cjuices and graduates snacks,0 said cathy abramski, senior marketing manager for nestlé nutrition....

& OVER 6,000 PLANTSWORLDWIDE

S P R I N G 2 0 0 9

WWW.OUKOSHER.COM | A PUBLICATION FOR OU CERTIFIED COMPANIES

BEHIND THE

ColombiaLand of (Kosher) Opportunity

SUCCESSFULBAKERSOU COMPANIESSPEAK OUT

KOSHER GELATINNOW IT’S FOR REAL

OU TRAVELSSOUTHCHARM AND PRODUCTION

FDA RULINGALTERNATIVES FORTHE COLOR RED

EDITOR’S LETTER BY RABBI DR. ELIYAHU SAFRAN

IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTY

A Question of MeAning

These are difficulT Times.editorial pages, news and financial

reporters bemoan the dramatic loss ofwealth in the country and around theworld. Trillions of dollars of net worth –lost. homes – foreclosed. Businesses –shut down. charities – struggling. un-employment nearing record levels. eventhose who have secure employment feelthe anxiety.

There is a sense that nothing iscertain.

difficult times indeed.at times like these, it might seem

like a luxury to speak about a desire forsecurity and meaning. after all, there isfood to be put on the table! ironically, itis often when the going gets rough thatour vision is sharpest; and our ability to

evaluate what is really important is at itskeenest. There might be a sense thatnothing is certain but, in fact, what ismost certain is what has always beenmost certain. Those who placed theirfaith exclusively in relying on ever-ex-panding stock markets and home mort-

gages simply placed their faith in thewrong place.

Which begs the question, does thecurrent, historic loss of wealth suggestthat material worth is ephemeral andtherefore meaningless? Or does itdemonstrate that, in fact, material well-being is essential to our lives?

according to Judaism, the answeris . . . both and neither.

Judaism suggests that the “ei-ther/ or” implied in the two questionsis, in fact, a false choice. Judaism doesnot embrace the physical rather thanthe spiritual nor does it reject thephysical in favor of the spiritual. Godhas instructed us that we are bothphysical and spiritual and that it is inrecognizing this that we most fully

K A S H R U T D I V I S I O NRabbi Menachem Genack RABBINIC ADMINISTRATOR / CEO

Rabbi Moshe Elefant EXECUTIVE RABBINIC COORDINATOR / COO

DIRECTOR, NEW COMPANY DEPARTMENT

Rabbi Yaakov Luban EXECUTIVE RABBINIC COORDINATOR

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran SENIOR RABBINIC COORDINATOR

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz SENIOR RABBINIC COORDINATOR

Rabbi Moshe Zywica SENIOR RABBINIC COORDINATOR

Rabbi Yerachmiel Morrison INGREDIENT APPROVAL REGISTRY

Rabbi Abraham Juravel INGREDIENT APPROVAL REGISTRY

Rabbi Howard Katzenstein DIRECTOR, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Dr. Simcha Katz CHAIRMAN, JOINT KASHRUT COMMISSION

Rabbi Kenneth Auman CHAIRMAN, RABBINIC KASHRUT COMMISSION

Rabbi Emanuel Holzer CHAIRMAN EMERITUS

O RT H O D O X U N I O NStephen J. Savitsky PRESIDENT

Rabbi Steven Weil EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, EMERITUS

David Olivestone NATIONAL DIRECTOR, PLANNING AND COMMUNICATIONS

B E H I N D T H E U N I O N S Y M B O LRabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Stephen Steiner EDITOR

Yocheved Lefkovits ART DIRECTOR

BEHIND THE

2 | BEHIND THE UNION SYMBOL

find meaning andhonor the creator ofthe universe.

Our physicalform and nature wastaken from the “dustof the ground.” Weare physical beings.To deny that would beto deny something es-sential and important,indeed somethingspiritual, about whowe are. as Jews, weare taught to embracethe physical. To doanything less wouldbe to question the wis-dom and sanctity ofGod’s creation.

life is good.creation is good.The physical worldis certainly good.

We share physicality with every living thing in creationbut we are not the same as every living thing. far from it. Weare not only the physical form that we inhabit.

“and the lord God formed adam of the dust of theground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; andadam became a living soul.”

We have body and a soul. man has a purpose in life. Notin spite of life, but because of it. The question then is, onceagain, “What is the purpose of life?”

Judaism teaches that we must be engaged with and in theworld. Nothing brings home this teaching so clearly as ourneed to nourish ourselves, to eat.

hunger is an essential drive of all living things. Butlike all essential drives, unless it is satisfied in a way that isboth permissible and holy, it is impossible to enjoy a trulyspiritual life. But how do we turn hunger, or any essentialphysical drive, into something holy?

each of us has before us a choice in everything we do.There is the right way, and the wrong way. (certainly thepoor example set by many, many in the financial world hasmade that lesson clear!) We can satisfy our hunger drive asevery other animal in creation or we can find the holiness inthis physical activity and have it become a mirror of the di-vine. after all, we all must eat. still, from a Jewish per-spective the adage, “you are what you eat” is not a commenton physical well-being but a comment on spiritual well-being and goes to not only what we eat but how we eat,when we eat, where we eat and why we eat.

We know thatadam fell by eatingforbidden food. cer-tainly, there wasnothing intrinsicallywrong with his eat-ing an apple. hishealth did not failbecause of hischoice. The lessonhere is that — fromthe very beginning— health issues arenot elemental to theeating of forbiddenfood. No, the reasonthat adam fell wasbecause he did whatwas forbidden byGod. in doing so, he removed himselffrom that which isholy. he ate because

he was hungry. Or because the food seemed attractive andtasty. Or simply because his “dining partner” — eve —wanted him to. in other words, he ate of the fruit of the for-bidden tree for all the same reasons that many people eat.

They are hungry.The food appears appetizing. someone suggests that they

“try it, you’ll like it.”But in Judaism, it is not enough to be sated. The goal

is to be holy. ultimately, these three words capture what itmeans to be Jewish. We are to be holy because our God isholy. We keep God before us in everything we do; we reciteblessings and we perform mitzvot and, in doing so, we re-main closer to our goal of holiness.

The laws of kashrut define the way God would have useat. The fundamental basic-ness of eating makes it essentialto our ability to distinguish and discriminate. in Judaism,laws and rules of conduct rarely concern themselves withthat which is function of our “higher natures.” Our highernatures are capable of taking care of themselves just fine. itis our baser instincts and needs that offer the challenge.certainly, that is the case in the financial world. money –our need for it, our desire for it – brings us face to face withsome of our most base motivations and gives us the chanceto either reduce ourselves or enlighten ourselves.

as Jews, we do not seek separation from our essential na-tures, our basest wants and desires. We recognize that anythingthat God created is necessarily good. it is by our relation witheach part of creation that we affirm its goodness and holiness.

SPRING 2009 3

> > C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 2 1

FlOrham ParK, NJ – Gerber Products, a part of NestléNutrition, is introducing a line of purees that are certified

kosher by the Orthodox union (Ou), a highly recognized andvalued symbol of kosher certification.

These new purees products available in ten of Gerber’smost popular flavors, provide a kosher option for parents whowant to feed their babies with the most trusted brand in babyfood. Product details include:

Flavor varieties Ten great tasting flavors certified bythe Orthodox union (Ou): applesauce, Pears, Bananas, applestrawberry Banana, apple Blueberry, sweet Potato, carrots,squash, Green Beans and Peas.

NutritioNal ProFile made with 100 percent naturalfruit and vegetable puree and no added sugar, salt, starch, ar-tificial colors or flavors. many of these products provide an ex-cellent source of Vitamin a or c.

Product availability available nationwide thisspring, and packaged in Gerber’s classic 4 oz glass jars.

“These purees are the latest Gerber

products to carry the Ou symbol, joining select infant cereals,juices and Graduates snacks,” said cathy abramski, seniormarketing manager for Nestlé Nutrition. “We are committedto helping parents make good nutritional choices for their chil-dren. One of the best ways we can do this is by offering thema variety of options for each stage of their children’s develop-ment from infancy through preschool.”

“We are proud to partner with Gerber on their new lineof kosher purees. These new varieties expand the range ofkosher products for parents who want to provide their babieswith nutritious, certified kosher food,” said rabbi eliyahusafran, Vice President of communications and marketing forthe Orthodox union Kosher division.

delivering the high level of quality that consumers ex-pect from Gerber, the new line of certified kosher pureesprovide the nutrition that growing infants’ need, while in-troducing them to new tastes as they grow and develop.

About GerberGerber Products company officially joined the Nestlé Nutritionfamily — part of Nestlé s.a. — on september 1, 2007. com-bining resources, Nestlé and Gerber are leveraging research andexpertise to become the leaders in early childhood nutrition.With headquarters in florham Park, N.J., Gerber is a worldwideprovider of more than 200 food products from cereals to Ger-Ber® 1st fOOds® purees to GraduaTes® meals andsnacks, the Gerber product line covers each phase of earlychildhood development with diverse flavors and textures.

since its founding in 1928, Gerber has been com-mitted to helping parents raise happy, healthy babiesthrough extensive research aimed at understanding andimproving infant and toddler nutrition and feeding. in2002, the company launched the start healthy, stayhealthy™ initiative, providing stage-by-stage informa-tion, tips, tools and advice for parents and their children

Gerber

LaunchesKosher Baby Food Offerings

Kosher 2nd Foods®

Fruit & Vegetable Purees



SPRING 2009 | 5

Babies throughout the united statescooed contentedly and threw their

pacifiers in tribute to the outstandingindividuals of the Gerber facilities offort smith, arkansas and fremont,michigan, whose dedicated efforts havebeen recognized at the Babies choiceKosherization awards. Through thehard work of these people, who facili-tated the kosherization of the Gerberplants, millions of babies can now sinktheir gums into the company’s qualityline of fruits and vegetables. The men-tion of each group’s accomplishmentswas met with outbursts of pureed emo-tion, and the apple juice spilled freely atthe post-awards nap.

Your humble correspondent, therfr who planned the gala kosheriza-tion events on behalf of the Ou, re-counted numerous recollections fromhis experience in working with theseteams to prepare the plants to producekosher product. Prior to

that, he named some ofthose at the Gerber fa-cilities whose inputinto the kosherizationprocess had made theproject a success.

members of thefort smith team in-cluded such outstand-ing luminaries assteve crider, Qualityservice manager andrabbi in training; scottduffey, Business unitmanager for Glass;mike moore, the Pro-duction schedulingGuru; dave stock-berger, the veteranProcess leader whostarted at the plantwhen stage 4 was la-beled stage iV; andlee lindsey, third shiftsanitation manager

and King of Kosherization.selvyn smith, vacationing

supply chain managerand Patsy Price, inven-

tory controller whosteadfastly controls in-ventory, were alsoprominently men-tioned.

The fremontteam was madeup, among others,of a trio known as

the “masters ofmush” — alan

stover, Quality assur-ance manager; mike

hikade, Thermal Processcoordinator and amateur

rabbi; and chuck durham, formulationsupervisor and unofficial “Go-To Guy.”

rabbi stone noted that planningthe transformation of Gerber’s fruit andvegetable products from non-kosher intokosher items was far from child’s play.Both Gerber facilities are large, multi-faceted production environments andthe project was marked by its complexityand by the constant awareness thatmuch of Gerber’s product line consistsof items that are inherently non-kosher,which could potentially compromise thekosher status of certified products.

referring back to his crib notes, therabbi recounted that the strategy fromthe beginning was to try to split the fa-cilities into the theoretical equivalents of

The Choice

Awards


By raBBi avrohom stone

RABBI STONE AT WORK IN A PLANT


The

From sea to shining sea in this blessedcountry of the united states of america, there are a myriadof breathtaking views where nature’s wonders will enthuseand invigorate all that behold her. each of this great nation’sfifty states has much to contribute in this regard. Whether itis arizona’s Grand canyon, florida’s everglades, NewYork’s Niagara falls, alaska’s glaciers, colorado’s rockymountains, or utah’s rainbow Bridge, the list goes on andon for anyone who seeks to become awe-inspired by amer-ica’s offerings of nature’s best.

and while adventurers are whetting the appetite oftheir souls with these american marvels, they would behappy to know that in the course of their travels, thereare delectable state muffins to nourish their bodies. somenotable state muffins are massachusetts’ corn muffin,minnesota’s blueberry muffin and New York’s applemuffin. This doesn’t mean that one won’t be able to finda lemon poppy muffin in all of minnesota. all states ten-der muffins at thousands of nationwide eateries in a hostof varieties, flavors, and shapes. The state muffin how-ever, is a source of pride and joy for the state amongmany other prized possessions.

What makes the muffins even more attractive is thatso many bear the world’s premier kosher emblem – the ontheir packaging. The companies that manufacture thesemuffins are to be commended for adhering to the most rig-orous standards of kosher supervision for which koshercertification is renowned. in order to appreciate the requi-site kosher supervision entailed for muffins, an historicalperspective of this fabled product proves quite revealing.

The origin of the word muffin is derived from thefrench moufflet or soft, and is usually used in the contextof bread. in other words, muffins resemble a soft bread.The parallel drawn between muffins and bread insofar askosher dietary law is concerned is extremely significant.This is because kosher dietary law precludes bread fromcontaining any dairy or meat ingredients. Bread can only

MuffinTasty

The

WayBy Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein

SPRING 2009 | 7

be made pareve. This is attributed to thefact that bread, as a main food staple, canreadily find itself available for either adairy or meat meal. as a necessary precau-tion to avoid eating dairy bread at a meatmeal, which is in violation of kosher law,the bread must be pareve.

By extension it follows, that if muffinsare indeed a soft bread as their etymologyimplies, then kosher dietary law wouldmandate that they only contain pareve in-gredients, and no dairy components.Notwithstanding the word’s french roots,whether or not muffins are bread is contin-gent upon what constitutes bread accordingto kosher dietary law. Three criteria thatidentify the distinctive nature of bread are:shape, taste and function. concerningshape, it is most common for bread to comein the form of loaves, rolls, buns andbaguettes. regarding taste, bread is yeastyand not sweet. Pertaining to function, breadprimarily is eaten as a whole meal as in asandwich, and not merely munched uponas in a snack.

americans have grown accustomed toenjoy their breakfast with one of two typesof muffins. first there is the american muf-fin which is baked from a batter mix and de-posited in uniquely configured muffinbaking pans. This batter mix is very thin,does not contain yeast, and could be sweet as in a chocolatechip muffin, or savory as in a carrot cheese muffin.

since the american muffin is altogether shaped dif-ferently than any roll, bun or baguette, is sweet or savory,and is not normally used to make a sandwich, it does notqualify to be considered bread in any of the aforemen-tioned three criteria of shape, taste or function. accord-ingly, american muffins are considered more like cakethan bread, and can therefore be kosher certified evenwhen containing dairy ingredients. for this reason, thereare literally hundreds of luscious american muffins thatcontain dairy ingredients and have been approved by myoffice as d. in addition, for the more health conscious, thetrendy succulent real dairy low fat american yogurtmuffins can also be certified d providing all ingredientsmeet schedule a specifications.

