KARMA Wellness Water is a relatively new kosher line of products certified by the OU. These nutritional beverages come in several flavors. The driving force behind Karma is the fact that water-soluble vitamins lose their potency while sitting in water or when they are exposed to moisture. Additionally, those vitamins suffer degradation when they are subjected to UV rays, oxygen, or heat. The loss of strength is greater when the vitamin contents are spread across the full contents of bottled beverages, causing premixed vitamin drinks to lose their potency over time. The supplemental information printed on most premixed vitamin drinks is based on the ingredients at the time of bottling, not at the time of consumption. Consumers need to know that after just 90 days on a shelf, premixed drinks may have only 30 to 50 percent of their vitamins remaining and Karma’s goal is to bring back the freshness of vitamins and truly transform water into wellness.
INTRODUCING KARMACAP TECHNOLOGY
Karma uses its proprietary KarmaCap Technology to keep vitamins and other essential ingredients protected and separate from water until it’s time to drink. By introducing the vitamins only seconds or minutes from actual consumption, it optimizes the effectiveness of the nutrient-rich ingredients in Karma. The cap uses opaque plastic and a UV blocker to limit the vitamins’ exposure to the elements and this breakthrough packaging also has a hermetic (airtight) seal between the cap and base, ensuring freshness and delivering maximum vitamin potency. Plus, it’s easy to use—with just a push of a button, consumers control their own beverage destiny.
THE KOSHER PERSPECTIVE
There is an important Kashrus lesson that one can learn from the Karma caps. Kosher supervision focuses not only on ingredients, but on equipment used to process the ingredients as well. In the case of caps, it would be natural to assume that the ingredients in the cap are filled in the same plant as the rest of the product. This is not necessarily true. An astute RFR (Rabbinic Field Representative) studies every aspect of production. If the caps are packed in a separate location, then a separate supervision for the caps is in order.
In the case of KarmaCap the OU proudly supervises all aspects of this line of nutritional beverages i.e. they supervise the flavor house, the water company, as well as, the production of the powdered-filled cap.
One wonders if the day will come when products will be squeezed out of the walls of cans? The astute Mashgiach must be ready for any eventuality!
Much of the technical information concerning this product was quoted with permission from Karma Wellness Water promotional literature.
by Rabbi Yosef Grossman
Senior Educational RC, Editor – The Daf HaKashrus