the digital era the World Wide Web serves as the main street of commerce, and home pages as the storefront. Featured elsewhere in this issue is information regarding oudirect.org, the powerful website that allow OU companies to manage and view their kosher programs and accounts. Coupled together with some specialty sites such as oupassover.org – our Passover site – and ou.org the site of OU Kosher’s parent organization, we are embarking on an ambitious plan to make OU Kosher information available to all.
Rabbi Eli Eleff is rabbinic coordinator and website administrator for OU Kosher. He graduated from the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem and received his rabbinic ordination from the prestigious Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim in Kew Gardens Hills, NY. Rabbi Eleff also earned both his BA and MS from Touro College in New York City.
Through the Bluegrass and on the Highways: An RFR’s Kentucky (and Indiana) Derby
I have been a full-time OU rabbinic field representative for the past 12 years. My job has taken me to all types of places and has given me exposure to people and plants of which I never dreamed.
I was born in London, England, and my rabbinical studies led me to New York City, where I met my wife and thereafter began rabbinical work. Until last year, my family and I resided in Louisville, KY. Although we now live in Cincinnati, OH, I retain the same supervision route as before, which includes Indiana and Kentucky.
My day begins early. When I start my route, I may visit a large baking facility such as Flowers Foods of London KY, Consolidated Biscuit Co, or Kraft Foods North America/Biscuit & Snacks Division. I may then proceed to visit a massive flavor house, like Clarendon Flavor Engineering Inc of Owensboro KY, and then to some dairies.
I drive over 50,000 miles a year, and I have just reached the 600,000 point – all with no speeding tickets, thank God. I stay over in hotels on average of two to three times a week.
I visit over 100 companies. Two of my plants schedule many special productions. One of these plants is Morgan Foods of Austin, Indiana, renowned for its top-quality soup offerings. As one of America’s most sought-after business partners in the private-label food industry, Morgan Foods offers retailers everything they need to win customers and keep them coming back.
Even though Morgan Foods manufactures numerous non-kosher products, the company has undertaken an amazing program to maintain OU certification of many of its products. Every kosher production at Morgan Foods involves kosherization of the facility and full-time OU supervision of kosher productions.
Another special-production company I visit often is Bluegrass Dairy & Food of Springfield, Kentucky, where I enjoy a very good relationship with their staff, especially with the Mr. Jerry Hardin and Ms. Patty Howlett (senior management); they are dedicated utmost to our kosher program. This plant processes hundreds of specialty powders made on spray dryers, including cheese, flavoring, dairy, honey, molasses, shortening and butter powders, and it also features a long list of specialty blends. Due to the plant’s mixed production (kosher, non-kosher, dairy and non-dairy); I visit often to supervise kosherization and special productions.Understanding Bluegrass/Springfield works has been a most interesting experience, as spray-drying is one of the oldest forms of drying — and one of the few technologies available for converting a liquid, slurry or low viscosity paste to a dry solid (free-flowing powder) in one-unit operation. Spray dryers are found in almost every industry, including pharmaceuticals and detergents, paint and pigments, food and dairy, and mining and minerals.
Visiting Little Brownie Bakers, L.L.C. that manufactures Girl Scouts cookies, is always a treat. If you were to ask me what the Garden of Eden smells like, I would reply, “chocolate mint”!
Jif peanut butter, owned by The J.M. Smucker Company, is also on my route. This facility and its staff are a pleasure to work with, and their renowned products fit well with their overall stellar work.
Recently I began visiting a new plant called Bloomfield Farms, which specializes in gluten-free products, Mr. Daniel Sutherland, president of Blend Pak and CEO of Bloomfield Farms, and Ms. Ruth Companella are model examples of how one expertly runs a kosher program. There are nine different gluten-free OU Kosher certified products produced by Bloomfield Farms.
I also visit our friends at Dawn Foods products, the provider to bakery owners with quality commercial food service products for bakery management and the baker owner. I work with our dedicated kosher contact Mr. Ron Foster who excels in keeping up with hundreds of kosher dairy and pareve ingredients at the plant and with all the kosher dairy and pareve production lines.