The second muffin enjoyed usually at breakfast timeis the english muffin. in contradistinction to the americanmuffin, the english muffin is not sweet, but rather stemsfrom a thick yeast dough that is proofed and then de-posited in griddle cups while being conveyed through a


griddle oven. This difference in manufacturing leads to theenglish muffin satisfying two of the three kosher dietarylaw criteria for bread. english muffins have the yeastytaste of bread and function like bread since they are usedto make a sandwich to be eaten for a meal. Their spongy

texture how-ever, disquali-fies them frommeeting theshape crite-rion for bread.

The up-shot is thatsince englishmuffins re-semble bothbread andcake, it is in asingular cate-

gory of kosher certification. for the most part, as in the caseof bread, Ou kosher certified english muffins do not con-tain any dairy ingredients nor share equipment with prod-ucts made with dairy, and hence are in fact pareve.however, there are some brand english muffins that are cer-tified d. This is either because the dairy component is lessthan 1 ½% of the total ingredients, or on account of the eng-lish muffins being produced on equipment that make dairyproduct. companies that have been approved to manufac-ture d english muffins must keep the dairy component forthese products below the 1½% threshold of the total ingre-dients. rabbinical field representatives closely monitor thebatch sheets for these dairy english muffins, to ensure thedairy components meet the requirements.

a further glance into history reveals another uniquequality indigenous to english muffins that serves as an ad-ditional benefit for many kosher consumers. mr. samuelBath Thomas left england for the shores of this country in1874 with an english muffin recipe that americans wouldabsolutely relish. Thomas’ english muffins were the veryfirst english muffins enjoyed by americans. mr. Thomasrecommended that his customers toast the english muffinsbefore serving for maximum flavor. These same toasting in-structions are to this very day included on the packaging ofThomas’ english muffins.

The fact that english muffins are most preferredwhen toasted is most important for a further expandingmarket among kosher consumers known as ‘pas yisroel’.literally meaning ‘bread of a Jew’, the ‘pas yisroel’ statusis an elevated level of kosher for baked goods. it is ob-tained by an observant Jew igniting the oven in which the

product is being baked. The method that the Ou recom-mends to accomplish this task is for the bakery to installan electric panel by a designated oven that enables thatoven to be turned on off-site by a rabbinic field repre-sentative using a remote control telephone hook-up. Thissystem meets the strictest of the kosher pas yisroel re-quirements and has received great approbation amongleading rabbinic authorities. The device is known as the“shain system,” named after a rabbi shain who madethis innovation.

accordingly, since english muffins have their flavorenormously enhanced via the product being toasted be-fore serving, this may facilitate a kosher Jewish consumerin effectuating a pas yisroel product by toasting the eng-lish muffin in their own toaster at home. This is a kosherbonus for english muffins which is not found in mostother commercially baked products.

for over one hundred years americans have been en-joying the famous Thomas’ english muffins. Kosher con-sumers too are delighted to be able to benefit from thepremium taste of Thomas’ english muffins because itspackaging bears the worlds premium kosher d logo. scoresof other quality brand english muffins have followedThomas’ stunning example and are also proud bearers ofthe or d kosher logo. regardless, if they are american orenglish, kosher consumers the world over have a great wayto start off their day by eating any of the thousands of muf-fin products that are kosher certified.

Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein joined the Orthodox Union asa rabbinic coordinator in 2000, administering the kosher pro-gram of many OU certified commercial bakeries. He has pre-viously contributed baking features to this publication as wellas to Jewish Action, the OU magazine.Rabbi Bendelstein frequently lecturesto school and synagogue groups aspart of the “OU Kosher Coming” pro-grams and has posted several KosherTidbits on OU Radio relating to issuesin the baking industry.

Rabbi Bendelstein attendedYeshiva University in New York City,where he received his rabbinic ordi-nation and graduated with a bache-lor’s degree in chemistry. Followinghis undergraduate studies, Rabbi Bendelstein completed athree-year postgraduate higher Jewish learning program asa member of Yeshiva University’s Gruss Kollel Elyon. Helives with his wife and five children in the Flatbush sec-tion of Brooklyn, NY, where he often lectures about kosher.

OOU

SPRING 2009 | 9

F rom the humble beginnings ofa lone storefront in manhattanto the present day of three rap-idly growing, bustling plants,david’s cookies has been a

trend-setting icon in the gourmet food in-dustry since its opening in 1979.

in the late 1970’s, when boutique cookieshops were popping up along the West coast,chef david liederman decided it was time to bringthis fad to the east coast. The smell of freshly bakedcookies permeated the New York city air, drawing in hun-dreds of customers daily. Over the course of the next fewyears, more than 200 david’s cookies stores sprouted upinternationally.

The 1980’s brought about an economic recession thatleft david’s cookies and many other companies strug-gling. The company was bought by a New Jersey-basedgourmet food company: fairfield Gourmet corporation.They helped introduce david’s to the wholesale and co-branding world. The cookies once again gained popular-ity and by the 1990’s, david’s was rejuvenated into athriving industry!

Throughout the years, david’s has transformed froma mom and pop store front that specialized in simple, tastycookies, to a company with three plants that producecookie dough, brownies, cakes, tarts, muffin batter, rug-galach, scones, crumb cakes, and more. david’s has de-veloped a niche for pan-baked and iQf frozenready-to-bake desserts. This greatly assists the chefs inhigh volume feeders like hotels, caterers, convention cen-ters and cafes because they are able to save on labor, yetstill produce fresh baked products daily.

david’s is currently in the process of introducing anew line of products to their wholesale customers: freshBaked muffins. These muffins have a sour cream baserather than the more typical water base that is found inmost store-bought muffins. in addition to this line,david’s has created decadent cookie dough. each cookieis roughly 5 inches in diameter and made with hugechunks of hershey’s brand candy.

With such a variety of products and ingredients

w i t h i nthese prod-

ucts, keepingstrict kosher fa-

cilities would benear impossible

without the helpfrom the Orthodox

union. since the Ou pro-vides a directory of certified

companies, it makes purchas-ing kosher ingredients much easier. Without this, david’swould have to research every ingredient purchased to notonly make sure that the specific ingredient is kosher, but thatit hasn’t been processed on non-kosher machines or surfaces.in addition, the Ou has greatly enhanced david’s qualityprocedures by implementing logbooks and record keepingon all raw ma-terials to bechecked by therabbi which arealso used fordavid’s Qual-ity controlrecords. Thisalso assists inthe uniformityof the productas only certainmanufacturerswith detailedspecs are ap-proved.

david’s cookies would not be where it is today, asone of the largest quality dessert producers in the North-east of both kosher dairy and pareve products, withoutthe assistance of the Ou. The Ou symbol does not juststand for kosher supervision; it stands for quality withoutcompromise!

Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein serves as Orthodox Unionrabbinic coordinator for David’s Cookies.

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

>>

That

DavidIs One Smart

By Rachel Murray

Cookie


At PremierBakers inc., we arepassionate about english muffins, and not justyour ordinary plain english muffin. at PremierBakers we make fifteen different types of english

muffins (and growing). it all began in february of 2005 whenPremier Bakers was acquired by fresh start Bakeries, a califor-nia company and a global supplier of top quality baked prod-ucts.

Quietly tucked away in the sand covered deserts ofsouthern arizona, Premier Bakers is surrounded by thousandsof acres of cotton fields. The bakery is actually located abouthalfway between Phoenix and Tucson, right near the junctionof interstate 10 and interstate 8.

We are passionate about what we do so that we can bethe best producer of english muffins. Our customers expectquality and we work very hard to exceed their expectations.Premier Bakers also produces crumpets and bagel/snack bars,all of which proudly carry the Ou symbol.

We wanted our products to be readily available to allmarkets, and sought after the most respected kosher certi-fication. Orthodox union certification enables our productsto be in a larger market, customers we couldn’t serve with-out this certification.

The kosher segment of today’s market place representsa loyal and strong customer; our Ou certification showscustomers that the goods we produce are safe and rep-utable. consumers are looking more and more for items inthe market they can trust. The Ou symbol that is displayedon our products gives concerned shoppers that assurance.“Today’s consumer is more health conscious and movingquickly towards healthier options,” says General managerand V.P., eric robinson. “it was an easy decision to go Ou

since it is the most recognized koshercertification globally and well-knownby our customers.”

additionally, eliminating dairyproducts from the entire production

line allows even better market pene-tration. all of the english muffins pro-

duced at Premier Bakers are Ou-pareve,which makes the bread product even more

versatile to the consumer.Our 35,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility uses state of

the art equipment to consistently create quality products.Once each month rabbi aharon shapiro and plant managerBlair Gibbs walk out amongthe smiling faces of employ-ees, inspecting and observ-ing production. allformulas, ingredients andpackaging are checkedagainst a schedule to ensureonly approved ingredientsare used. “it’s a matter of mutual trust and respect,” saysBlair. “Our customers trust and respect the Ou symbol wedisplay on our baked goods, and likewise our rabbinicalfield representative trusts and respects the job we performunder the union symbol.”

much of Premier’s success can be attributed to a proud,stable and loyal work force led by eric robinson, vice presi-dent /general manager, and Blair Gibbs, plant manager, whocombined have over 75 years in the baking industry. albertflores, production superintendent; manuel lujan, plant sani-tarian; Jeff rees, distribution manager; and William facio, chiefengineer are all totally committed to produce and distributethe best english muffin. They genuinely reflect our commit-ment to produce the finest baked goods for our customersthroughout the world.

and like we said we produce it all, “under theunion symbol.”

Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein serves as Orthodox Union rab-binic coordinator for Premier Bakers Inc.

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

>>

At Premier Bakers, They are

englishMuffins

About TheirPassionate

I t was 1981, that ourfounder, cheryl Krueger,with the help of her collegeroommate, caryl Walker,started cheryl&co. it was her

desire from the beginning to create thebest gourmet food and gift company.We are pleased to say that what beganas a single cookie store in columbus,Ohio, has evolved into a multi-milliondollar business. But, as successful as we’vebecome, it is still our goal to focus on offeringdelicious, high-quality baked goods, unique giftideas and outstanding customer service.

armed with just $40,000, a business degree and sevenyears of retail industry experience, cheryl opened the veryfirst cheryl’s cookie store at a time when banks were nerv-ous about lending to women-owned businesses.

Today, cheryl&co. is a multi-faceted business com-prised of retail stores in Ohio, a growing internet businessand a busy Business Gift division, all headquartered inthe columbus suburb of Westerville. The companyis comprised of five divisions: retail, catalog,foodservice, Business Gift services and in-ternet, which can be found at chery-landco.com. a 2005 merger enabledcheryl& co. to become a part of the1-800-flOWers family ofBrands, while maintaining ourcompany’s mission to be thebest gourmet food and giftcompany, ever.

Our products havebeen featured on rachaelray, ellen deGeneres,cNN, dr. Phil, the Todayshow, QVc and the foodNetwork, along with multi-ple radio and print features

across the country. Our most famous product is our

soft buttercream frosted cookies. Wedominate in this category. lots of com-panies produce hard iced cookies but,there is nothing like the soft butter-cream frosting. customers go out oftheir way to let us know how muchthey love this product. Today we makeover 20 different varieties of these

mouth-watering favorites from Butter-cream frosted cinnamon Pumpkin (a

pumpkin and spice cookie topped with cinnamon but-tercream frosting) to Old fashioned holiday cut-out cook-ies topped with buttercream frosting and candy sprinkles.We have also perfected the sugar free buttercream frostedcut-out cookie this year. You have to try them to believe theyare sugar free.

Bestever

Strives to Be the

Gourmet Food and Gift Company,

Cheryl&Co.

> > c o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 1 2


We are also excited to report that following a year of prepa-ration and hard work, cheryl & co. converted to a kosheroperation. all products baked at the cheryl&co. facility inWesterville are certified Ou dairy under the supervision ofthe Orthodox union. Our products are dairy, kosher foryear-round use, excluding Passover. We are in the process ofupdating all films related to our baked products to reflectthe kosher symbol.

The production facilitywent through a purificationprocess known as “kosheriza-tion.” a lot of cleaning, sterili-zation and using hightemperatures to sanitize were used to obtain the designa-tion “kosher.” We are proud to be an Ou Kosher certifiedcompany, which is regarded as being in the top tier of strict-ness and quality.

“i started receiving calls from potential customersyears ago when i first became director of Qa. These callswere to inquire if we were kosher,” says sara reed, Qual-ity assurance director. “as the years passed; the in-quiries increased and it even crossed over into ourbusiness gift area. i did my research and found out whatkosher was all about. it backed up my theory. it was anadditional way and opportunity for a quality check. in2007, i was given permission to do due diligence to be-come kosher. it took us almost a year to meet all the re-quirements, but we became kosher in february 2008. Ouis the most recognized kosher certification. it has in-creased our customer base. We are proud to say we are

kosher and now advertise that fact in our cat-alogs, and our website.”

“from the moment ingredients come inour back door; there are quality checks,” saraexplains. “Not only do we have checks in ourmixing process but also in our formationprocesses. Baking and cooling are the next partof the process. each individual rack, tray andcookie is inspected for quality and weight be-fore being individually packaged.”

Not surprisingly, cheryl&co. has re-ceived a suPeriOr rating from the americaninstitute of Baking for 2008. This is a goal wehave achieved for the past seven years. a lotof extra effort, long hours and hard workfrom our entire team made this happen. everyyear the requirements get a little tougher andthe cheryl & co. Quality assurance Teammakes sure the strict guidelines are being fol-lowed and enforced throughout the company.

Not any easy task, but it does keep us on our toes mak-ing sure we are following fda guidelines, food safetyrules, good manufacturing practices, and most of all, liveout our mission statement: To be the best gourmet foodcompany, ever.

