by Rabbi Don Yoel Levy
Over the past half-century we have seen the world become “smaller.” Not so long ago, most international travel was by sea. The advent of regularly scheduled airline flights has gradually reduced travel time. A round trip that used to take several weeks can now be completed in days. Today it is possible to get to most parts of the world within twenty-four hours.
Meanwhile, whereas at one time most countries were largely self-sufficient, the trend has been toward specialization. One region may focus on oils while another produces enzymes. This has created a greater interdependency among countries.
These trends, combined with the lower manufacturing costs in foreign countries, have greatly impacted kosher supervision, with more and more items being made overseas.
Some items, such as tropical oils and tropical oil products, have been produced overseas for a long time. Yet these products were generally accepted as kosher until my father, of blessed memory, recognized that regular visits were necessary. The OK, long the pioneer in kosher supervision, became the first agency to go to the Far East. In the early 1980’s, Rabbi Berel Levy went to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to investigate tropical oils. At that time, very few facilities manufactured these products, and even fewer had kosher certification.
 OK Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Leizer Teitelbaum is a frequent flyer in the quest to provide kosher supervision. Here he inspects a soy facility in Japan. |
We began certification in China with one facility, and it took all of two days to complete the entire trip. Today we have rabbis going to China almost every month. The same has occurred with Japan, where we also have a resident representative.
The Asian subcontinent has also witnessed remarkable change. Two decades ago we did not certify any facilities in India. Today we visit there every other month. Then there are the regular visits we make to Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea.
Significantly, when my father started traveling to the Far East, there was little Jewish life there. Today there are thriving Jewish communities in Honk Kong, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Shanghai. It is possible at times to daven in a minyan, and kosher food is available in a number of locations. This makes it much easier when we travel.
The internationalization of kosher supervision brings with it a unique set of challenges. Foremost are the language and cultural barriers. I group these together because while the international business language is English, the ability to speak the language is not necessarily sufficient to overcome cultural bridges.
Indeed, the very idea of a rabbi traveling within a country such as China is enough to raise eyebrows. On one of my trips into the Chinese interior, I pulled over at a rest stop. When I got out of the car, I noticed the other travelers looking at me in wonderment. It turned out that they had never seen a person with a full beard. Other cultural complications include seemingly minor matters such as how and when to shake hands. We strive to overcome these impediments in order to communicate efficiently with the owners and employees of the plants that we monitor.
Another time we sent a mashgiach into interior China. This was a particularly arduous journey, because the location was remote. When the rabbi arrived and explained that he wanted to see the entire production, the staff went into a long conference. They decided not to show him their facility. They were convinced he was some sort of spy!
Sometimes the language barrier can be more serious. On one visit to South Korea, I was investigating a facility, checking the inventory against the list of OK-approved ingredients. I found a few drums of a product that was not on the approved list. The writing on the drums was Korean. When I inquired about the contents of the drums, the plant managers began an agitated discussion among themselves in Korean. They finally told me that the product was motor oil. Further investigation on my part and the nervous way they were talking convinced me that they were lying.
After persistent questioning, they finally admitted that the drums contained a surfactant used as a production aid. Surfactants are used to prevent a product from sticking to a surface. These may very well come from a non-kosher source such as tallow. We arranged a visit to the plant producing this surfactant. Indeed the surfactant was not kosher, and we had to implement changes in order to continue certification.
At another Korean plant, I found close to twenty drums of an unauthorized product. When I asked about the purpose for this product, I was told it was for research. Facilities experiment with potential new items in their research and development division. A kosher supervision agency will permit this, but we are quite aware that only a small amount of product, perhaps a quart, is necessary for R & D. These fifty-five gallon drums were clearly not earmarked merely for research.
The plant manager finally admitted that he had intended to ship the unauthorized product as kosher! There had been an explosion in the factory of a supplier of a kosher ingredient for this product. In order to keep supplying its customers, our company had bought the finished product from a non-kosher source. Of course, such problems can also occur in the U. S., but the language barrier magnifies the difficulty we have in getting to the truth.
When we certify a facility, we must be aware of everything produced there, including the non-kosher items. This is because if non-kosher products are produced on the same equipment, the rules of kosher production change. Yet when we visit a facility, we do not necessarily observe every single product being made. Facilities may make certain items only during season. One way to find out what companies actually produce is to look at their display cases.
Monitoring of Plants Overseas
The OK gives supervision on six continents. As mentioned above, today there are Jewish communities spread out all over the Far East, and we are able to use mashgichim from these communities. We certify plants in most European countries. To monitor these facilities, we have representatives in Belgium (5), the Netherlands, France (10), Switzerland, Germany (2), Italy, Austria, Latvia, Denmark, and Sweden. In South America and Central America, we have representatives in Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Peru. Down Under, we certify products in Australia, and we recently started to certify in New Zealand.
Our main representatives in Europe are world-class experts in kashrus supervision. Rabbi Shimon Lasker, our European Representative, has a vast knowledge of kosher production. He is the world’s leading authority on the production of kosher chocolate, especially chalav Yisrael chocolate. The OK produces the most strictly supervised chalav Yisrael milk powder today in Europe, under Rabbi Lasker’s auspices. Rabbi Yitzchok Teller travels throughout Europe. He too is renowned for his kashrus expertise. In some fields, such as oil factories, his knowledge is second to none, and his thoroughness is unsurpassed. To cope with the burgeoning demand in Israel, last year we opened a local office under the able hand of Rabbi Aharon Haskel.
The OK Rabbinic Coordinators in our main office acquire firsthand knowledge of our overseas companies. A rabbi who sits behind a desk and simply reviews incoming information will never move beyond kosher as an abstract. He may have book knowledge, but his lack of familiarity with manufacturing facilities will inevitably hinder his ability to give proper guidance. The OK remains unique in expecting its Rabbinic Coordinators to travel to manufacturing plants on a regular basis.
One concern for food companies is the cost of plant visits. The expense of flying to India or the Far East can be daunting. The OK is dedicated to minimizing costs wherever feasible. Rather than traveling, say, to China to visit one facility, we schedule a number of visits, thereby lowering the cost to each company on whose behalf we are visiting. This demands extensive planning and coordinating. Our secretarial staff takes considerable time to efficiently schedule the trips by our Rabbinic Coordinators.
The result of this team effort has been gratifying. The OK is the second largest kosher supervision agency in the world. In countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, we are the largest agency. My father’s pioneering work in international kashrus has borne fruit for the benefit of kosher consumers worldwide. We will continue to dedicate our efforts to bring first-class supervision to companies around the globe.