Let me not forget Najla’s, Inc. a gourmet specialty food manufacturer specializing in all-natural upscale, handmade products made from the highest quality ingredients. And yes, there is a Najla, and a Stasia, and an Azra. Their products are made by these incredibly talented artisans. They never cut corners; never compromise quality or consistency. All Najla’s products are kosher dairy, free of high fructose corn syrup, free of hydrogenated and trans fats, free of preservatives and artificial flavors. It’s like having three pastry chefs in your corner! They do all the work, you get all the praise.
The internationally renowned Mead Johnson Nutritionals, best known for its Enfamil and Enfalac families of infant formulas as well as for our regional children’s nutritional products, including Enfagrow, Enfapro, Enfakid, EnfaSchool, and Sustagen is most fortunate to have Mrs. Evelyn Brady administer its extensive kosher program. Her total dedication to our kosher program is exemplary. The equipment and different lines used at this plant of 2,000 employees used to make all these many different products was a big learning curve for me, but after visiting this plant for more than ten years, I believe I’ve gotten the hang of it.
I visit The Carriage House Companies Inc. Division of Ralcorp, one of America’s leading store brand food manufacturers, having roots that predate the store-brand food industry. Mr. Jeff Williams and Ms. Leiga Cooper do a wonderful job with maintaining our kosher program. Some of the products produced here are salsas, barbeque steak sauces, jams and jellies, chocolate and pancake syrups.
Jim Beam Brands, located in Frankfort, KY, manufactures a large variety of the best known liquor products. Mr. Nathan Capps is a person truly dedicated to our kosher program and is always looking to enhance and add more products to the OU kosher line.
Another big industry I got very involved with is the oil industry, visiting Consolidated Grain & Barge, Inc., where the soybeans come in raw and are crushed. I then visit Owensboro Grain, where the crude soybean oil is sent. The process also includes degumming the oil and then RBD that is, Refined, Bleached and Deodorized.
Last but not least is Snyder’s of Hanover, Inc, which is now Snyder’s-Lance, Inc. Located in Jeffersonville, IN, this plant produces kosher tortilla chips, kettle chips, and potato chips. It is a company I thoroughly enjoy visiting.My special-production work schedule often requires me to work when others are home spending time with their families or sleeping. I am frequently at special-production plants on Sundays, overnight, and at all odd hours. On these days, my work hours exceed 20 hours daily, yet the hardest part of my job is to schedule and be available to all of our partners at any given time.
I share with all my plants that I am not a policeman, seeking to discover problems. Rather, I am there to verify that all is well. If and when a problem is found, we will fix it together. My job is to assist and accommodate companies in every way possible. It has also been my good fortune serving as a matchmaker with different OU companies, and have thereby helped them thrive with business.
As a rabbi, I frequently find myself being a therapist, as many of the employees and sometimes the employers of the companies open up to me with their personal trials and tribulations, seeking my advice and recommendations. I always keep in mind what they tell me so that on my next visit I can follow up and continue to show my care and concern. Sometimes all people need is just a listening ear! On one occasion, I spent over an hour listening to someone without saying a word, and when the speaker was done he said, “Thank you, rabbi; you have such good advice!”
What a privilege it is being part of the Orthodox Union – the world’s largest and most respected kosher certification agency. Rabbi Yosef Levy was born and raised in London, England. After spending two years of study in Manchester, England, Rabbi Levy studied for rabbinic ordination at the Lubavitch Yeshiva of New York. As part of his rabbinic training, Rabbi Levy spent a good deal of time doing Jewish religious outreach in the former Soviet Union, where he ran educational and religious programs at camps and schools. Rabbi Levy joined the Orthodox Union in 1999 to become the first full time RFR in Kentucky, where he was assigned to supervise nearly 100 companies. He also is an active member of his synagogue and community in Cincinnati, where he serves on its board of directors, maintains educational and outreach programs for youth and adults, and visits with inmates at federal prisons. Rabbi Levy lives in Cincinnati, with his wife and six children.Panic-Free Passover!
Each year, Passover strikes an acute sense of panic in the hearts of most homemakers long before the spring holiday actually arrives. Several weeks in advance, the search starts – looking through cookbooks and recipe clippings, calling friends and family members asking about long-lost recipes, or searching the world-wide web for Passover recipes – something old, something new, something borrowed, something tried and true.