Thanks to loyal customers nationwide, cheryl&co. hasthe opportunity to give back. We have remained committed

to supporting local food banks andeducational organizations with ourtime and our hearts. We have alsoestablished partnerships with Thearthur G. James cancer hospitaland richard J. solove research in-

stitute at The Ohio state university in columbus, Ohio, Themake – a – Wish foundation, Kolman race for the cure andThe columbus Blue Jackets foundation to name a few. Weare honored to be a part of these outstanding organizationsand have donated over one million dollars in support of theirwork. in addition, we have a range of philanthropic pro-grams to serve a variety of needs.

all of us at cheryl&co. are very proud of our prod-ucts and services. for over 28 years we have worked hardto provide the BesT and most innovative gifts and dessertsto our customers. We will continue to strive for excellencewith our ultimate goal being to be the best gourmet foodand gift company, ever.

cheryl&co.’s website is www.cherylandco.com.

Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein serves as Orthodox Unionrabbinic coordinator for Cheryl&Co.

> > CHERYL&CO. c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 1

OU KosherIs your

running smoothly?When your company’s kosher program runssmoothly everyone wins. The company’s reputationwill be respected in the kosher market, rabinnic inspections are more efficient and in the long run,paperwork is significantly minimized. The followingsteps can insure that your kosher program is in thebest possible shape.

Be sure that purchasing of ingredi-

ents conforms to those listed on Schedule

A (the ingredient list). Before ordering an

ingredient that does not appear on the

Schedule A, please fax or e-mail a copy of

the new ingredients kosher documenta-

tion to the OU for prior approval.

Always apply for and obtain approval

of new labels, in-house or private, before

placing the OU on the label.

Inform the rabbinic coordinator be-

fore any changes that may affect kosher

issues (e.g. installation of new equipment,

cutting or connecting lines, modification

of CIP procedures, changes in production

sequences, etc.).

So too, be sure to tell your company’s

rabbinic coordinator of any changes in

personnel relevant to the kosher program

so that this information can be promptly

recorded in our database.

Carefully verify that Schedule A and

B accurately reflect your company’s in-

gredient inventory and all packaging/ la-

bels that bear the OU symbol.

Be sure that receiving personnel

check all incoming deliveries against

Schedule A to assure conformity with the

kosher specifications and requirements of

all ingredients. A column on the receiving

log with the heading “Schedule A Kosher”

is quite usefull for this purpose.

R & D and experimental ingredients

must also be submitted to the OU for prior

approval, unless an express arrangement

with your Rabbinic Coordinator stipulates

otherwise. Use of such ingredients when

uncertified, even for test purposes may

compromise the kosher status of equip-

ment and tracking and reporting them un-

necessarily burdens your staff and our

Rabbinic Field representatives.

Make sure to obtain letters of certifi-

cation (LOCs) from the OU for your prod-

ucts, and carefully make sure that the

LOCs exactly match product labels. These

letters are extremely valuable in market-

ing your products. Please make sure that

your distributors also receive copies of

your LOCs in order to maximize distribu-

tion to kosher clients.

Be sure that your certified products

(retail and industrial) carry the OU symbol.

This will not only benefit you in business,

but will also make your products easily

identifiable as meeting kosher specs by

kosher supervisors and consumers

throughout the world.

A labeling checklist should ensure that

the OU symbol does not appear on products

not authorized to bear the OU symbol.

If you have any questions about your

company’s kosher program, call your rab-

binic coordinator. It is his job to assist

your company and to provide the service

you deserve.

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You can reach him at the OU Headquarters, 212-563-4000


two facilities in each plant; a kosherand non-kosher one. however, thisproved to be twice as challenging aswas anticipated. he had expectedthat, since both facilities have simi-lar lines and equipment and pro-duce similar products, any solutionsthat would address issues at oneplant could automatically be ap-plied to the other. instead, he dis-covered that the two plants havetheir own unique procedures, prac-tices, customs and cultures thatwork for them based on the specificproducts and the markets they havedealt with over the years. To rem-edy a concern at one plant, usingthe same approach that would workperfectly at the other, would justnot work. each planthad to be addressedindependently, as itsown unique entity.

While therewere many note-worthy aspectsto this project,the rabbispeci f icallyhighlightedthe measuresthat weretaken to limitthe impactand interfer-ence caused bykosherizations, an area that was ofgreat concern to the company:

scheduliNg Perhaps the keyto the entire kosher system in bothplants is the creative scheduling ofkosher and non-kosher productions.Both plants do extensive non-kosherproductions, and in each situation,by necessity, non-kosher productionswill compromise to some degree thekosher status of equipment. Kosher-ization in such plants can be quitetime consuming, and the goal was,as much as possible, to keep thekosher programs from interferingwith the facilities’ normal way of op-

erating. use of resourceful schedul-ing by the amazing scheduling mas-ters at both facilities has limited theneed for kosherizations to only a fewtimes per year.

DeDIcAteD equIPMent afterthe rabbi explained in detail the pa-rameters necessary for kosher pro-ductions, the team at one of theplants devised a method that wouldconsistently maintain the kosher sta-tus of various pieces of equipmentthrough as much of the system aspossible, even when producing non-kosher products. This has resultedin kosherizations that are extremelylimited in scope, and which affectonly a fraction of the equipment in

the plant.DeDIcAteD PROcesses

By making minor modificationsto aspects of the processes nec-essary for kosher productions,

the plants succeeded in iso-lating significant parts

of the process thatwill remain in

kosher status allof the time. Thiseliminates theneed to kosher-ize these areasand, more sig-nificantly, insures

that the same fruitsand vegetables regu-

larly used in daily production in theplants are also always acceptable foruse in kosher productions.

There were a number of other im-portant facts discovered over the courseof the project. among them were:

steve crider and rabbi stone bothgrew up in st. louis, where they at-tended different high schools. Therabbi’s school regularly beat steve’salma mater in football, a fact whichshocked no one.

alan stover can leap tall buildingsin a single bound and still make ithome in time for dinner.

Keeping Gerber kosher is an

> > BABIES CHOICE C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 4

@www.oukosher.org

> As part of thewww.OUKosher.org website,we are highlighting OU Koshercertified companies andbrands as an “OU FeaturedCompany.” Each featuredcompany or brand on thewebsite includes a corporateor product image, a description of the company,product or brand, as well as alink to the company or brandwebsite. Over 650 companieshave already been posted.>If you are interested in having your company be oneof our OU Kosher featuredcompanies, please contactRabbi Eliyahu Safran, VicePresident of Marketing, [email protected] [email protected]>Currently featured companies can be seen at:

http//www.oukosher.org/index.php/consumer/featured companies/

> >

SPRING 2009 | 15

A s part of its practice of providing afull range of services to its certified

companies, Ou Kosher has an-nounced that it will recommend OrganicNational & internationalcertifiers (ON & ic) of lin-colnwood, il to its clientcompanies who are seekingcertification that their prod-ucts are not only kosher,but organic as well.

Organic food mustadhere to standards of theunited states departmentof agriculture (usda),which require that cropsbe grown without syn-thetic pesticides, artificialfertilizers, biotechnologyor radiation. amongother standards, there arealso requirements for thefeed given to animals on organicfarms and how the animals are to beconfined. Organic foods, therefore,can be said to provide a more health-ful diet than standard foods while

being more environmentally friendly.The demand for organic prod-

ucts has been growing at a rapid ratein recent years, and ON & ic has

proven to be a reliable and respectedcertifier in its field, just as the Ou is inkosher certification.

The agreement is not the first inwhich the Ou has reached out to a certi-

fying agency in another field related tofood production — in 2005 it enteredinto a relationship with the Gluten-freecertification Organization (GfcO) to

certify that products do notcontain storage proteinsfound in grains such aswheat, rye and barley — anecessity for people ongluten-free diets.

Now it is organic’s turn.“for a long time, it’s

been clear that the kosherconsumer and the organicconsumer share a lot of over-lap and that many compa-nies that are seeking koshercertification are seeking or-ganic certification, and viceversa,” declared rabbimoshe elefant, chief Operat-ing Officer of Ou Kosher,

who was instrumental in bringing thearrangement to fruition. “Organic certi-fication is clearly a field of expertise —you cannot grant organic certification

intricate task that requires a high de-gree of skill and experience. chargedwith maintaining the kosher pro-grams at the facilities and kosheriz-ing the plants are some of the Ou’smost experienced field rabbis, in-cluding rabbi Weg at fort smith andrabbis Weingarten, smolensky andTurkletaub at fremont.

The successful certification ofGerber would not have been possiblewithout the tenacity of Ou Kosher’sVice President of communicationsand marketing, rabbi dr. eliyahusafran, who ceaselessly pursued hisvision of providing these quality

products to the kosher babies ofamerica; the expert direction of rab-binic coordinator rabbi davidBistricer, whose nieces and nephewsno longer have to figuratively droolover these products; and, of course,the good people of Gerber and its par-ent company, Nestlé Nutrition, whosteadfastly continue in their missionof providing even america’s youngestconsumers with the best, high qualitykosher foods.

Rabbi David Bistricer serves as Or-thodox Union rabbinic coordinator forGerber Products Company.

Rabbi Avrohom Stone serves as OUKosher Senior Rabbinic Field Represen-tative, visiting with countless OU certi-fied companies throughout the country.His instructive, enlightening and enter-taining features appear frequently in Be-hind the Union Symbol. His “YourKosher HorOUscope,” which appearedin the Spring 2008 issue, elicited manypositive responses. In spite of his de-manding schedule, Rabbi Stone alsoshares his extensive kosher knowledgeand experiences through the “OUKosher Coming” forum. Most recently,he lectured to college students at theUniversity of Pennsylvania.

organicCertification

To OU Clients

OU KOSHER TO RECOMMEND


it is hard to resist squeezing a bag of marshmallows as onepasses it in the supermarket aisle. Who would have thoughtthat a colorless, brittle, almost tasteless substance called“gelatin” can transform a lump of sugar into an irresistibleconfection? The truth is that gelatin is a very versatile andimportant ingredient whose value has long been recognizedin many sectors of the food industry. Gelatin is a key com-ponent in a whole array of gummy and jelly-style confec-tions. Typically, it is added to yogurts and ice creams to givethem a thicker consistency. Pies, mousses and whippedcreams are all enhanced with the inclusion of a small bit ofgelatin. Because gelatin is also an excellent adhesive, it mayeven be used to affix sprinkles to pastries. New and innova-

tive uses for gelatin are being created all the time. While thisis wonderful news for the general population, it has not al-ways been great news for the kosher consumer.

Gelatin is derived from collagen, a substance found in theskins and bones of animals such as pigs and cows. There is novegetarian source for collagen, and while one might see “veg-etable gelatin” listed on a product label, it would typically be, inactuality, agar agar, a seaweed derivative. in some products, itcan be a fair substitute for gelatin.

since “real” gelatin is derived from animal sources, ithas been the focus of debate for nearly 100 years among lead-ing rabbis. The question is: can gelatin from non-koshersources be permitted? although cows that were not ritually

GelatinKosheror, How a Product from Beefis Rendered Pareve and Can Be Used in Dairy Delicacies

The Fascinating Story of

By Rabbi Eli Gersten

SPRING 2009 | 17

it’s not often that a company is founded by someone who is arenowned kashrut expert. Yet, that was exactly the case withGlatech Productions. The company, founded by the legendaryrabbi shimon eider, a trailblazer in kashrut, manufactures atruly unique gelatin marketed as Kolatin®.

unique gelatin? aren’t all gelatins basically the same?What is in fact so special about Kolatin®?

moshe eider, Glatech’s director of Operations, explains,“real gelatin is an animal derivative, a product of bovine hides.for the kosher con-sumer, concerned withall the issues that this en-tails, it presented obvi-ous problems.” Over theyears, manufacturers resorted to substitutes, such as fish-bonegelatin, or seaweed based products like agar agar or caragee-nenan. Other companies used bovine gelatin, but it was ob-tained from non-kosher hides or bones; no major koshercertifying agency in the united states, canada, or most of the

world would approve it. moshe adds, “my fa-

ther, who was really outthere on the front lines,saw the niche for realgelatin that was 100 per-cent kosher, pareve andKosher for Passover.and so he diligently began the re-search process. after five years of research anddevelopment, with much determination and perseverance,Kolatin® was successfully developed.”

What is the advantage of real bovine gelatin versus thealternatives?

“for the consumer, it’s the quality. Nothing else matchesthe mouth feel and texture of true gelatin in gel desserts, cus-tard, or whipped creams. in fact, gelatin is an ideal substitutefor butter, particularly when you want to reduce fat content.from silky to chewy, real gelatin’s ability to mimic the texture

slaughtered, and, of course, pigs, are certainly not kosher,some rabbis were lenient in allowing products that had verysmall amounts of gelatin added. This is because they felt thatthe gelatin extraction process caused the skins and bones to

be sufficiently denatured, to the point thatthey are no longer considered food.

This is not the mainstream position.it has been rejected by every major kosher

certifying agency. indeed, equipment thatprocessed gelatin products might need kosherization, de-pending on the nature of the contact between the equipmentand the product.

another variety of gelatin, which has proven useful in meet-ing the needs of kosher consumers as well as the muslim andhindu communities, is fish gelatin. Kosher fish gelatin is extractedfrom the skins and bones of kosher fish, those that possess bothfins and scales. since kosher fish skins are plentiful and relativelyinexpensive, fish gelatin has been a boon for meeting the growingworld-wide demand for kosher. There are currently several Ou-certified companies that produce fish gelatin. Of course, there areproducts that require beef gelatin, and no suitable alternative ex-ists. The kosher consumer will be pleased to note that the Ou cer-

tifies such a gelatin as well. This special gelatin ismade exclusively from the skins of kosher rituallyslaughtered cows. strikingly, this variety of beef-derived gelatin is considered pareve, and mayeven be combined with dairy ingredients! al-though kosher laws are very strict concerningthe segregation of milk and meat, the processing ofthese hides renders them pareve. Therefore, even kosher milkchocolate delicacies can be made with kosher beef gelatin. Or-thodontists of the world rejoice: every sticky gummy treat is nowavailable to the kosher consumer.

