Until about two years ago kashrus organizations paid little attention to the kosher status of packaging materials used to contain food prepared even under the most stringent supervision. Therefore, it was quite probable that a can of soup —- made up of ingredients without even a trace of anything nonkosher, prepared on completely kosherized equipment, and where the water from the steam system having been previously used to cook cans containing nonkosher products, was completely drained —- was packaged and cooked in a steel can coated with a tallow based butyl stearate oil (BSO)! Fortunately, due to the efforts of Rabbi Jonah Gewirtz, Chairman of CSPT, working together with the Circle U and the Star-K, we were successful in having every major steel company in this country that produces steel for use in food packaging switch to a vegetable based BSO. Similarly, other lubricants and finishing […]

Glass is one of nature’s most versatile products created from some of nature’s most prevalent raw materials: sand, soda and lime. In the food industry glass applications are extremely diverse. Glass can be made into delicate drinking glasses as well as tough heat resistant ceramic cook tops withstanding temperatures over 1000°F.

The Jewish people, the am hanifchar, the chosen people, have been faithful to the Torah’s commandments for thousands of years. Of those commandments, Kashrus has served as an anchor of the Jew to his G-d, ensuring that even in the most mundane of life’s requirements, one is always cognizant of the source of one’s subsistence. Our Rabbis also teach us that there is a mystical relationship between the foods we eat and our spiritual well being.

In the Torah’s eye, nature’s quintessential beverage is “the fruit of the vine,” grape wine. Our Sages tell us of wine’s importance throughout the calendar year and throughout the Jewish life cycle. The Jewish People sanctifies Shabbos or Yom Tov over wine. At the Pesach Seder we express the four expressions of Geulah (freedom) over wine. One recites Sheva Brachos at a wedding over wine. A special Bracha was established by our Sages especially for wine, “Borei Pri HaGafen “ .

Before one is permitted to indulge in kosher Jewish delicacies such as chopped liver, liver steaks and onions, or sauteed chicken livers, raw liver must undergo various processes before the liver is deemed fit for kosher use. Firstly, as with all kosher meat, the liver must come from a kosher species of animal or fowl that has been schechted, slaughtered, in the proper manner prescribed by the Torah. If it is an animal liver, all the fats must be meticulously removed. Furthermore, the Torah forbids eating the blood of an animal or bird, therefore, it is necessary to extract the blood from the kosher slaughtered meat or liver.

You may not realize it, but flavor ingredients are found in some shape or form in practically every aisle of your favorite supermarket. The ketchup in Aisle 1 uses a Tomato Flavor to enhance its taste; the cake mixes in Aisle 5 use Artificial Vanilla Flavor to give it taste; for that matter Vanilla Flavor is even added to the pack of cigarettes that are purchased at the check-out counter. Indeed, products from soup to soap use an array of flavors and fragrances to enhance their products.

Everyone wants to emulate a winner. The world of food manufacturing and marketing is no exception. Whenever a new product reaches the marketplace, or a new business venture is successfully launched, rest assured that product or venture will be duplicated, cloned, or modified immediately. One only needs to travel north of Baltimore to Pennsylvania Dutch country to see this in reality. Southern Pennsylvania is home to tens of snack food manufacturers, and is aptly dubbed “the snack food capital of the United States.”