Even though today’s modern kitchens are outfitted with a wide selection of appliances to ease Passover preparation, the kitchen needs to be completely cleaned out and then restocked, from condiments to cookies, from sauces to snack foods. To make meal preparation and cleanup easier, disposable foil containers are often used for turkey, brisket, kugels and vegetables, and many people use fancy disposable paper plates, glasses and cutlery for the larger than usual crowds at the Passover table.
Today, a huge selection of prepared and packaged Passover products are available on supermarket shelves to help make preparation easier for those who don’t want to cook – or for those who don’t have the time. Caterers also offer up a variety of menus in large ads in the local newspaper. One might think that a famine wasn’t far away!
Your grandmother or mother may have had a live carp swimming in the bathtub for her homemade gefilte fish, but today you can buy delicious frozen gefilte fish logs and transform them into a colorful, three-layered loaf that will wow your guests. Instead of roasted chicken, you can add bottled Szechuan sauce and canned pineapple to create a quick, elegant main dish that looks like it took hours to prepare.
With a little creativity and the help of some packaged products, here’s how to prepare some scrumptious Passover fare with flair! Your family and friends will never know – unless you tell them!
TRICOLOR GEFILTE FISH MOLD (Pareve)
The layered look is in!
5 medium carrots, cut in chunks (or 20 mini carrots)
1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
3 packages frozen gefilte fish, completely thawed
1. Spray a 12-cup fluted tube pan with nonstick spray.
2. Cook carrots in boiling water until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well.
3. Microwave or steam spinach for 3 to 4 minutes, until thawed. Let cool, then squeeze dry.
4. In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, process spinach until finely ground, about 15 seconds. Add contents of one package of gefilte fish and blend well. Spread mixture evenly in tube pan.
5. Spread with the contents of the second package of gefilte fish to make the second layer.
6. Process drained carrots about 15 seconds. Add contents of the third package of fish to carrots and blend well. Spread evenly in pan to make the third layer.
7. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of fish, then cover pan with aluminum foil.
8. Bake in preheated 350 F oven for 1 1/2 hours. When done, top should be firm to the touch and edges should pull away from sides of pan. A skewer inserted into fish halfway between centre and outside edge should come out clean.
9. Let cool for 20 to 30 minutes. Loosen fish with a long metal spatula. Cover pan with a serving plate, invert and shake gently to unmold. Wipe up any juices that collect on the plate.
10. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Slice and serve with bottled or homemade horseradish, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber slices.
Yield: 16 to 20 servings. This can be made up to two days in advance. Do not freeze.
SAUCY SZECHUAN PINEAPPLE CHICKEN (Meat)
You’ll get rave reviews when you serve this dish to family and friends at your Passover table!
3 onions, sliced
2 chickens (3 lbs each), cut up
Pepper and paprika, to taste
1 1/2 cups Szechuan-style duck sauce
1 can (19 oz) pineapple chunks, drained (reserve liquid)
1. Place onions in the bottom of a large sprayed roasting pan. Remove and discard fat from chickens but do not remove skin. Place chicken pieces on top of onions. Sprinkle lightly with seasonings.
2. Pour duck sauce and pineapple chunks over chicken, along with half of the reserved liquid.
3. Bake covered at 400°F for 1/2 hour. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake 1 hour longer, basting occasionally.
4. When cool, refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
5. Discard chicken skin and congealed fat from pan juices. Reheat covered at 350°F for 25 minutes.
Yield: 12 servings. Reheats and/or freezes well.
Copyright © Norene Gilletz 2011.
Norene Gilletz of Toronto, Canada is a kosher cookbook author and food consultant. She is the author of nine cookbooks, which include The NEW Food Processor Bible: 30th Anniversary Edition (Whitecap, February 2011) and Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap). Her motto is “Food that’s good for you should taste good!” Her Pickle-icious feature appeared to great acclaim in BTUS Winter 2010/11 issue. For more information, visit http://www.gourmania.com or contact her at .
A Passover Primer
Any traditional Jew will tell you that the most pivotal time of the kosher year is the Festival of Passover. But it is also the most intense period of the year for the many food companies who try to offer their products to the kosher market. This is because kosher keeping Jews are spending a lot of time and money buying food for Passover. In fact, according to one estimate, forty percent of all kosher products are purchased during the six weeks prior to Passover.