Rabbi Eli Gersten has been serving as OU Kosher rabbiniccoordinator since 2007, serving as recorder of OU policy. In that

important capacity he works closely withthe OU’s senior rabbinic team that reviewsand formulates OU Kosher policy. Prior tojoining the OU he served as senior fellow atThe Ner Israel Rabbinical College where hereceived ordination in 2003. Rabbi Gersten’sarticle, Devoting Energy to Saving Energy,appeared in the Winter 2009 issue of BTUS.

realreal

GelatinKosher

Glatech Productions’ Kolatin®


a basic element missing from the kosher food industry forgenerations was affordable cattle-derived kosher gelatine.Geliko, a world leader in kosher gelatine production, hasrecently announced the arrival of Geliko Kosher Gelatineand Gelatine hydrolysate.

long hailed as a rich source of protein, gelatine

of natural fatty substancesis incomparable. Onetaste of our elyon® Gel-atin dessert, and you’llknow the difference.”moshe gets warmed up

on the topic, and his enthusiasm aboutKolatin® is apparent. “for manufacturers, Ko-

latin’s versatility is a dream. it serves as an ideal emulsifier,thickening agent, binder, and even clarifying agent. it’s used infrozen desserts, confections, chocolates, pharmaceuticals,wines, consommés, jellies, meat products, cheese cakes,syrups, and lots more.

Based on our customer’s requirements, Kolatin® is man-ufactured to the specifications of each customer’s needs, in areassuch as bloom strengths, viscosity and mesh size. We also havea wide variety of gelatins readily available for immediate deliv-ery. manufacturers who switch to Kolatin® don’t have to retool– its integration into existing systems is virtually seamless.”

Because Glatech Productions has such hands-on expe-rience in production techniques, they designed the com-pany to incorporate modern hi-tech standards as well asextraordinary quality control. Only domestic animals areused, and each run is subject to an extensive series of qual-ity tests, including microbiological analyses. in fact, de-pending on the end use, products containing Kolatin® maybe marketed as usda Organic certified.

additionally, Kolatin® is produced in as isO-9001 certi-

fied facility. from a health conscious perspective, Kolatin® ishard to beat. it’s a low-calorie, fat-free, sugar-free and choles-terol-free ingredient. moreover, Kolatin® is actually a goodsource of protein and amino acids.

for the kosher consumer, Kolatin® is nothing short of abreakthrough. “manufacturing an animal-based gelatin thatwould also be strictly kosher as well as pareve, presented anumber of formidable challenges,” says moshe eider. “Ko-latin® is a product that meets the strictest standards of kashrut– it’s the only one in the world produced exclusively from Glattkosher hides - and satisfies the most discerning palettes.”

The Glatech team is always exploring new concepts, bothin products and in service. currently on the horizon is an ideathat consumers will surely appreciate: recipes from susie fish-bein, world renowned author of the best-selling Kosher bydesign cookbook series, will appear on the back of elyon gelatin dessert retail boxes and be available at www. Kosher Gelatin.com.

for Glatech, having the Orthodox union certification wasnon-negotiable. “from a marketing perspective we wanted theagency that is most universally recognized,” says moshe eider.“But even more so, we wanted consumers to know that ourkashrut is as genuine as our gelatin!”

for more information about Kolatin® real Kosher Gela-tin, please call 732.364.8700 or visit www.KosherGelatin.com.

Rabbi Chananel Herbsman serves as Orthodox Unionrabbinic coordinator for Glatech Productions LLC.

GelatineHydrolysate

Announcing the Arrival of Geliko OU Kosher

for Kosher Food and Pharmaceutical Applications

SPRING 2009 | 19

hydrolysate has not always beenavailable to manufacturers of kosherfood and kosher pharmaceuticals.combining the resources of a globalmanufacturer with the technical ex-pertise of the Orthodox union, Gelikohas optimized and streamlined thecomplicated process of kosher gela-tine production. Today, Geliko man-ages the world’s largest and mostreliable continuous systems for koshergelatine production, and can supportthe production needs of any kosherfood production facility.

mr. Zach rubin, President of Ge-liko, explains, “To make kosher gela-tine available to the entire kosherindustry, we needed to have the koshercertification with maximum accept-ance. The Ou was the natural choice.Not only are they accepted and re-spected universally, their rabbis have adeep understanding of complex tech-nical issues. Their expertise was indis-pensible in making this project asuccess. With this project, the Ou hashelped numerous companies thatcould not manufacture certain kosherproducts because kosher gelatine wasnot available.”

Gelatine and gelatine hy-drolysate are both valuable sub-stances, andboth play vitalroles in manu-facture. how-ever, there aredistinct differ-ences betweenthem.

collagen(the proteinsubstance fromthe hides ofkosher-slaugh-tered cattle), isconverted to a

liquid form through enzymatic hy-drolysis. carefully-controlled partialhydrolysis yields gelatine, while com-plete enzymatic hydrolysis producesgelatine hydrolysate. Gelatine andgelatine hydrolysate can be used to en-hance texture, thickness, and gelstrength, (Gelatine is defined by itsbloom, or gel strength.)

“Gelatine,” says mr. rubin, “hasa neutral taste and no odor, so it can beused in food applications without al-tering taste or smell.” Gelatine forms agel at room temperature and requireshot water to dissolve. Therefore, it canfunction in numerous ways: as a gelformer and texturizer in fruit gumsand gelatine desserts; a stabilizer indairy products such as yogurts orpuddings; and an emulsifierin soups, sauces and low-fat food. if a particularproduct needs its ingredi-ents brought together with anoptimal consistency or strength, gela-tine is the perfect adhesive for the job.furthermore, it can act as a whippingagent and foam former in marshmal-lows, ice cream, cake fillings andmousse desserts. it is also a greatsource of protein.

Gelatine hydrolysate, on the otherhand, is defined by its viscosity. itforms a solution at room temperature,and most types dissolve at room tem-perature in cold water. Gelatine hy-drolysate is also an ideal source

of protein. it can be used as a thicken-ing and binding agent, so it is able toreplace sugar as an adhesive in someproducts, further improving theirhealthfulness. Gelatine hydrolysate,too, is neutral in taste, so it does notaffect flavor adversely. itis used to improve awide array ofproducts, in-c l u d i n gproteinb a r s ,cerealb a r s ,proteindrinks,

smoothies, and jointhealth and nutraceuticial products.

The benefits that Geliko KosherGelatine and Gelatine hydrolysatecan provide are endless. Whetheryou are looking to improve the phys-ical characteristics of your productsor increase their nutritional value,Geliko Kosher Gelatine and Gelatinehydrolysate are ideal ingredients.

for further in-formation contactZach rubin at zach@danmaycorp. com orvisit our website atwww.geliko .com.

Rabbi SethMandel serves as Orthodox Unionrabbinic coordinatorfor Geliko.

NEW GELIKO PRODUCTS: PROTEIN BAR, PILLS, AND GELCANDY.


sGs and the Orthodox union (Ou), the world-wide lead-ers in food safety and kosher certification, respectively,

have come together to provide a service which ensures thatsafety and quality management standards are met, whileproduction steps and ingredients comply with kosher re-quirements. By combining kosher certification and foodsafety management systems certification, companies can

gain access to new markets and at thesame time, demonstrate a high level ofcommitment to producing a safe and qual-ity food product.

“With the partnering of our organiza-tions, kosher certification and food safetycertification have now become one seamless

process,” declares mark evers, sGs Business developmentmanager. mr. evers further explains, “companies wishingdual certification in achieving both kosher and food safety cer-

tification(s) such as haccP, sQf, Brc, and isO 22000 (as wellothers), can contact either of our organizations.”

“By gathering some basic information about the inquir-ing companies’ operations, we can share that information sothey can receive the needed information from the Ou forkosher certification and a proposal for food safety from sGs.Our respective organizations have an agreement of under-standing and communication between us that can offer un-paralleled service to the food industry. i am honored to beassociated with such a well-operated and premium serviceprovider as the Orthodox union.”

rabbi eliyahu safran of the Orthodox union added that“the cooperative efforts between the Ou and sGs can result inenormous benefits to companies seeking the best in kosher cer-tification and food safety certifications.”

SGS PROVIDES THE FOLLOWING FOODCERTIFICATION & TRAINING SERVICES:

> GMP — Good manufacturing Practices> ISO 22000 — food safety Quality management> HACCP — hazard analysis and critical control Points

certification> SQF — safe Quality food standard> BRC — British retail consortium’s Global standard for

food safety> IFS — international food standard> GLOBALGAP — Good agricultural Practices (used to

be eurepgap)> ISO 9001 — Quality management system standard> ISO 14001 — environmental management systems> OHSAS 18001 — Occupational health and safety

Kosher Certification

food safety

Combining

international&Concerns

SGS and the OU


SPRING 2009 | 21

recognition and articulationthat they are done because ofand for God. That is why wesay a blessing before we eat. indoing so, we acknowledge thatit is God who “brings forth thebread from the earth.” Wefocus our trust and faith on theOne who is most trustworthy.

Giving blessing is partic-ularly important for the act ofeating. Our rabbis teach thatif three people enjoy a feast, abrilliant banquet, yet words ofTorah are not discussed, it isas if they had engaged insomething prohibited and re-pulsive.

Without a meal, we can-not recite Kiddush. The rabbis have in-terpreted this to mean that there can be

no kedusha (ho-liness) in the ab-sence of a meal.No holiness ex-cept when weeat! Whatgreater state-ment can therebe that the spiri-tual and mate-rial are wed.however, foodonly affords usthe possibility of

kedusha. We must recite brachot (bless-ings) both before and after we eat to ren-der our “base” behavior spiritual andtrue. Our blessings wed the body with

the soul. They turn our attention fromour temporal and physical existence tothe eternal bond we have with God.

Blessings enable material experi-ences to be elevated to spiritual heights.in the Talmud it is written, “it is forbid-den for man to enjoy anything of thisworld without a blessing, and if anyoneenjoys anything of this world without ablessing, he commits sacrilege.”

To bless is to be fully aware — of thepleasure of the material, yes, but moreimportantly of the spiritual One who isbeyond this world.

Kashrut affords us insight into ourdesire to find meaning during these dif-ficult times. seeking wealth might ap-pear to be a function of greed but it neednot necessarily be. The wealthy are theones who provide heat for the syna-

gogue and food for the way-farer. The desire for wealth isnot necessarily a bad thing.seeking wealth to the exclu-sion of caring about our fel-lows is. it is in our choices andour engagement with theworld that we engage God;that we become holy.

it would seem thatthose who rose most highonly to fall the farthest didseek or find blessing in theirmaterial enterprise. Theycertainly did not understandthat the true worth of theirendeavors was in their seek-ing the kashrut of it. Nomeal, no wealth, can have

real meaning or pleasure without bless-ing. and, when we trust God, evenmodest meals and material wealth areworth more than a king’s feast andkingdom.

Best regards and wishes for yourcontinued success and well being,

rabbi dr. eliyahu safran

editor in chief /Vice President,communications and marketing — Ou Kosher

> > QUESTION OF MEANING C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 3

t

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WHO ELSE at your company (in management,marketing,production) who should be receiving a copy of

Do let us know at [email protected]. We will gladly add them to our mailing list.

BEHIND THEUNION SYMBOL?


Ask the RabbiDear Rabbi:

I am aware of requirements for kosher certificat

ion of

wines, brandies, liqueurs, vodkas, gin and more

alcoholic

beverages. Is there also a need to obtain koshe

r certifica-

tions for our bourbon, scotch and single malt li

nes. We are

in the midst of deciding whether to go ahead wit

h submitting

our OU application. It has been brought to our m

arketing

team’s attention that there is a growing tendenc

y among

kosher consumers to seek OU certified liquor pro

duct. Is that

true? Your input and clarification would be app

reciated.

Dear___________________:

Most kosher consumers understand and a

ccept that certain food items require

kosher supervision. For example, every

one can readily see that meat requires

kosher

supervision because of the fact that t

he procedure for preparing kosher meat

is

lengthy and involved. The processes of

kosher slaughter, de-veining, and sal

ting

meat to remove capillary blood – each

of these procedures requires

training.

In addition, a product which obviously

contains numerous in-

gredients and flavors, such as a pie o

r a pudding, will be under-

stood to require kosher certification

simply because of the

multitude of ingredients contained in

it.

However, when it comes to whiskey, none

of the possible

complications are obvious. After all,

whiskey seems to be noth-

ing but distilled alcohol, which has so

me residual flavor from

wheat or rye. Adding to the impression

of simplicity is the fact

that the average consumer has no idea w

hat may be contained in a

whiskey. The reason? Alcoholic beverages

are regulated by the

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms administ

ration (ATF), not by the

Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Th

us the government does

not require the disclosure of ingredien

ts in alcoholic bever-

ages, and they are not listed on the pr

oduct label.

In actuality, however there are substa

ntial concerns with

whiskey. For starters, alcohol which i

s often added to recipes

in order to standardize the product, t

hough usually derived

SPRING 2009 | 23

from corn, may also be derived from gr

apes or whey, each one hav-

ing significant kosher concerns. Color

s are often added to a

product in order to enhance its appear

ance. These ingredients

can be kosher sensitive.

Blenders may be added to a number of whi

skey products.

A blender is a specially prepared compon

ent of whiskey

which is mostly alcohol, but may also co

ntain flavors and other

ingredients. Blenders may constitute up

to two percent of an al-

coholic beverage. Now alcohol is the mos

t highly taxed consumer

product on the market. Blenders are not

taxed, as long as they

are not-potable even when diluted to 14

percent alcohol. There-

fore, manufacturers use blenders as a wa

y to increase the alcohol

content of a beverage, without incurring

additional tax.

Finally, aging presents an issue, beca

use old

non-kosher wine casks may be used. Th

e casks, however, can

be kosherized.

Thus there are issues

involved with the kosher certifi-

cation of whiskey products, but

none of them is insurmountable.

Bourbon has the least of these

problems, while scotch has the

most. However, manufacturers

should bear in mind that today

there is a large untapped market

for high quality, brand recogniz-

able, kosher certified, whiskey

products. I suggest that you be

in touch with us to follow through

on your OU application for your

bourbon and scotch lines.

