Kashrut: Fact, Fiction and In Between part 13

Up until about 1970, kosher restaurants in the United States, and most other countries, were either 'self-supervised", or had a local rabbi pop in for a spot check, usually once a week. For canned and other packaged goods, the consumer relied on ingredients, especially as to the oil content. If it read "shortening", it meant lard. If it said "vegetable shortening", it was assumed to be kosher. The booklet to which I referred in my last post, slowly had the effect of educating that much more could go wrong with the ingredients besides oil, but also indoctrinated the public into believing that essentially nothing was kosher that didn't have a qualified rabbi carefully examining everything. Butcher shops, at that time, generally had a rabbi or Mashgiach (supervisor) make a weekly visit. From around 1970, that mostly vanished. Supervision was now understood to mean, especially in the case of meat, constant supervision. Those rabbis who were running "Kashrut Agencies" that didn't follow the new guidelines were mostly discredited. Actually, what kind of supervision is halachically required is a moot point. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (OU), run by rabbis of the Rabbinical Council of America, the RCA (the same folks who, since the 1980s have accepted and promulgated the new and stricter conversion standards), jumped on the new and stricter standards of kashrut. Their Kashrut agencies, once tiny, now became a huge business, with influence on virtually every aspect of food production. What was positive about this, was that they set uniform standards. What was negative about this, was that they set uniform standards. On the positive side of the ledger, charlatans were largely put out of business. Also, since most people did not really understand the ingredient panel of products, there was now no need to worry. The OU on the packaging was all that was needed. The layman, who could not be expected to know that "suet" meant beef fat, would be able to rest assured. On the other hand, standards were set by their own board. Questionable areas, where rabbis disagree, were given a single answer. Local rabbis had their discretionary power taken away from them. Some areas, like cheese production (to be discussed in a later post), have rabbinic opinion stretching from one extreme to the other. For most Orthodox communities, the OU's answer became "THE" answer. More right wing groups, however, were dissatisfied with the OUs standards, which they saw as too lax. The Satmar Rabbi was reported to have made a bilingual pun; "Der U? Nem you!" (The U? You take it!). Although other national Kashrut agencies have sprung up, non is as influential or as  powerful as the OU. However, as it is also a business, non halachic considerations also take a part. Competitors need to be fought (again, like in the story of the restaurant in my last post). The Triangle K, overseers of Hebrew National (among other companies), has been the target of a smear campaign for decades. People I know in the kashrut industry praise its high standards. Yet, ask any kosher consumer, and they will tell you it is not "really kosher". Business is business. A major problem not just with the OU, but virtually all agencies (other than Satmar and a few others) is that there is an inherent conflict of interests, when it comes to the Mashgichim. The way hechsherim (Kashrut certifications) work, is that a representative of the agency first visits the plant, and decides what, if anything, needs to be done to make it kosher. Once an understanding has been reached, a Mashgiach is assigned to the plant. The Mashgiach may or may not be a rabbi, but has been trained in what to look for. Although the agency takes a substantial fee "(typically $40,000/year), the Mashgiach gets, in most cases, close to minimum wage. Furthermore, the Mashgiach is paid by the plant, not the agency. If he finds something improper, and informs the agency, the plant manager can, and usually will, fire him. The agency will endeavor to place him in another plant, but that is not always possible. Every time a Mashgiach points out a problem, he must put his meager livelihood on the line. Satmar, on the other hand, pays its Mashgichim directly, thus avoiding this problem.(I was told by one of the top OU executives, that, if the Mashgichim were not paid by the plants, it would be "too difficult" in ensure the agency's reimbursement). The fact is, however, that factories are not difficult to deal with. They usually use one set of machines for weeks at a time, clean and sterilize them between runs, and have long term contracts with suppliers. Fraud or mistakes are few and far between. Not so in the case of restaurants and take out places. Unless the owner is himself an observant Jew, a game of cat and mouse often exists between the establishment and the mashgiach.If the Mashgiach "wins", he is out of a job. In the area where I live, the local kashrut agency recently installed surveillance cameras in all stores. This is only a partial fix. If the owner wants to cheat, he will find a way.Other conflicts of interest also exist. In the early '80s, the largest producer of poultry products in the U.S., Perdue,was in talks with the OU about becoming Kosher. This would have drastically lowered the exorbitant price of Kosher poultry. The major producer of Kosher poultry found out about this, and told the OU "We made you! For thirty years, we supported you, and essentially put you on the map. Now you're going to put us out of business, and set up a competitor?" The OU dropped the new project, citing a sense of loyalty to their long standing client. But many consumers were outraged. "Is your loyalty to that manufacturer, or to the Kosher consumer?" The protests were to no avail. One man, adored by many, but hated by many more, especially in the establishment, has been a feared opponent of the Kashrut industry for more than fifty years. In my opinion, he is the greatest halachic figure alive today. That will be my next post.