There are a number of reasons for the pre-Passover shopping sprees. First of all, Passover is the most celebrated holiday of the entire Jewish calendar (making the market share even larger than the rest of the year). The seder—a family-centered ritual celebrated on the first two nights of Passover and organized around food and wine—is the most commonly observed ritual of the entire Jewish year. While food is central to the seder, it is also pivotal to the rest of this eight-day festival. In fact, according to some Jewish thinkers, how we eat on Passover reflects how we eat the rest of the year.
Just as significant is the fact that Passover requires re-stocking the entire kosher kitchen. Foods containing five grains (wheat, oats, barley, spelt, and rye) and their derivatives are completely forbidden (unless they are in the form of matzah, unleavened bread). To top that off, Jews of European descent refrain from other grain products (like corn, soy, rice, beans, among other staples) as well. Even foods that do not contain these ingredients are frequently processed on equipment shared with them (also prohibited according to Jewish law). This means that the vast majority of items found in the year-round kosher kitchen are unacceptable for Passover use. Entire pantries must therefore be repurchased, from condiments to snack foods, to oils. Between Passover’s popularity, the centrality of food to the Passover experience, and the many food restrictions special to the holiday, it is no wonder that so much food is purchased for it.
Because of the many food restrictions on Passover and the association of many Jewish foods with “tradition,” it is understandable why many think that the Passover diet consists of matzah, brisket, gefilte fish, horseradish, matzah balls, and syrupy-sweet wine. To whatever degree that these stereotypes were ever true, they are certainly not true now. Within the past few decades, the kosher palette (to borrow the title of a popular kosher gourmet cookbook) has grown much more sophisticated. The kosher market is now looking to and borrowing recipes from Italian, French, Asian, Southern, and other cuisines.
The same is no less true for Passover. For these reasons, even a “kosher” brand like Gold’s is producing Passover-certified duck sauce (and a good one, I might add) in addition to the horseradishes with which the brand is commonly associated. While there will always be a place for matzah balls and macaroons on the Passover table, there is also room for beef bourguignon.
The tastes of the Kosher market are not only expanding but also becoming more refined. The market now has much higher culinary standards than it had, for example, forty years ago. This greater sophistication has also shaken up the Passover market. Two perfect examples are the standards of cheese and wine.
It was not long ago that Passover cheese was thought to be bland and heavily processed. These days, many Kosher for Passover cheeses are meeting a higher standard. One example is the artisanal Israeli cheese maker Barkanit. While they make an assortment of sheep and goat cheeses, one of their best is Gilboa hard sheep cheese. Those with a desire for authentic Italian cheese can now purchase scamorza, provolone, and fresh mozzarella cheeses from the Italian brand Yotvata. Recently, the gourmet cheese maker Cabot has also taken the Passover plunge, adding their sharp cheddar to the market.
The Passover wine market has experienced an even greater revolution. For the past two thousand years, wine has been integral to the Passover holiday. At the seder, Jews are obligated to drink four cups of wine to celebrate their freedom from Egyptian bondage thousands of years ago. Forty years ago, the only options consisted of overly sweet wines. But with the greater desire within the kosher market for sophisticated dry wines, the options have multiplied such that there are now hundreds of great tasting Kosher for Passover wines from all over the world.
Take your pick of styles and varietals, and it is very likely that there is a kosher equivalent. Not only are there many authentic Kosher for Passover Bordeauxs, but also Cote du Rhones, Asatian Rieslings, Burgundies, Sauternes, and more. And that is just among French wines. Among Italian Kosher wines, there are Barolos, Chiantis, Procsecos, Pinot Grigios. The list of varietals and regions featuring kosher wines goes on and on. While there are always new kosher wines on the marketplace each Passover season, one notable addition this year is a line of Alsatian wines—Gewirtzteminer, Riesling, and Pinot Gris—from a special kosher production of the winemaker Willm.
Even those within the kosher market who have kept their sweet tooth for wine are looking for more sophisticated options like Bartenura’s popular Italian Moscato, Herzog Select’s Late Harvest Riesling and Late Harvest Gewirtztiminer. For those who really want to splurge for a sweet there is the kosher production of Chateau Guiraud Grand Cru Sauternes. Passover wine has certainly come a long way.