Rabbi Jacob B. Mendelson

Rabbinic Coordinator, OU Kosher


Koval is a Yiddish word for‘blacksmith’ or ‘to forge,”

but the term has also been usedto refer to someone who doessomething out of the ordinary,or a “black sheep in the family.”it is thus fitting that sonat Bir-necker hart and robert Bir-necker chose to name theircompany Koval, since it is notevery day that one hears of aProfessor of Jewish studies anda foreign deputy Press secre-tary leaving their careers tomake spirits. indeed theynamed the company aftersonat’s great-grandfather, arenegade in his own right, wholeft Vienna at the turn of thecentury for chicago at the ageof 17, in search of a new way oflife, much to the dismay of hisparents and gratitude of later generations, earning him thesoubriquet, Koval.

sonat and robert thought about making spirits for awhile before relocating from Washington, d.c. to foundchicago’s first boutique distillery. robert’s grandfather, whose

name schmid coinci-dentally also means“blacksmith,” has madespirits in europe forover 40 years. robert feltthat americans are be-coming more interestedin low volume handcrafted spirits, similar tothe regional spirits ofeurope. Koval gains itsinspiration from theseeuropean distilleriesand thus plans to offer a

variety of seasonal as well as annual products that make use oflocal flavors and produce.

in fact, Koval is now one of a growing number of artisan

distilleries offering consumersan array of spirits made in smallbatches for more regional mar-kets. These products are a wel-come alternative to big namebrands from abroad with littleregional flair. indeed, duringthis period of economic turmoil,many are turning away fromsuch brands in order to supporttheir local economy and revivewhat was once a flourishingamerican spirits industrylargely lost due to prohibition.it is only recently that theamerican distillers have beenable to follow the lead of thecraft brewers in making a vari-ety of creative new productsthat manage to capture nationalattention.

Koval is already making aname for itself as a unique spirits house, not least because itavoids the common practice of outsourcing the production ofneutral grain spirits that are then only flavored in house. Kovalmakes everything from scratch, which includes the mashing ofthe grain and fruit to peeling sixty pounds of ginger by handfor each batch of organic ginger liqueur. They even label eachbottle by hand including the number of each batch.

Koval is also trying to start a small revolution in the spir-its world. although they are producing organic rye vodka,they discovered that distilled grains have a smooth flavor andheady aroma that is completely stripped away when madeinto vodka. according to american law, vodka must be odor-less and tasteless. Koval’s founders felt that it was a shame toremove the natural flavors of organic wheat and rye and sothey created “rye chicago” and “midwest Wheat,” both spir-its that let the taste and aroma compounds of the grains shinethrough. in addition, Koval is producing a Ginger liqueur andis the only distillery in the united states to offer a rose hipliqueur. as soon as springtime arrives, Koval will be adding avariety of liqueurs and fruit brandies to its portfolio.

One of the reasons why Koval’s founders left their tradi-tional careers is because they wanted to get back to basics, to

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

>>

ArtisanDistillery Is OU Kosher

and Organic

Chicago’s first

IN FINE SPIRITS

SPRING 2009 | 25

manufacture something of high quality,to participate in the kind of practices thatmade this country strong. They believethat by maintaining both organic andkosher certifications they are ensuringthat their products are held to the high-est standards. They use organic raw in-gredients not only because they considerthem more flavorful than conventional

produce but also because it is a way tosupport sustainable agriculture. Kovalsees its Ou kosher certification as a keyelement of the company’s identity aswell, one that not only serves as a meas-ure of quality but also as a means ofmaintaining a sense of community withother Jews. Koval wants to be able tosupply superior taste to all l’chaims.

Koval is located in chicago’sravenswood neighborhood and offers avariety of events and tastings through-out the year. To see what is happeningnow, check out the website: www.koval-distillery.com.

Rabbi Jacob Mendelson serves asOrthodox Union rabbinic coordinatorfor Koval.

L ucid absinthe, the first genuine ab-sinthe to be legal for import and sale

in the united states in over 95 years, hasacquired kosher certification from theOrthodox union. after receiving enor-mous interest in lucid from consumerswho keep kosher, and committed toserving that segment of the market,Viridian spirits, owners of lucid, con-tacted the Ou to determine whetherlucid would qualify for the certification.The company was delighted to learn thatall of its existing processes and ingredi-ents already were sufficient to achieveOrthodox union’s hallowed seal.

lucid absinthe supérieure waslaunched in may 2007. The launch wasthe result of extensive negotiations be-tween Viridian and the u.s. governmentpaving the way for the ban on absintheeffectively to come to an end. Viridian re-tained renowned absinthe historian anddistiller T.a. Breaux to develop lucid infrance. Breaux had spent over a decadestudying and perfecting his techniquesafter sampling and analyzing several un-opened bottles of vintage absinthe. consumers in the New York region werethe first to sample the ultra-premiumproduct, crafted exactly the same way

absinthe was made 100 years ago. dueto the strong demand over the severalmonths since the launch, lucid is nowdistributed throughoutthe country in 28 statesand more markets areexpected to be addedthroughout the year.

“We initially felt thatthere would be a demandfor absinthe in the u.s.after we witnessed itsreemergence on the euro-pean scene and in amer-ican pop culture,” saidJared Gurfein, Presidentof Viridian spirits llc.“Our expectations havetruly been exceeded andwe are looking forwardto taking this brand tonew levels.”

lucid is an authen-tic absinthe in the tradi-tion of absinthe from theBelle Époque period.unlike many contempo-rary imitations currentlyavailable in the u.s. andabroad, lucid, naturally

green in color, is distilled entirely fromspirits and whole european herbs anduses no artificial additives, oils or dyes.

lucid begins with afull measure of GrandeWormwood (arteme-sia absinthium), Greenanise, sweet fennel,and other culinaryherbs representative ofeuropean traditionsand historical absinthecrafting.

lucid is distilledat the historical com-bier distillery insaumur, france, in theheart of the loire Val-ley. T.a. Breaux choseto use the distillery’soriginal antique copperabsinthe stills and ap-paratus, much ofwhich was designedby Gustav eiffel in thenineteenth century.as a testament to thebrand’s early success,lucid was recently

To Seek OU Certificationto Satisfy the Kosher Market for itsGenuine Absinthe

Lucid’s

> > CONT INUED ON PAGE 33

LucidDecision

Today’s consumers are increasingly demanding food that, inaddition to tasting good, is also healthy and affordable. Thisposes a tremendous challenge to the food industry — a chal-lenge that becomes still more sophisticated when kosher re-quirements are introduced into the equation.

Not only is symrise one of the most important partnersfor food producers who can meet these challenges, the com-pany is also the fourth largest producer of fragrances and fla-vorings in the world (sales). With sales of 1.32 billion euros in

2008, symrise continues to pursue its on-going growth strategy. clients of the com-pany’s flavor & Nutrition divisioninclude, among others, renowned pro-ducers of sweets, dairy products, beveragesand convenience foods. The symrise scent & caredivision produces raw materials and active ingredi-ents for the fragrances and cosmetics industry.

The company is headquartered in holzminden,

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

>>

surpriseno

OU Certification Is an Important Part of Business atOne of the Leading Makers of

Fragrances and Flavorings

At symrise

A COMPOUNDING MACHINE FOR THE FLAVOR & LIQUID DIVISION THAT HAS BEEN FINE-TUNED FOR KOSHER PRODUCTION.

SPRING 2009 | 27

Germany, a city that expresses its con-nection to symrise through its nickname:“city of fragrances and flavorings.”symrise currently has a presence in over35 countries worldwide and employsmore than 5,000 people. The companywas established in 2003 through themerger of dragoco Gerberding & co.aG and haarmann & reimer Gmbh,and became a publicly traded companyin december 2006.

Producing kosher products haslong had an important role to play atsymrise, where Ou Kosher rabbis Nos-son Neuberger and avrohom schwartzprovide the company with consultingservices. roughly 2,300 certified kosherproducts were made in holzminden lastyear, 300 of which were produced withonsite supervision of an Ou rabbinicfield representative. These products, thelion’s share of which were made by theflavor & Nutrition division, are prima-rily sold in the u.s. and israel.

“Ou certification means more to usand to our clients than simply an indica-

tion that our products are acceptable toa particular religious group,” says Nor-bert Kahmann, one of those who over-sees kosher production at symrise.“certification serves as an importantquality indicator for premium prod-ucts.” according to Kahmann, many ve-gans and people who are lactoseintolerant often turn to kosher products.The Kosher coordinator is part of theKosher Team with members from thedepartments regulatory affairs, supplychain and sales that organizes kosherproduction. The Kosher Team also is incharge for a regular training for all em-ployees in thesupply chain.“Kosher produc-tion is part of ourday-to-day busi-ness,” says Kah-mann, “and is ahighly integralpart of all of ourp r o d u c t i o nprocesses.”

New symrise products are gener-ally submitted to the Ou for certification,which reviews raw materials, theirsources, and individual productionsteps. Norbert Kahmann recentlyworked with the symrise Kosher Teamto produce a production calendar as away to make kosher production more ef-ficient. Buyers can then use this calendarto see exactly when production will takeplace. The reason for this is that kosherproduction is set for certain times of theyear, as it requires extensive cleaning andpreparation. “We make the kosher cal-

endar available to our clients so that theywill know exactly when they can counton specific materials,” Kahmann ex-plains. The significance of kosher prod-ucts will be growing as time goes on,

which is why sym-rise is currentlyplanning to havecritical productionsites in madagascarand Brazil certified.

Rabbi NossonNeuberger serves asOrthodox Unionrabbinic coordina-tor for Symrise.

RABBIS NEUBERGER AND SCHWARZ INSPECT A

PRODUCTION FACILITY AT THE SYMRISE PLANT IN

HOLZMINDEN, GERMANY.

PerfectPet

Pentateuch

The

of the

By RaBBi Chaim Loike

Peace, loyalty, sacrifice and food are most often

associated with the biblical pigeon. The tranquility of the post-flood land-

scape is forever immortalized in the torn olive branch which the pi-

geon dispatched by Noah carried back to the ark. The prophet

isaiah (59:11) urges the penitent to cry to the lord as the cooing

of a pigeon and return to the lord in the manner of the pi-

geon to the dovecote (60:8). The pigeon, along with the

dove, are the most frequently referenced of the bird sacri-

fices brought in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The

flight of the pigeon was admired by King david in

Psalms (55:7 & 68:14), and its beauty was referenced

by King solomon multiple times in the song of

songs (1:15, 2:14, 4:1, 5:2, 5:12, & 6:9).

On the most basic level, the pigeon was food.

if properly maintained, the bird would forage

and return nightly to its roost, rewarding the

owner with eggs on a monthly basis. The

birds could function as a rudimentary sav-

ings bank; when there was extra food, the pi-

geons would be allowed to multiply. When

food was scarce, the eggs and ultimately

the birds themselves could be harvested

and then consumed or bartered.

SPRING 2009 | 29


The homing ability of the pigeonhas been utilized by man since bibli-cal times. ancient mariners wouldtake pigeons on their boats. if theylost their way, the sailors would re-lease the pigeons and then follow theflight path of the birds to the safety ofthe shore. it was perhaps in this tradi-tion that Noah released the pigeon todetermine if the waters of the greatflood had receded. The first bird sentby Noah was the raven, but it failed tocomplete its mission and refused toventure forth from the ark. The ravenis described in the Bible (Genesis 8:7)as being sent forth, in contrast to thepigeon which in the language of theBible (Genesis 8:8) Noah “sent forththe pigeon from him.” The implica-tion of the verbiage is that the ravenwas merely one of the birds on theark; the pigeon was dear to Noah andthus sent “from him” as one were tosend one of his cherished possessions.

This would make Noah the first doc-umented pigeon fancier.

although it is clear that pigeonswere extensively raised in biblicaltimes, aside from Noah, there is no in-dication of the birds being raised for

reasons other than con-sumption until the sec-ond Temple Period. Themishnah and the Tal-mud, written at the endof the second Temple Pe-riod, are replete with ad-monitions against racingand gambling with pi-geons. an interestinggame, enjoyed in biblicaltimes, involved challeng-ing the homing andflocking inclinations ofpigeons. Birds belongingto different people wouldbe flown at the sametime, with the flocksbeing encouraged tomingle. The owner ofeach flock would fly hisbirds is such a manner asto entice the birds from the other flocksto join his own. The birds which

deserted theirflock, werethen collectedand either soldor ransomedback to theirowner.

The Bibledoes not distin-guish betweenthe breeds of pi-geon, althoughby Talmudictimes therewere a halfdozen recog-nized breeds.The breeds gen-erally had de-scriptive namessuch as, baysos,house pigeons;

yonei aliyah, attic pigeons; and yoneishovach, dovecote pigeons. The differ-ent breeds were distinguished by theirbehavior, but it is unclear whether thebehavior of the birds was the result of se-lective breeding or perhaps the condi-

tions under which the birds were raised. One exceptional pigeon breed was

the herdosios pigeon, which was namedafter the infamous King herod, whoruled israel at the end of the secondTemple Period. it is unclear whether thebreed was actually developed by herod,or he merely imported the birds. somespeculate that the bird might have beenimported from rhodes and as a resultKing herod merely manipulated thename from hordosios to herodosios.These birds could be distinguished fromother birds by physical characteristics,most importantly their inability to for-age. indeed, these birds needed to bemaintained exclusively in the home. it isunclear if the herodosios pigeons stillexist, but based on Talmudic as well asthe description of Josephus, who livedshortly after the herod’s reign, the hero-dosios pigeons were probably similar tothe breeds now known as the romanrunts or the hungarian house pigeons.

although Talmudic law does dis-tinguish between the breeds of pigeon,there is only limited discussion as tothe definition of a pigeon. They wereidentified by a handful of physicalcharacteristics as well as their lack of

SPRING 2009 | 31

any predatory tendencies (hulin 59).The Talmud (hulin 22) notes the dis-tinction between doves and pigeons,but only so far as they can be com-pared and contrasted with each other.interestingly enough, today pigeonsare often derided as the rats of the sky.in the Talmudic times they were notedfor their cleanliness, because unlikeother birds which drank water whichthen dripped back from the mouth asthe bird raised its head to swallow, thepigeon drank continuously from thewater without any backwash.

in the two thousand years sincethe Talmud was codified, hundredsof pigeon breeds have been devel-oped. Pigeons are raised in a rainbowof colors; the feathers have been ma-nipulated to a dazzling array of pat-terns. even the basic feather andbone structure of the breeds havebeen altered. The dominant scientifictheory for the last three hundredyears has been that all the domesticbreeds of pigeon share an exclusively

rock dove ancestry. There are dis-senters who question the possibilitythat so many varied breeds couldhave been derived exclusively fromthe rock dove. The position of the Or-thodox union is that pigeons arekosher. The question which continu-ously arises is whether all breeds ofpigeon are to be considered pigeon.

To research the pigeons, the Ou hasmaintained a loft (that is, a pigeon coop),with a diverse selection of common meatpigeons as well as some of the more ex-otic breeds including owls, Brunnerpouters, runts, frizzles, archangels andNew York highfliers. fantail pigeonswere observed and kept in the loft of mdlaufer. The basic behavior of the pigeonswas observed as well as their communi-

cation between other members of the re-spective breeds. With the exception ofthe runts, the birds were bred and eggswere produced. The breeds examinedwere observed to eat the same food andflock together, with the exception of therunts and the Brunner pouters, since therespective sizes required separate hous-ing for these breeds. The shape, but notthe size, of all the eggs observed wassimilar, as was the texture.

