OO Shul's Kashrus Standards

I think you have to be more careful about rabbinical supervision in Israel than you do in the U.S. Other than Badatz and chasan sofer there are many,many others, and if you are not living in Israel you cannot be sure that a product is reliable just because it has some rabbinical supervision on that.

CTI is an OO synagogue in Austin, TX. I guess that Austin shul was finally able to find someone! I wonder if they had to pay him more than $100,000 per year…

As far as I know there is no open orthodox Hashgaha. If they serve regular hashsghcha’s like the OU or OK why not trust them

the products produced in america that are made with the gelatin derived from animals, usually has a label attached to it where the rav hamachshir cites a teshuvas achiezer in support of the kosher designation. that in itself was a red flag to me, to ask my rav about it. I mean, when was the last time you saw ANY rav hamachshir affix a teshuva to a product detailing the reasons for the kashrus certificate! my rav told me that every major posek in america, litvish and chassidish held that the achiezer said something else entirely and in fact was not a basis for the kashrus of the animal derived gelatin. it is why no major hechsher in america certifies such products and the supervision comes from an individual rav.

I don’t understand why OO is in the title of this thread. But now that we’re on the topic…

Panda licorice is from Finland and the box just has a plain “K.” The company has a document indicating that it is under supervision from the Finland’s chief rabbi, who is a YCT grad. I’m not on the OO boat in general, but I think this hechsher is good enough, since it’s a very simple product (with just four ingredients, all vegan and non-grape), and I doubt this humble product is fit for a king’s table.

FrumRav, actually, the cRc says that cut fruit from a large supermarket does not need supervision.

I do not understand what this thread means. Straw man?

There are definitely some items which don’t require hashgochah, nothing to do with OO.

Star-K permits most canned fruit without a hechsher. From an article on the cRc web site by Tzvi Rosen, Star-K kashrut administrator:

“canned fruits can be purchased without kosher certification if the following conditions are met:

1. The fruits are packed in water, light or heavy syrup and do not have fruit juice listed as an ingredient;

2. They are not colored with natural colors; and

3. The fruits are not products of Israel.

“

FrumRav, you mentioned applesauce earlier. The cRc says that “Unflavored, unsweetened applesauce does not need a hechsher.” You can look it up, they sent it out as a Twitter message this past December.

With the vegetables, you left out the part where they listed the exceptions. Again, a quick look at the cRc website will show that they also say frozen vegetables are kosher, with a list of exceptions. The lists don’t sync up exactly, but some research of other hashgachos shows that there are disagreements on the veggies I looked up. A good example is potatoes – the cRc lists them as an exception. Others say they’re fine as long as they’re not fully cooked through.

There are plenty of issues with OO. The kashrus rules of one OO synagogue shouldn’t be your focus.

Why, popa, is it made out of asbestos?

It is one shul, which may not represent the position of other shuls. So if your rav doesn’t like the standards there, don’t attend a simcha there.

But more importantly is that the standards don’t say what FrumRav claims. For example, this is the entirety of the Frozen Vegetables statement:

“All frozen vegetables are acceptable, EVEN WHEN THEY DO NOT BEAR ANY CERTIFICATION, with the exception of: Brussels Sprouts, Artichokes and Asparagus.

Frozen Broccoli is acceptable as long as IT IS NOT FROM MEXICO.”

FrumRav deliberately misled us by not mentioning the exceptions. And that is my last comment on this thread because I won’t argue with people who can’t be trusted to tell the truth.