So what would it take for a company join in on the Passover trend? The process of getting a product certified for Passover is similar to that of approval for other new products, though (like everything involving Passover) much more intense. Companies interested in Passover approval submit forms detailing their products and ingredients to our Passover department. These ingredients are carefully reviewed. Should a company have trouble finding an acceptable Passover ingredient, the Orthodox Union—as part of its mission of superior customer service — tries as much as possible to help identify the appropriate ingredient or to suggest alternatives.
The fee for Passover certification is assessed based on the time (broken down in eight-hour shifts) and expenses needed for a rabbinical field representative (RFR) to oversee this special production. Because of the special significance of the laws of Passover and their many differences from the rest of the kosher year, the vast majority of products require this on-site rabbinic presence to become certified for Passover.
Once the formulas and facilities are approved, the actual production can begin. The RFR first kosherizes the product line to purge it of anything unacceptable for Passover. Manufacturing can then take place, overseen the entire time by the RFR. As long as everything goes according to plan, the resulting foods can bear the OU-P, the trademarked symbol indicating that they meet the Orthodox Union’s high standards for Passover use.
The time, effort, and fees (though it is not as much as you might think; ask your rabbinic coordinator for a price quote) involved in certifying products for Passover has frightened many away. But think of it as an investment, just as one would for any other new product being developed. In fact, a well-made Passover product by a respected brand is very likely, if not guaranteed, to gain sufficient market share for the Passover investment to pay off.
Every year, new Passover products are coming on the marketplace. Last year, the brand Health Gardens came out with a Passover-certified xylitol for those on sugar-free diets. Kedem introduced a sparkling pomegranate juice. Savion introduced a line of Fireman’s Frenzy sauces. Season introduced Moroccan sardines. This year also features many new and exciting Passover products. Among them is the gourmet Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt. Shkedia is adding to its delicious Passover confection line with Chocolate Covered Citrus Peels, Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans, and Chocolate Covered Nuts. The specialty brand Sonny and Joe’s is coming out with Passover certified babaganoush and Eggplant Matbucha. Reisman’s and Lilly’s are each adding to their line of Passover baked goods.
This all begs the question, what will the next enterprising and forward-thinking company come up with for Passover next year?
Rabbi David Polsky has been serving the Orthodox Union’s Kosher Consumer Hotline since 2004. He studied at Yeshiva University where he received his B.A. in 2001 and his rabbinic ordination from YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 2005. Rabbi Polsky’s warmth, patience, and professionalism are always evident as he responds to more than one hundred consumer kosher questions, daily. He lives with his wife in New York City.
Everything You Wanted to Know About OU Direct – and Never in Your Wildest Dreams Thought to Ask
From the moment it appeared upon the scene and changed the face of kosher certification forever, OU Direct has been the subject of intense speculation, rampant rumors and wild conjecture. What can it do? Where did it come from? What powers it? Who is behind it? Why is there grass growing in the ice cream in the picture on the log-in screen?
Details about OU Direct are not Group 1 information (definition: able to be obtained from any source). Veiled in secrecy and closely guarded, the inner workings of this revolutionary and innovative website have never before been disclosed to the kosher manufacturing public. Until now, that is.
To dispel the myths and address the myriad of misinformation circulating on the kosher street, an unnamed but highly placed OU Direct authority with a Group Six (allowed) clearance has anonymously shared the following inside information. What follows will be surprising and, in some cases, shocking. All of it has been independently verified. Here, unfettered and unedited, are the secret truths about what OU Direct is, and what it is not.
OU Direct IS…… Empowering! Everything you could ever need to run your kosher program, and more, is right there at your fingertips! It’s your one-stop shop for managing your every interaction with OU Kosher. With a simple, quick log in, you and the personnel you authorize in your satellite plants will have immediate access to:
• Your schedules A and B – current as of 30 seconds prior to your request;
• Your OU invoices – both past and current, with up to the minute status;
• Your OU Kosher Letters of Certification – for every label of every product in every plant;
• Your OU Forms and Applications – including new plant, new product, new ingredient, private label, product termination, plant termination and private label termination forms;
• Your OU symbols – camera ready JPG and EPS files for every possible OU symbol that you can use on your product packaging.