Pigeons tend to be monogamousand when not purchased as a pair,many of the birds seemed to disregardspecies classification when choosing amate. currently, the majority of the pi-geon breeds raised for meat are the bib-lical pigeon (or some mutation) and areaccepted as kosher by the Orthodoxunion. The more exotic breeds arerarely raised for food, being slow to ma-ture and extremely valuable. however,the research continues if nothing morethan as a scholarly pursuit.

Rabbi Chaim Loike has served asOU Kosher rabbinic coordinator since2007, administering egg, spice andchemical companies.His BTUS Summer2008 feature, “Birds ofthe Bible — Solving theMystery of Which ofthe Species Are Kosherand Which AreNot,” as well as “The Partridge of theProphet,” BTUS winter 2009, haveelicited much interest and positivefeedback. Rabbi Loike co-stars withhis exotic birds in the much acclaimed

classroom DVD,“Kosher Birds Whoare They” (whichcan be ordered fromS a f r a n e @ o u .org), part of OUKosher’s expandededucational out-reach. Rabbi Loikereceived his BS and

rabbinical ordination from YeshivaUniversity.

LEFT, PIGEONS RESTING IN A TREE; ABOVE, A

PIGEON IN FLIGHT; RIGHT, COLLARED DOVES.


0-48 months. By laying a foundation of good nutrition andestablishing good eating behaviors early, parents can helptheir children prevent later life health problems like obe-sity and related diseases.

Over the last six years, Gerber’s start healthy,stay healthy™ initiative has delivered groundbreakingresearch, science-based advice and practical feedingguidelines for parents to adopt. for more informationabout Gerber, please visit www.starthealthystay-healthy.com or contact the start healthy stay healthyresource center (u.s. only) at 1-800-4-GerBer.

About nestlé nutritionNestlé Nutrition, part of Nestlé S.A., the world’s

largest food company, is dedicated toinfant, healthcare and performancenutrition and weight management.For consumer information aboutNestlé Infant Nutrition products inthe U.S. as well as expert advice onpregnancy, infant care and nutri-tion, visit www. StartHealthyStay-Healthycom.

certification involving most of these standards is sub-ject to the control of globally recognized independent ac-creditation schemes which ensure the depth, quality andconsistency of the audit process leading to certification. sGsfully supports such schemes, and it is our policy that ouraudit approach and the qualifications of our auditors con-sistently meet their requirements.

recent incidents related to food safety have demonstrated

that weak controls in the supply chain can dramatically impactour day-to-day lives and turn the fortunes of successful com-panies, even whole regions, upside down. consumers and gov-ernments are currently pushing for safer food managementsystems throughout the whole supply chain, from primary pro-ducers to exporters, feed manufacturers to restaurants. What’smore, customers want proof of your food safety up-front, in ad-dition to being assured that your company will continue to meet

> > GERBER C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 4

> > ORGANIC C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1 5

> > SGS AND FOOD SAFETY C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 2 0

> >

unless licensed by the federal government to do so.”consequently, unlike the situation with GfcO in which

Ou rabbinic field representatives also provide gluten-free cer-tification, only usda accredited staff of ON & ic at presentwill be doing the certifying. The Ou’s role will be to direct itsclients to the company.

“in order to help service our clients who are seeking thiscertification to market their products, we entered into a rela-tionship with the group which has the know-how to offer this

service to companies,” rabbi ele-fant declared. “We will recom-mend them to our clients who

want organic certification asa good organization towork with.”

among the compa-nies currently certified by

ON & ic are Qtrade Teas& herbs, one of the largest

importers of organic teas in theunited states; setton farms, a full service

provider of quality gourmet snacks; interbakefoods, one of the largest manufacturers of wafers in the unitedstates; and several of the del monte fresh produce plants.

according to marketing director Pearl siegel, ON &

ic chose to work with the Ou because “we were lookingfor a kosher certification agency with a reputation for thehighest quality and with a substantial list of client compa-nies. Of course, the Ou was a perfect fit. despite their size,”she added, “they are cooperative, easy to deal with, andgave every indication that our working relationship wouldbe would be extremely productive.”

according to ON & ic, its mission and goals are:> To provide organic certification to processors, handlers,growers, livestock brokers, traders, distributors, retailersand private label entities that want to be in conformity withusda rules and regulations;> To assist in the growth of public acceptance and demandfor organic products; and> To assist in making organic products freely available to thegeneral public.

according to rabbi elefant, the relationship “provides anopportunity to work together to reduce redundancy and costs.if we see it is beneficial to the companies, we will jointly trainour rabbinic field representatives to be accredited by usda,”and thereby to handle certifications, just as they perform thegluten-free certifications now.

For companies needing further information on ON & ICand organic foods, contact Pearl Siegel at [email protected],or 847-763-0218.

SPRING 2009 | 33

their needs now and in the long term. That’s a challenge, butalso an opportunity companies can benefit from.

if one tries to address food safety, quality or complianceno earlier than at the point of activity within the supply chain,it is too late. One needs to be two steps ahead and proactivelyensure that the necessary systems and control mechanisms arein place and executed effectively.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD SAFETY CONCERNS

Before technological advancements, imports and exports werenot as significant issues as they are today. in a global economy,lack of food safety regulations can lead to significant healthconcerns as well as to reduced consumer confidence.

international scares such as “mad cow” disease; melamineor cyanuric acid in food products from china; concerns about in-ternational pet food resulting in sick animals; and just recentlypeanuts, have been at the forefront of concern for individuals,

businesses and governments. When these food safety concerns are at their peak, everyone

involved is negatively affected. The nation where the contami-nated products originated is buffeted by negative press, often sig-nificantly damaging its overall exports. The companies at the coreof the controversy are often forced to close their doors. and the in-dividuals or animals affected by the food products frequently be-come sick or worse, they die.

While there have been numerous attempts to create co-hesive certifications among food production and processingfacilities to prevent such international catastrophes, it was notuntil recently that an international standard was adopted by asignificant portion of the globe.

For additional information contact: SGS: [email protected] / 201-508-3011, Supreeya.sansawat @sgs.com /201-508-3083

OU: Rabbi Eliyahu Safran, [email protected]; or Phyllis Koegel, [email protected], 212-613-8237.

>> Post the OU logo — one of the world’s best-known symbols of added attention to quality — on your website. Ask Suzanne Beck at [email protected] to send you a beautiful, hi-res OU logo

POST THEOU LOGOOn Your Website

named as one of The Top 12 Picks for 2008 by Beverage in-dustry News magazine. Voted on annually by a panel of keyretailers, distributors and beverage professionals, B.i.N. awardrecipients are selected as influential spirit brands to watch forin the coming year.

The Ou rabbinic staff responsible for the certification oflucid agree with the raves. rabbi Yony Kantor, Ou seniorWine and liquor supervisor, who visited the distillery was“impressed with the meticulousness with which this premiumproduct is crafted.” rabbi Yisrael hollander, Ou director ofeuropean supervision, said, “This product has been manu-factured the same way for over 150 years – same recipe, sameprocess, same taste.” and senior rabbinic coordinator rabbiNachum rabinowitz “welcomes this fine product into the

growing ranks of Ou certified spirits.”The suggested retail price for lucid is $59.99 for a 750

ml bottle. lucid is currently available in high-end retailshops and finer establishments in arizona, california, col-orado, connecticut, Washington d.c., florida, Georgia,idaho, illinois, indiana, louisiana, maryland, massachu-setts, minnesota, missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jer-sey, New mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania,rhode island, south carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsinand Wyoming. Viridian also sells classic absinthe acces-sories such as fountains, glasses and absinthe spoons. formore information, please visit www.drinklucid.com. Rabbi Jacob Mendelson serves as Orthodox Union rabbiniccoordinator for Viridian Spirits.

> > LUCID DECISION C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 2 5


ColombiaBy Rabbi Aharon Brun-Kestler

TAGANNGA BAY IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA, COLOMBIA

in colombia, it seems the people are asbright and warming as the tropical sun.like most of central and south america,this is a country with a disturbing past anda bright future. Once known more for co-caine drug lords and kidnapping than forlegitimate businesses and opportunity,colombia is coming into its own. Ou certi-fied companies there offer excellent prod-ucts ranging from consumer items likecoffee, hot pepper sauces and tuna fish toindustrial ingredients like tropical oils andcitric acid. all are made with the finest in-gredients – and just a bit of the brightnessthat comes with the tropical sun.

like many latin american countries,colombia offers a number of opportunitiesto food manufacturers. its weather and his-tory provide for an abundance of agricul-tural based products and old-world knowhow in food manufacture. Because of itscolonial and european roots, there are longestablished ties with the european union.due to relatively low labor costs, increas-ingly favorable trade terms and geography,colombia offers special benefits to Northamerican concerns. While the unfortunatepast of the drug cartels continues to weighheavily, a strong will and strong govern-ment are changing things.

This was my second trip to colombia

in the past two years. during my first trip,the focus was primarily on palm oil prod-ucts used in chocolates and other industrieswhich use tropical oils. interestingly,colombia is one of the few places outside ofmalaysia able to develop a significant palmindustry. it is blessed with just the rightweather and growingconditions: the palmsthat produce palm oilonly grow in a narrowband around the equa-tor. The companyacegrasas, a long es-tablished name incolombia and in theoil business, is work-ing hard to expand itsunited states exports.To date, the Ou hasworked with them ona limited basis to make special productionsof palm olein and stearin. long term, thehope is to develop a broad certification for awide range of specialty fats and oils.

it is much more common in latinamerica to find production and consump-tion of animal fat based products. as a re-sult, oil companies are commonly morecomplicated than in the united states andasia. This is especially true in facilities

Land of(Kosher) Opportunity

SPRING 2009 | 35


making hardened fats and margarineswhich often contain tallow and lard. asthese items are intrinsically not kosher,their presence makes any kosher pro-gram much more complicated. some-times the effect is limited to specific

equipment where items are blended;sometimes the entire plant may be non-kosher. for example, if there are com-mon supply and handling lines or acommon steam system – even betweenseparate production areas — the entireplant may be affected. at the very least,it becomes necessary to set up segre-gated and non-compatible systems.When possible, we work with a com-pany to segregate kosher and non-kosher in completely different facilities.

Of course, there are also more fa-miliar issues with dairy components,many of which require careful koshermonitoring in and of themselves andmust be sourced from acceptable

kosher suppliers. for example, wheyis a byproduct of cheese productionand has special considerations.When curds and whey are sepa-rated to make cheese, a numberof kosher concerns are involved.

for example, swisscheese is traditionallystarted by addingrennet to milk.rennet is a natu-rally occurring en-zyme in calfstomachs and itself subject tomany kosher complications. ifthe rennet is not kosher, thecheese is not kosher.

since swiss cheese makingincludes cooking the cheese andwhey before separation, the wheyitself is also not kosher. Othercommon dairy ingredients – milkpowder, lactose — are often spraydried or processed in facilitiesthat handle non-kosher produc-tion. Then, of course, there is thegeneric problem of making cer-tain that dairy and non-dairy arestrictly segregated.

Because of its tropical cli-mate, colombia is blessed withmiles and miles of sugar caneproduction. The result is aprime opportunity for not onlyyear-round kosher but for

Passover as well. many key productsused in industry, including citric acidand alcohol, are products of glucosefermentation. in the united states,the primary glucose source is corn; ineurope, it is wheat and other grains.The Bible specifically forbids the useof anything made from wheat, barley,spelt, oats and rye during Passover.additionally, Jews of ashkenazi(Western european) descent do notuse products made from kitniyot, in-cluding corn and soy. cane sugar,however, is clearly permitted.

The multinational Tate & lyle is aglobal producer of citric acid with astrong interest in providing Passover

grade product to the internationalmarket. Their sucromiles facility

near cali, a world center forcane sugar production, is an

excellent potential source.since citric acid can start

from any glucose sourceand since the plant also

manufactures al-cohol and other

potentially grain-based products, the

need arose for athorough forensic audit of both rawmaterials and products to determine ifcane sugar was, in fact, the only glu-cose source for the production in ques-tion. after many hours of work in theplant as well as extensive follow up, itwas determined that the citric acid inquestion met strict Passover require-ments for this year.

among colombia’s kosher assetsis a long established Jewish community.While it has suffered during the coun-try’s dark years, its presence meansthere are qualified people on theground to develop and service kosher.The Ou continues to work with thesecommunities to make certain theirkosher standards meet the highest stan-dards and to help them bring thosecompanies which are ready into the in-ternational kosher marketplace. Ofcourse, having people on the groundalso presents us with the ability to serv-ice companies locally —with all of theattendant benefits.

during my two trips, i have seenthe areas around Barranquilla, Bogotaand cali as well as the surroundingcountryside and have worked withlocal rabbis from all three cities. i havevisited plants making exotic fruit

SPRING 2009 | 37

purees and juices, candies and a widearray of other top-notch consumerproducts. While many of these firmshave not yet joined the Ou family, weare working with them and the localrabbis to make the transition whenthey are ready to enter the interna-tional kosher scene.

This tropical paradise, whose cli-mates range from temperate mountainregions to steamy caribbean coasts,produces a wide array of other Ou cer-tified products as well. These includeworld famous Juan Valdez brand cof-

fee as well as hot pepper pickles andtuna fish. By working directly withcompanies, importers and local com-munities, the sincere hope is to bringmore colombian products to the worldkosher marketplace. especially as theworld community in-creasingly embraceslatin influences,colombia is well poisedto be a key contributorto the world of Ou certified products andingredients.

Rabbi Aharon Brun-Kestler enjoysaddressing all aspects of kosher opera-tions and assisting companies whichseek to better understand the “Ins andouts” of kosher certification. His feature,“In the Plain of Spain,” appeared in the

Summer 2008 issue ofBTUS. Rabbi Brun-Kestler serves as OUrabbinic coordinatorfor snack companiesand services compa-nies in China, Greeceand Spain.

