In the coming weeks -we’ve announced- on the Wednesdays’ Kashrut section I would like to present the readers the world of “Kosher supervisions”.
My goal is to promote a better understanding and observance of Kashrut. However, I’m not endorsing or sponsoring any specific Orthodox Kashrut certification over the other. Today I would like to introduce the readers to the probably second largest Kashrut organization in America. The OK.
Let me quote from their web site:OK Kosher Certification is one of the world’s most respected symbols of kosher approval…
Under the leadership of Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, the OK provides certification for food giants and products such as IFF, Kraft, ConAgra and Tropicana. Operating on six continents and supported by more than 350 of the world’s leading kosher experts, the OK certifies more than 300,000 products, produced by over 1,500 companies.
One of the most difficult problems in Kashrut certification today is the use of additives in the food industry. For a nice article about this and other challenges in the Kashrut world read the following text from OK:
…Hundreds of foods labeled “kosher” dot our supermarket shelves, but many factors that we cannot see complicate the process of guaranteeing a product as kosher. Over 2,800 additives not known fifty years ago are legally present in our foods, including colorings, flavorings, and preservatives. Huge factories manufacture enormous quantities of many types of food using processing techniques of which we know little or nothing…
Read the complete article here: http://www.ok.org/Content.asp?ID=116