About the only piece of your company’s OU Kosher program that can’t be found right now on OU Direct is YOU! Log in today to this oasis of sanity in a crazy, confused and mixed-up world.
OU Direct IS NOT……. Dairy! Although the OU Direct logo is made up of an OU followed by the word Direct spelled with a capital “D”, this is NOT meant to indicate the OU Dairy symbol, and OUDirect.org is not meant solely for OU Dairy companies. Not understanding this, some OU Meat and OU Pareve companies have attempted to log on by going to OUMirect.org and OUPirect.org. This will not work. OU Fish companies are strongly advised not to log on to OUFirect.org, since this is apparently a well-known phishing site. OU Direct is available to all OU companies. Regardless of whether your own kosher symbol is OU D, OU Fish, OU Meat, OU Pareve or even just plain OU, OUDirect.org is where you belong.
OU Direct IS………. Energy Efficient! No more sharpening pencils, running to the fax machine, making phone calls, copying Letters of Certification, or any of the other myriad of previous kosher program maintenance activities that used to sap your strength and tire you out! Now, from the comfort of your leather, padded, executive chair, you can keep your program up to date with just a few mouse clicks. Even the formerly exhaustive task of locating acceptable ingredients has been simplified, with the access that OU Direct gives you to the UKD database. With this amazing tool, you can quickly locate and identify exactly the right raw material you need in your plant and have the comfort of knowing that it is already approved and accepted in the OU system. Once you have located the item, just click on it and then put it in your shopping cart.
Even if the item is not in the UKD, you can still submit it and attach an electronic copy of the kosher letter of certification that your supplier has emailed to you. As soon as you submit the cart, you will receive a receipt and, in most cases, you will find the item already added to your schedule A! All you need to do then is sit back, relax and plan what you are going to do with all of your newfound free time.
OU Direct IS NOT……… Taxable! The U.S. Tax Court, in its landmark IRS vs. Bagel Bob decision, ruled by a 4-to-1 majority that OU Direct is a non-taxable benefit to OU companies. In the aforementioned case, Bob Bagelberg, Founder and CEO of Bagel Bob’s Bakeries, was on OU Direct, creating customized OU Kosher letters of certification for the private labels on his new Boysenberry Bagel product. As each letter rolled perfectly off the printer, he could not contain his enthusiasm, and he loudly proclaimed, “OU Direct is awesome! It’s worth a million bucks!” A customer at the shop, who happened to be an IRS agent, overheard Mr. Bagelberg’s statement and proceeded to audit the company and charge it with tax evasion for failing to disclose $1,000,000 of unreported income – the value of having OU Direct!
The court, in its decision, reasoned that the peace of mind and state of happiness that result from being able to update schedules A and B, create customized letters of certification, authorize new products and ingredients, identify acceptable raw materials, access financial data, and have what is essentially 24/7 control of a company’s kosher program – in short, all the benefits that OU Direct offers – are impossible to place a value on since, as the court stated, “You can’t buy happiness.” Although the IRS appealed, the Court rejected their position, stating that the IRS claim was simply a case of database envy.
OU Direct IS…………. Secure! OU Kosher fully appreciates the sensitivity of the information that you share with us and goes to every extent possible to assure the confidentiality of your data. OU Direct utilizes high levels of security to protect your valuable information. Your connection to OU Direct is securely encrypted with 128-bit encryption. The connection uses TLS 1.0. The connection is encrypted using AES_128_CBC, with SHA 1 for message authentication, and RSA as the key exchange mechanism. You can sleep well at night knowing that everything you submit via OU Direct is safe and secure.
OU Direct IS NOT………… a Dating Service. Granted, one of the main benefits of OU Direct is unfettered access to the UKD (Unbelievable Kosher Database), which enables companies to find exactly the right ingredient match that they have been searching for. And it helps them find it based on OU’s unique 29 (almost) dimensions of compatibility, such as source company, item description, category, kosher status and kosher certification. But OU Direct cannot help you to find your life partner. And the only lonely hearts found lurking on OU Direct belong to artichokes and palms. Who, incidentally, are just waiting on the UKD for you to take them to your plant and make them your own. Log on today and review your ingredient matches for free!