Daabon is a grower, re-finer, and producer of

Ou certified kosher palmfruit oil-based organic andnatural shortenings, hardfats and fry oils. all prod-ucts, organic as well asnatural, are the result ofsustainable agriculturaland socially responsiblebusiness practices. Nu-merous melting pointfractions are available tomeet the needs of a widevariety of food and per-sonal care manufacturer’srequirements. Palm kernel oil in variouspresentations is also available. from thesoil to the market, daabon is a verticallyintegrated producer of highest qualityand superior performance functionalproducts and your best choice for or-ganic and natural, trans-free fats.

daabon Groupof santa marta,colombia is a family-owned business thatwas founded in 1914.in the last 20 years,daabon has focusedon environmentallyand socially sustain-able palm oil pro-duction, amongother things. Ourcompany is prores-sively committed toensuring that we aresocially, economi-

cally and environmentally sustainable. itis with great satisfaction that weoffer customers and con-sumers worldwide delicioustasting and healthy certifiedorganic and kosher naturalfood products. We export

our products to the united states,canada, europe, australia and Japan.

Our unique food products are nat-ural, organic and sustainable palm fruitfractions: olein, stearin, and shorteningsfor trans-fat free baking, frying & manu-facturing. all of our oils are expellerpressed and mechanically refined with-out the use of chemicals ensuring thefreshest, most natural ingredients foryour product applications.

all daabon products are certifiedkosher by Ou. having the Ou certifica-tion insures customers that our highquality kosher products are suitable foranyone observing a kosher diet.

Visit us at www.daabon.com.

Rabbi Nosson Goldbergserves as Orthodox Unionrabbinic coordinator forDaabon Group of Santa

Marta.

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

>>

environmentallynatural

friendlyDeliciousorganicAgricultural Products

DAABON OF COLOMBIA

And, Oh Yes, They Are OU Kosher as Well


since 1927 the National federation ofcoffee Growers of colombia, a non-

profit organization, has represented theinterests of more than 500,000 coffeegrowers in different areas through thecommercialization process. One of thesteps taken to increase the awareness of100 percent colombian coffee® was todevelop one of the most advanced plantsmanufacturing freeze dried coffee inthe world. Buencafe®, formerly freezedried coffee, has been helping not onlythe most demanding customers in theindustry to build brands and products

for morethan 35years, butworks to

improve the livelihood of the commu-nity of coffee growers.

When Buencafe® was establishedin 1973, one goal was clearly defined: Tobe a leader in the industry thanks to ourprocess and products. Today, weproudly count on the most recognizedinternational standards such as isO9001, isO 14001, isO18001, Good man-ufacturing Practices (GmP), hazardanalysis and critical control Point(haccP), British retail consortium(Brc), international food standard(ifs), Business alliance for secure com-

merce (Basc), accredited Organic cer-tifications by the Japanese agriculturalstandards (Jas), european standardce2092, by the National Organic Pro-gram of united states (NOP) and by thesoil association; also the fairtrade cer-tification (flO), rainforest alliancecertification and Kosher certificationby the Orthodox union (Ou).

This last designation has specialmeaning, as it recognizes that our 100percent colombian freeze dried coffeeis a natural product manufactured ac-cording to Ou standards, using only cof-fee and water; and in the manufacturingprocess we use the proper equipmentand cleansing procedures for that coffee

to be preserved, to be of high quality andto be designated Ou Kosher.

all these certifications provide uswith a solid basis to guarantee that morethan 90 brands and 60 countries maywork and enjoy nothing but 100 percentcolombian freeze dried coffee.

To find out more about how we canhelp you to complement your portfoliowith the best freeze dried coffee, pleasee-mail us at [email protected] orcall us at 212-271-8807; mailing address:Buendia coffee llc, 140 east 57thstreet, New York, NY 10022.

Rabbi Yosef Grossman serves asOrthodox Union rabbinic coordinatorfor Buencafe.

OU COMPANIES SPEAK

t

t

BEHIND THE UNION SYMBOL?

CelebrategroundsBuencafe has

to its

WHO ELSE at your company (in management,marketing,production) who should be receiving a copy of


success

SPRING 2009 | 39

comexa foods is the producer ofthe world-renowned amazon Pep-

pers brand of sauces, located in the oldworld city of cartagena de indias. Bathedin the sun and by the warm clear watersof the caribbean sea, the rich colombiansoil produces a wide range of pepperswhich our group has been cultivating andprocessing industrially in large quantitiesfor the world market since 1992.

utilizing comexa’s years of experi-ence and knowledge of the unique quali-ties of capsicum, the amazon Pepperbrand was born in early 1994. The productmade its successful debut at the fiery foodshow in albuquerque, New mexico.

The distinctive flavor of the ama-zon hot sauces came about by accident.in the 1970s, Giorgio araujo’s family wasgrowing peppers and an unplannedcross-pollination produced the amazonpepper that has been the foundation ofall comexa’s hot sauces.

The company adapted its sauces toan ever-increasing variety of palates, ex-panding from its original green and redhot sauces to a large variety of flavorssuch as the new fruit pepper sauces(amazon Korozo sauce, amazon Palm-berry sauce, amazon cape Gooseberrysauce) and many other great products.

“We’ve had a burst of creativity,coming up with a whole new line ofproducts,’’says mr. araujo, the com-pany’s founder. “We work on the basisthat the more products you have themore chances you have to sell them.”

at the 1995 New York fancy foodshow, the amazon Pepper line won the“Best of the aisle” award by Gourmetretailer. during the 1997 foodex showin Tokyo, the amazon Pepper line re-ceived the acclaim of the Japanese TVnews media “for an outstanding hotpepper product line,” being featured onprime time Tokyo television on the pro-gram called “Televi champion,” onwhich the amazon brand habanero

sauce, won the “hottest Pepper of theWorld award.”

during the food distribution mag-azine’s (fdm) first annual BBQ & Wingsauce showdown hoedown!, held inJune 1997, the amazon Pepper brandwon two first prize awards: first place inthe “fruit- Based hot category” for itsamazon hot & sweet, and first place inthe “Wing sauce Xhot (Yow),” for itsamazon fiery red.

show after show, people continue ac-claiming amazon pepper sauces as an outof competition product. in January 1999, atthe chile Pepper magazine hot sauce con-test “scoville awards,” the hot n’ sweetamazon sauce was awarded first prizeand the Green amazon sauce third prize.

The amazon Pepper line is cur-rently being sold in the united states, themiddle east, Japan, chile, canada, Bel-gium, finland, france, spain, el salvador,and of course, in colombia where amazonis the leading brand.

in October 2000, the company re-

ceived its highest honor with the “Na-tional exporters President’s award.”during 2002 the plant was certifiedhaccP and isO 9002 complying withall international quality standards andat the moment is working towards Brccertification.

Our products have been certifiedkosher by the Orthodox union since1999. This accreditation has played avery important role in increasing thesales of our amazon pepper sauces; it

has enhanced our ability to market ourproducts as the Ou Kosher symbol hasbecome an increasingly important mar-keting device which has opened manydoors for the amazon Pepper line in su-permarket chains and gourmet stores.

We have come to realize that our Oucertification has been as important for usas the haccP and isO 9002. The OuKosher certificate has generated addi-tional revenues by expanding the size ofthe market. Now after 10 years of beingOu certified, we are one hundred percentpositive that supermarkets favor brandswith Ou certification because it gives theproduct a competitive edge that makes itsell quickly; we have taken full advantageof such an important certification.

currently in line with colombianexports in general, the company sellssixty percent of its total exports to theunited states. The business plan hasbeen to market the product to hispanicsin the united states, but also to non-his-panics as a gourmet product. While thegourmet route may be necessary in orderto push the brand forward and to startword of mouth, the downside is that itoften results in lower sales.

Now, after almost 20 years in whichthe company trudged through ameri-can, middle east and european foodshows and sold its sauces in gourmetstores, food distributors are picking theproduct up and the brand is expandingthroughout the world.

“We hope to be in every country withour delicious kosher amazon peppersauces,’’ mr. araujo says. Given the com-pany’s limited resources, mr. araujo hasconcentrated on pushing his product for-ward, emphasizing international foodshows as well as the internet. his messageis: “flavor your mood from mild to wild!”

Rabbi David Gorelik serves as Or-thodox Union rabbinic coordinator forComexa Foods.

Hot timeold town tonight(Cartagena de Indias)

there’ll Be ain the

GoSouth,Young

An OU RFR Travels the Highways and Byways of theOld Confederacy and Meets Products and People that Leave a Lasting Impression

SPRING 2009 | 41Mashgiach

t was said about Rabbi Samson

Raphael Hirsch that when he was well

into his 70’s he decided to travel from

Germany to Switzerland for a vaca-

tion. This was in the late 1800’s when

cars and airplanes were unheard of.

The trip was an arduous trek by train

and coach. He was asked, ‘Rabbi,

you’re an old man. Why are you taking

such a trip?’ Replied Rabbi Hirsch,

“After 120 years, I’ll meet my maker

and he will ask me, ‘Raphael, did you

ever see my Alps?’”

The world is truly a magnificent

creation filled with all of God’s beauty.

One of the benefits that I have in

being a mashgiach (kosher supervisor)

for the OU is that I have an opportu-

nity to travel and see much of this

beauty. My territory encompasses most

of the Southeastern part of the United

States, namely, Eastern Tennessee,

Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and

Northern Florida. This area, known as

the “Bible or Sun Belt,” offers much

diversity as to scenery as well as to his-

tory. This is the South of Gone With

the Wind fame. Let’s take a look at

some of the highlights of my territory.

IBY RABBI NORMAN SCHLOSS


starting in charleston sc, we cometo the flower of the south. This city, with fort sumter in itsharbor, was involved in the incident that began the civilWar. One can travel through the area and still see antebel-lum houses. Not far up the road in sum-merville is an Ou company, JWaluminum. Taking the highway as wellas side roads (watch out for loggingtrucks) we come to augusta, Ga, home ofthe masters Golf Tournament. Whilethere, we can stop by Kellogg’s snackfoods for some famous amos cookies or go to Nutrasweet,makers of aspartame sweeteners. The science museum in

augusta is a hands-on/must see for fam-ilies with children.Traveling souththrough back roads we come to savannah.

savannah is a beautiful city with old-time charm.The downtown area is arranged with small park squares

that you have to drive and weavearound. Tybee island is just due eastfor a nice relaxing vacation spot.While in savannah, we can visit anumber of Ou plants, among themdixie crystal and fuji Oil.

We then travel south on i-95 to Jack-sonville, fl where we can go to heinz/ Portion Pak andWhitewave foods. as one travels through Jacksonville one

cannot help but go over thevarious bridges that span thelocal waterways. We then cantake a trip up to Blackshearand alma in Georgia. Thesesmall towns have Ou plantslike american egg, south-land’s Best, and richmondBaking. Then it’s on to fitzger-ald, Ga to american Blanch-ing and deep south Products.deep south bottles product forarizona Tea as well as Winndixie sodas.

We are now in the heartof the south. as we drivethrough, we pass pecan or-chards all around us. This isalso peanut country. a sidetrip up i-75 takes us to ander-sonville, Ga— the site of thenotorious civil War prisonand its cemetery.

i once was at the holi-day inn in fitzgerald andwas talking to the hotel man-ager. he told me that it was agood thing that i came thatweek and not the week after.i asked him why. “Well,” hereplied, “next week is yourJewish New Year and all ofthe old families come herefrom all over the south forhigh holiday services and iwouldn’t have a room for

OU RFR Profile | meet the Peripatetic rabbi norman schloss

Rabbi Norman Schloss was born in New York. After graduating from YeshivaUniversity High School, Rabbi Schloss spend a year in Israel furthering his JudaicStudies at the Bet Midrash L’Torah. Upon his return to New York, he attendedBernard Baruch College of the City University of New York, re-ceiving his B.A. in Sales and Marketing.

While in school, Rabbi Schloss was active in extra-curricularactivities. He served as an Advisor with the renowned OrthodoxUnion national youth group, NCSY, as well as National Vice Presi-dent of Yavneh (a national organization working with college stu-dents). Working full time, Rabbi Schloss continued his Judaicstudies with Rabbi Shmuel Sheinberg.

Rabbi Schloss and his wife Lydia moved to Atlanta in1977 where he specialized in sales. In 1979, he opened Norm’s Place, a strictlykosher restaurant in Atlanta, which he maintained until 1982, when he returnedto sales. It was at this juncture that Rabbi Schloss started working part time forthe OU. In 1997, he returned to Israel and received rabbinic ordination fromRabbi Sheinberg.

Rabbi Schloss has worked for OU Kosher for over 25 years. He is usually onthe road two to three nights a week, often driving 500-800 miles in that time.Besides covering the South, Rabbi Schloss travels extensively overseas for theOU as well. Rabbi Norm, as he likes to be called, is known for his upbeat positiveattitude, friendly disposition and sense of humor. Beyond Rabbi Schloss’s busyOU schedule, he finds the time and commitment to be much involved in his Atlanta community, having served on the boards of Torah Day School of Atlantaand Yeshiva Atlanta, as well as at Atlanta’s major Orthodox synagogue, Congre-gation Beth Jacob. Rabbi Schloss also gives weekly classes that have been ongoing for over 30 years.

Besides his extensive OU travels and his dedication to his classes, Rabbi Normdoes find time to relax. He enjoys novels and mysteries and does crossword puz-zles in pen while listening to Hebrew or classical music. Rabbi Norm also enjoyscooking and has interesting recipes like Salmon ala Black and Decker and is fa-mous for his broccoli soufflé.

Most of all he enjoys being with family and friends. He and his wife have fourchildren and two grandchildren and he will gladly show you their pictures.

SPRING 2009 | 43

you.” it seems that all of these smallsouthern towns had at one time been vi-brant Jewish communities.

from fitzgerald we continue to visitOu plants in Tifton, ashburn, andsylvester before coming to albany, Ga. itell people that i go to most of the ‘nut’houses in Georgia. This area is responsi-ble for the vast majority of peanut pro-duction. it gets hot here in thesummertime so a refreshing stop in al-bany is the miller’s coors Brewing co.Not far away we also can stop at Tarafoods. (Tara? Wasn’t that a plantation ina certain novel?) Just be careful in book-ing flights, cars or hotels. many a time ihave had the reservations made for albany (all bany), NYrather than albany (al beny), Ga. around an hours’ drivenorth of albany, one can go to Warm springs. There you canvisit the little White house — the summer home of Presi-dent franklin d roosevelt, the place where he died.

continuing west we cross into alabama going throughabbeville, home of Golden egg, and proceed to dothan.Golden Oval, formerly known as cutler egg, processes eggs inboth liquid and dried forms. dothan touts itself as the Peanutcapitol of the world so naturally we go to flavorhouse to see

their operation. We then travel north towardsmontgomery. There we visit flowers foods.Traveling west we proceed through rollinghills of beautiful countryside to selma. mont-gomery as well as selma were key cities dur-ing the civil rights movement of the 1950’s,60’s and ‘70’s.