OU Direct IS……………. Liberating! Once you begin doing all your kosher paperwork using OU Direct, you will never go back to pen and paper again. Who wouldn’t become addicted to a system that dispenses with submitting any forms and enables you to transmit all of your kosher information electronically? And, with OU Direct, you are no longer tied down to one long, comprehensive kosher letter of certification for your company, listing every product that you ever dreamed of making and had approved. You can create your own customized kosher letters. Feel free to mix and match plants and products, in-house and private label items. As long as it’s on your schedule B, you can put it on whatever kosher letter you need, in a choice of three different formats, of your own design. Let the creative juices flow!
OU Direct IS NOT……….. Illegal! A team of OU attorneys, based on extensive research and consultation with numerous state and federal justice authorities, has determined conclusively that “it is not a crime to streamline your kosher program and make your life easier”. In saving paper and energy, OU Direct is both green and contributes to longevity by removing stress and frustration from your life. And no animals were harmed in the development, implementation and administration of OU Direct. OU Direct – the smart, sensible and safe choice for your kosher program!
OU Direct IS…………. Free! Unlike other offers you receive, which try to lure you through the door with all sorts of low price, all-inclusive promises and then “nickel and dime” you for every service, OU Direct is included as part of your OU-provided kosher program absolutely free! The cost to your company? Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. It is just another example of the OU Kosher commitment to providing your company with the quickest and most efficient tools and systems to manage your kosher program, so that you can keep your focus on the important business of providing your consumers with high quality, kosher product.
A small but dedicated OU team of IT professionals has toiled for days, weeks and years, working in relative obscurity and total anonymity, to bring about a system that has revolutionized the way true professionals do kosher. Don’t miss the train before it pulls out of the station! Log on to OU Direct today and be an active participant in the bright new world of kosher!
Rabbi Avrohom Stone serves as OU Kosher Senior Rabbinic Field Representative visiting with OU certified companies throughout the country. His instructive and entertaining articles frequently appear in Behind the Union Symbol, and always elicit many positive responses.
Wise Foods Encourages Snackers to Snack Loud! Snack Proud!…and Snack Kosher!
At Wise® Foods, our goal is simple; to make real food for real people…great tasting snacks made from the finest ingredients and backed by exceptional customer service. From our familiar favorites to our newest varieties, we strive to be the snack our customers are proud to share with friends and family.
The Wise® story begins in 1921, when Mr. Earl Wise, Sr, then a young grocer, had too many potatoes. Being a frugal businessman, he decided to use the extra potatoes to make potato chips. He did all of the work by hand and sold the chips in brown paper bags from his store.
Earl’s chips enjoyed instant popularity and the company he founded, Wise® Foods, has grown into a leading regional salty snack manufacturer in the eastern United States. For the past 90 years, from small batches in his mother’s kitchen to a remodeled garage to the current state-of-the-art facility located in Berwick, PA, one thing has never changed: Earl Wise, Sr., and the company that bears his name, make terrific, all-natural chips!
It all began with a single variety of all natural potato chips, but over the years, Wise® has expanded its product offering along with its manufacturing capabilities. We are now proud to offer a wide variety of salty snacks under recognizable brands such as: Wise®, Ridgies®, New York Deli®, Cheez Doodles®, Dipsy Doodles®, and Bravos®!
Wise® Foods has long been a proponent of kosher snacks. Our customers expect high quality snacks and many of them are looking for the kosher certification for specific dietary, religious, or health reasons. To that end, Wise® has established a relationship with the leading organization for kosher certification, the Orthodox Union. Wise® has a strong partnership with our OU certification expert, Rabbi Aharon Brun-Kestler, and is extremely proud to offer a variety of OU (Dairy) and OU (Pareve) kosher certified snacks. The majority of Wise® process lines in Berwick, PA are kosher. Specifically, Wise® product lines which include kosher certified items include: Potato Chips, Tortilla Chips, Onion Rings, Corn Chips, Pretzels, and Salsa.
In the past year, the company has also invested in new equipment to further improve our production processes and to make the kosher certification process even easier. Investments were made in new stainless steel seasoning tubes and seasoning augers, and separate seasoning lines have been installed for kosher products within the Wise® plant facility.
There’s no doubt that kosher food practices help Wise® to make high quality products and the OU kosher certification keeps Wise® Foods competitive in our core marketplaces, where consumers and retailers alike desire a broad offering of delicious, quality kosher snacks!
Our newest product offerings – Wise® Baked Potato Crisps and Wise Bravos® Ranch and Sweet & Spicy Tortilla Chips – also carry kosher certifications. For more information about Wise® snacks, please visit us online at: http://www.wisesnacks.com, or contact us directly: Phone: 1-888-759-4401 Email: ; Mail: Wise Foods, Inc, 228 Raseley Street, Berwick, PA 18603-4533
Rabbi Aharon Brun-Kestler is Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Wise Foods
Chips Off the Old Block: In its 90th Year, Utz Quality Foods Follows Traditions of its Founders
In the snack food industry, Utz Quality Foods, Inc. has always been known for freshness and the quality ingredients that it uses in manufacturing its products. It’s been that way since the company’s humble beginnings 90 years ago this year, when Bill and Salie Utz began making potato chips in their Hanover, PA home. Salie used her knowledge of good ‘ol Pennsylvania Dutch cooking to provide customers with the highest quality potato chips in the marketplace and Bill Utz delivered them directly to stores and farmer’s markets in the Hanover and Baltimore areas.
Salie’s quality cooking tradition continues to this day, as Utz uses minimal processing which allows its products to retain a maximum amount of nutrients present in the natural ingredients. Over 50 percent of its product line is All Natural and has been that way from the start. Salt and seasoning levels are controlled to maintain a sodium content which is lower than many other processed foods. In addition, the nutritional content of Utz products is regularly tested and printed clearly on the package labels. Utz is so certain of the quality of its products, that every package is unconditionally guaranteed.
While its distribution network and coverage has certainly grown over the years, the company’s philosophy remains the same as Bill Utz’s when he delivered directly to the stores and farmer’s markets: “If you manage the process yourself from start to finish, then you can ensure that your customers are purchasing top quality products.” Their direct store delivery system has more than eight hundred company-controlled routes running from Maine to North Carolina. In surveys, Utz has found that 80 percent of its chips are purchased and consumed within a week of manufacture.
Its long-standing commitment to quality led Utz Quality Foods, Inc. to become OU certified in 1996. Today, three out of its four manufacturing plants and over 95 percent of its product line is OU certified as either pareve or dairy.
These kosher products range from its many varieties of potato chips, with a production of one million pounds every week, to its large assortment of pretzels, with its production of 900,000 pounds every week. Utz also produces cheese curls, tortilla chips (baked, natural, organic, and restaurant style), popcorn and party mix, offering more than 90 flavors or varieties of snacks in total. Utz also carries salsas, crackers and specialty items such as chocolate-covered pretzels, seasonal pretzel barrels and sports mixes.
In 1997, Utz expanded its kosher certification to include two Kosher for Passover chip items (Regular and No Salt). These items are manufactured to adhere to the strict dietary regulations of the holiday.
“Being certified kosher is no longer simply about following religious dietary law,” says Tom Dempsey, President of Utz Quality Foods, Inc. “Today, many consumers are turning to kosher certified product for allergen and health-related reasons. The OU symbol represents the use of pure ingredients and has become a universal quality seal of approval.”
Kosher certification has opened up new distribution channels for Utz, expanding its territories and bringing on new accounts such as kosher grocery stores. However, the Utz reputation for quality has spread far beyond its own distribution area. The Utz Mail Order division accommodates the growing national and international demand for its products. In recent years, Utz has seen an increased interest in its kosher products nationally and internationally. Whether customers are purchasing for themselves or as a gift, kosher certified products continue to be in high demand.
Utz has also created a dedicated space within the nutritional section of its website where all kosher products are highlighted, as well as other nutritional data. See utzsnacks.com/nutritioninfo.html) for easy reference.
Since 1921, the Utz name has stood for quality. With a strong tradition of family and professional leadership and Utz’s thousands of loyal employees dedicated to providing the freshest, best tasting products, Utz continues to be the choice of customers everywhere.
Rabbi Aharon Brun-Kestler is Orthodox Union rabbinic coordinator for Utz Quality Foods.