We continue traveling west going toplants in marion, al heading towardsmississippi. With Ou plants in hatties-burg, Jackson and columbus, we literallytravel around the whole state. While inJackson, between visits to deBeukelaer,clorox and reckitt-Benckiser, one can

drop in at The museum of southern Jewish life.another part of my territory is Tennessee. We will start

in crossville to see mizkan Vinegar and another flowers Bak-ing facility, then proceed on i-40 across the middle TennesseeValley to Knoxville and Newport. This stretch of interstate issimply gorgeous. Whether in the fall when all the leaves arechanging colors; in winter when the trees are bare and some-times white; or in spring and summer when they are in fullbloom, this is a truly beautiful drive. Green mountain coffee,Bush Beans, and rich products, among others, are situated inthe foothills of the smokey mountains.

We travel down through the mountains to cleveland and

chattanooga. With all of the abundant fresh water springs thatcome from the mountains, it is no surprise that many of theOu bottled water plants are in this area. among them areGreen mountain, crystal springs and Nature’s Purest. While

in chattanooga, you alsodon’t want to miss The Ten-nessee aquarium. fromlookout mountain and rockcity you can seven states be-fore heading back to atlanta.

atlanta is the home ofcoca-cola so a must see is the coke museum, downtown.No visit to atlanta would be complete without a visit tostone mountain. This large granite mountain depicts a carv-ing of heroes of the civil War as well as a plantation andmuseum about the War Between the states. lastly, one canvisit the martin luther King memorial.

as one can see, traveling such a vast area inspectingover 100 companies is very demanding and time consum-ing. Yet, i have a chance to meet people from all walks oflife. We talk about varied subjects from news to sports andi can truly say that i never have a dull day. The breadth ofmy work for the Ou takes me to a vast diversity of prod-ucts. i see facilities producing everything from baked goodsto chemical companies making cleaning products. i recentlywent to a company that was making adhesives. at the plant,they were vastly impressed that the Ou took the issue ofkashrut so seriously that we would even check their prod-uct which is used to adhere foil to the cardboard core.

let me end with one last story. i was at a plant on a daywhere everything was going wrong. i apologized to the plantpersonnel for coming on such a day, but i needed to do my in-spection. “rabbi Norm,” the official said, “i’m always glad tosee you. sometimes i’m glad to see you come and sometimesi’m glad to see you go. But i’m always glad to see you.” Talkabout southern hospitality!


NeW YOrK, may 2009 — Bazookacandy Brands, a division of Topps inc.,announced today that ring Pop, its best-selling candy, has been kosher certifiedby the Orthodox union. Production ofthe newly kosher ring

Pop, with brand new packag-ing bearing the “Ou” symbol, beginsthis month with the candy shipping toretailers nationwide in august.

ari Weinstock, director of mar-keting, Bazooka candy Brands, said,“Working with the Orthodox union,the top organization for kosher certi-fication in the world, we can nowbring ring Pop to an entirely new,and discerning, consumer base thathas never before been able to enjoyour products.”

rabbi eliyahu safran, OuKosher’s Vice President of communi-cations and marketing, expressed“great satisfaction in having Bazookacandy Brands join with leading con-fectionery producers who have at-tained Ou certification in recent years.it was gratifying for Ou Kosher’s team,

headed by rabbi mordechai merzel, tocorroborate with Bazooka candyBrands’ team and bring the much

sought after ringPop products toan ever-growingkosher marketplace.”

The Ortho-dox union en-gages in rigorousmonitoring of allaspects of pro-duction. it su-pervises thep r o c e s s b ywhich the foodis prepared, ex-amines the in-gredients usedto make thefood, and reg-ularly inspects

the processing facilities to make sure thatits standards are met.

“The solicitousness associatedwith the Ou certification process iswhat makes kosher products appeal-ing to both Jewish andnon-Jewish consumers.We believe that parentspurchasing ring Popfor their children willfeel reassured thatthe production ofthis candy is closelys u p e r v i s e d , ”added Weinstock.

ring Popwas first intro-duced in 1977and has consis-tently rankedamong thetop-se l l ing

non-chocolate candies. available inover ten different flavors, includingstrawberry, blue raspberry, water-melon, twisted berry blast and straw-berry-banana smoothie, ring Pop isBazooka candy Brand’s most popularconfection. referred to as “ediblebling,” ring Pop candy has been spot-ted by the paparazzi on the hands ofmany celebrities over the years, withphotos running in magazines such asinterview, People, and us Weekly.

The Orthodox union, which is su-pervising the production of ring Pop,has maintained the highest standard ofkosher certification for over 80 years.Today the Ou supervises more than400,000 products produced in 6,000plants in 80 countries, making it theworld’s largest and most respectedkosher certification agency and symbol.

The kosher certified ring Pop ispart of the recently rebranded Bazookacandy Brands line of candy, which alsoincludes Baby Bottle Pop, Push Pop, andBazooka gum. for more informationabout ring Pop, visit www.topps.com.

contact: Beth mellow, [email protected]

RingPopKosherOrthodox Union Approves

Placement of Kosher Symbolon Package of Popular Candy

Certifiedtop selling

According to Jewish law, eating a bug is much worse thaneating ham. and so it is most important for the kosher

homemaker serving vegetables to make certain that thoselush greens, so crunchy and healthful, are insect-free. Butgiven the tiny size of the critters, this is no easy task.

relax! help is now on the way, with the release ofthe Ou Kosher dVd, insect-free: a Guide to home Veg-etable inspection. This video, running almost an hour-and-a-half in length, features rabbi Yosef eisen, the rabbinicadministrator of the Vaad hakashrus of the five Towns& rockaway and an Ou Kosher rabbinic coordinatorfrom 1990-1999. rabbi eisen shares his vast expertise ina clear and engaging way so that the steps in inspectionare simple to follow. his purpose, he said, in preparingthe dVd, is “to empower each and every person so that theycan partake fully of God’s bounty.”

a wide variety of that bounty is featured: leafy veg-etables (e.g. lettuce and cabbage); herbs (dill, parsley); miscel-laneous produce (scallions, cauliflower); and berries, such asstrawberries. The dVd comes with a handy menu-function,so that the viewer can click right to what he or she wants tosee, and is geared to a variety of audiences – those at homeand those in school.

rabbi menachem Genack, ceO of Ou Kosher, declared,“Because since the days of rachel carson the federal govern-ment quite correctly has limited the use of insecticides on food,there has been an increase in insects found in vegetables.Therefore, knowing how to check for these insects has becomeincreasingly important. The prohibition in Jewish law of eatinginsects is particularly severe and this dVd is a hands-on wayof checking vegetables to make sure they are acceptable.”

david lenik, the producer, has his own take onthe dVd. “This project taught me to think about vegetableinspection as an act of serving God and not just as onemore arduous task. also, having seen the bugs, up-close-and-too- personal, coming out of what looks like a per-fectly healthy vegetable, i now see that proper cleaningprovides a tangible benefit.”

insect-free: a Guide to home Vegetable inspection is oneof several projects of Ou Kosher’s expanded educational out-reach. Ou Kosher’s educational programs include the nation-ally-renowned “Ou Kosher coming” program, which sendsOu’s expert rabbis to schools, synagogues and college cam-puses to share their knowledge of halacha and technology; as

well as the ever-growing“Kosher Tidbits”series of shortseminars on innu-merable aspects ofkashrut and certifi-cation, available atouradio.org.

The Orthodoxunion has producedfour other dVd’s de-voted to kashrut edu-cation: Kosher Kidz,focusing on ice cream,which explains the ba-

sics of kosher certification to a youthful audience; The Kosherfish Primer, which explains the basics of identifying kosherfish and purchasing them; Kosher meat: unexplored frontiers,with rabbi Yisroel Belsky, which explores the process of post-slaughter meat preparation: and Kosher Birds: Who are They?which discusses the signs of avian kashrut. These dVd’s havebeen purchased in Jewish communities around the world.

so now comes the fifth video in the series, prepared specif-ically to avoid the shriek coming from the kitchen, “Not salad!anything but salad!!!” according to rabbi dr. eliyahusafran, senior rabbinic coordinator and Vice President of mar-keting and communications of Ou Kosher, “a group of womenwho have previewed the dVd have commented that they ‘havelong waited for a clear, precise, hands-on presentation of how toreally be sure that our vegetables are free of any Torah prohib-ited bug infestation. We now have it.”

rabbi safran points out that the dVd is user-friendly, “in-cluding the menu option, the clarity of rabbi eisen’s presen-tation, the summaries, and the popular veggies it features.most importantly,” he emphasized, “this dVd is geared tomeet the needs of the Jewish homemaker, of everyone in-volved with kosher food preparation in the home kitchen, aswell as for educators and students focusing on all it takes tomaintain a kosher kitchen.”

The new dVd is $10 a copy; to order all five is $35. forfurther information on bringing Ou Kosher to your school orcommunity, or to order the previous dVd’s, contact rabbisafran at [email protected].

Vegetableinspection

HomeINSECT-FREE

SPRING 2009 | 45


NewFDA RulingOpens Door

recent fda decision on ingredients labels mayprompt some manufacturers to rethink their

formulations. for decades, food and drink man-

ufacturers have not been required to listspecific colorants on ingredients labels.“color added,” “artificial color” or sim-ilar language has been adequate, ac-

cording to the fda, to signal the presence of added color.earlier this year, however, the fda ruled that cochineal ex-tract and carmine, red colorants derived from a non-kosher

insect, must be specifically declared on future ingredientslabels. The ruling was a response to mounting evi-dence that cochineal extract and carmine trigger al-lergic reactions among some americans.

for many food manufacturers that usecochineal extract or carmine in foods or beverages, the

Why the Regulation ChangedThe fact that cochineal and carmine can cause harm was news to the FDA.

In the early 1960’s, when the FDA first began drafting a list of safe colorants for use in foods, the agency con-cluded that carmine was so safe that “if a person’s total diet were colored with carmine...the total figures would bewell within the margin of safety” that its technical research had established.

Since 1994, however, the FDA received 11 voluntarily submitted reports of allergic reactions. The first wasfrom a 27-year-old woman who experienced anaphylaxis (a severe, potentially life-threatening aller-

gic reaction) within three hours of eating a popsicle dyed with carmine. Subsequent reports ofallergic reactions to banana-strawberry yogurt, ruby red grapefruit juice, artificial crabmeat,

juices, and other foods and drinks suggested that the carmine was not entirely benign —at least not for all people.

Medical literature has reported other incidents of allergic and anaphylatic response. The developing catalogue of reports, coupled with a 1998 petition from the Center

for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), awakened the FDA to reopen discussion aboutthe safety of cochineal extract.

Allergic reactions are not so extensive that the FDA considered banning the col-orants outright. There is no mandate to indicate that cochineal is an allergen (it isnot counted among the major allergens). Although the ruling acknowledgessome deliberation about whether a label should state that cochineal and carmineoriginate from an insect, the conclusion was that such informa-tion was easily accessible and not necessary to make explicit.

The FDA targeted January 5, 2011 to provide time tocompanies to use existing inventory of labels.

A

SPRING 2009 | 47

new mandatesimply means

printing new la-bels. But because

consumers find anassociation with insects

disquieting, some foodmanufacturers will revisit their

choice of color. some compellingkosher alternatives are available.

The viability of these innovative colors, food technol-ogists report, depends on the needs food and drink manufac-turers aim to meet.

for example, drinks bottled in transparent packagingrequire colors that can hold up to long-term exposure to light.some colors will fade unless protected from light. some colorsthrive in acidic environments but are useless in neutral envi-ronments. Will the food be cooked? What is the expected shelf-life of the product? These are some of the preliminaryquestions a color technologist will ask a customer.

“fruit and vegetable powders can sometimes beas good, or even better, than carmine,” says harveyKrohn, beverage consultant at allen flavors. “We havepink colors and we have red colors, we have in-betweenand we have natural yellows, which can be used to offsetthe reds. There’s so many things that you can do to get

close to what you want.”The craft is capitalizing on the virtues of a col-

orant. “sometimes a supplier sends a product to acustomer, and the customer tries it out and says itdoesn’t work right. But it could be the customer sim-ply doesn’t understand how to use it correctly. it all

depends on how he is working on the bench.”

Jason armao, director of colors and specialty ingredi-ents, Wild flavors, erlanger, KY, noted there are several com-pelling pink-to-red colorants. “Purple sweet potato juice, redcabbage juice, and purple carrot juice,” he said, “in many ap-plications achieve the stability we get with carmine orcochineal” while still making a kosher claim. Their effective-ness, however, is limited to beverages or other applications,which are aqueous and acidic.

food, however, is a bigger challenge. “if we wanted tocolor cereal, or a frosting that more or less had very little wateractivity or a neutral ph, it would be difficult.” Beet juice is theonly approved us colorant in the pink to red range and its sta-bility in most applications, he commented, is poor. carmine, bycontrast, is both deep red and long lasting. (carmine is alsoused as a red dye in oriental carpets.)

lycored, an Ou company based in israel with officesin Orange, NJ, has an entire product line, Tomat-O-red, thatexploits the red of lycopene, the red colorant in tomatoes. it isalso a nutrient and an antioxidant.

a colorant which is also an antioxidant is a distinctive,and eminently marketable, combination. however, antioxi-dants tend to be sensitive to oxygen and light. many food sys-tems, of course, are exposed to both. The scientists at lycoredhave developed strategies to protect lycopene from these oth-erwise hostile phenomena, like coating lycopene crystals in astabilized dispersion of glycerol. Bill redwood, Vice Presidentof east coast sales, noted that Tomat-O-red can be remark-ably effective, but it depends on the application. “We takeeverything application by application,” he said.

Rabbi Gavriel Price services the transportation, ingredi-ents and flavors industries at the Orthodox Union. A frequentcontributor to BTUS, his “When Kosher and Allergen IssuesDo Not Converge” appeared in the Winter 2009 issue.

To

KosherColorants

Innovative

By Rabbi Gavriel Price

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PERMIT NO. 301ELEVEN BROADWAY, NEW YORK, NY 10004

HERE IN 20 MINUTES is everything you needto know about the procedures and requirements necessary to produce an

OU Kosher product, and how to design an effective system at your company. Recommended for personnel in management, production and quality control and for in-house training.

To order extra copies:CALL 212.613.8115EMAIL [email protected] www.ou.org

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