Chinese exporters, facing a U.S. backlash over tainted food products, are turning to an unlikely group of inspectors to help clean up their act: Jewish rabbis.
Kosher certifications by rabbis have doubled to more than 300 in China in the past two years, according to the Orthodox Union. The group expects thousands more plants to get certified in the next few years.
Chinese exporters, eager to gain access to the $11.5 billion U.S. kosher market, had already begun seeking the certifications before the uproar over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet food began last year. Now, after a rush of recalls, the rabbis say the companies are paying for the inspections to ease growing concern among U.S. consumers about imports from China.
“When we certify a product, consumers know there is another pair of eyes” on it, said Mordechai Grunberg, an American rabbi whose seven-member team examines Chinese factories, scans company books, and even drops in for surprise inspections to ensure the biblical dietary laws are followed.
The surge of kosher certifications hasn’t come without hiccups. Many Chinese companies were unfamiliar with the concept: One furniture maker asked for kosher certification, drawing a polite rebuff. Another facility asked to get certified as kosher even though it was smoking eel on site, a kosher no- no. The company was turned down; it is now building a separate, kosher-only facility.
And many companies weren’t ready for the grilling the rabbis gave them on their first visits to their plants, seeing it as a sign of distrust. “In China, everything works on relationships,” said Grunberg of the Orthodox Union.
Now, kosher “is part of the vernacular” as companies there try to take advantage of the U.S. market, he said.
Fully half the Chinese exports to the U.S. of $2.5 billion a year in food ingredients, such as coloring agents and preservatives, are kosher, up 150 percent from two years ago, the Orthodox Union estimates.
“We are experiencing phenomenal growth,” said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, chief operating officer of the kosher-certification body.
While the rabbis see to it that the products adhere to such laws as prohibitions on pork and the mixing of meat and dairy, they don’t perform scientific food-safety tests.
“There is definitely marketing power to have a kosher symbol on products,” said Mark Overland, who directs the kosher and organic department at Cargill Inc., the largest U.S. agricultural company. “But it would be a misnomer to equate kosher with food safety.”
And one of the kosher safety measures has already been seized on by Chinese regulators since the U.S. began cracking down on the imports. Since 2001, the Orthodox Union has required makers of products it certifies as kosher to place a code on their packages identifying the plant where it was made so the product can be traced in a recall. In September, Chinese regulators began requiring the same code on all food exports.
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10 Responses
No tickie, no washie.
Having been doing business in and with China the last few years, I would offer the following unsolicited advice to anyone looking to do business in China especially when it comes to Kashrus-
The Chinese mentality is to only look at the deal in the present- they have been doing business like this for thousands of years and are not about to change their attitude or approach- they are interested in the deal as it is today and do not look at the long term effects of being trustworthy and carrying out their side of the deal- that is why many people (including myself) have been burned with receiving inferior products upon delivery(that is the best of all evils)-
I cannot fathom crtifying Kashrus there without continuous round the clock supervision- I would think that the heter of mirsas would not apply when you know going in that the management is not truatsworthy-
I am not discovering America here- ask anyone who has done business in China- Trust and Honesty is not in their business lexicon!
I for one would not eat anything coming from China!
Anonymous is right. In China, people still worship idols.
The moral concepts of Judaism that have migrated to the religions of Christianity and Islam are not present in China.–“Rak Ein YirAs E’ BaMaKom HaZeh.”–There is no fear of G-D.
Consequently, they will lie, cheat, and murder, if they feel they cn get away with it.
Smart companies, like Panasonic and Sony have their own plants in China, staffed by their own managers–a “Mashgiach Temidi.
We need to do the same.
#2 – thanks for the info
#3 – Very interesting re: Sony and Panasonic having presumably-Japanese “Mashgiach Temidim”.
Unfortunately, it seems many products we eat, particularly since we eat so many processed foods, contain one or more Chinese-made ingredients.
While it doesn’t matter to me if consumables et al are made in China, my food is something I’d like to know was made well.
How does one know what food products, and does the OU have a good answer to the lack of “mirsas”/fear, that would seem to require round-the-clock supervision, if supervision were, indeed, even feasible?
As a person who does business with China,I can honestly say.THEIR WORD MEANS NOTHING
I believe you guys, but aren’t most of the food production plants fully automated?
i actually met a few food producers in china on my recent trip there, and confirm all the above, and more — besides the fact that you cant trust them (in business either) they think there is no quality problem with their products, we are ridiculously picky (i’m talking about other than food products), and there’s nothing wrong with washing meat with very dirty water, mixing in poisonous filler with their food products (the problem with their tootpaste), etc.
the ou is just after issuing press releases, and bloomberg, etc, just picks up in these things.
at least this time, the yw editor attributed the report to bloomberg and the o-u, unlike the previous hillary press release.
by the way, the meat there (local sh’chitah) is very tasty — it’s grass fed, not soybean fed, but they dont know / dont want to know how to produce “fat” chicken for western tastes (and more economical chicken production). (of course, most of our kosher beef in the us is also grass fed, since it comes from uruguay, costa rica, or argentina; even the postville plant does very little sh’chita nowadays. trey’f beef is us production, and is soybean fed. the same for us kosher chickens — its us grown, thus soybean fed. you can tell from its white color, as opposed to rich yellow color for grass fed chickens.)
I heard a tape of Rabbi Heineman saying that the only way to certify products from China is to be certifying that they don’t need supervision. That was an old tape, and he seems to have changed his mind for some reason as the Star-k now certifies Chinese products that most definitely need supervision.
This sounds to me like we’re getting set up to be scapegoats next time chinese products go south. Kashrus doesn’t mean that the meat is sanitary, it just means its shechted and that it’s the meat it says it is. THat doesn’t mean it’s stored properly or that it’s shipped properly. This is asking for a hearty round of “blame the Jew” in the event of chinese food poisoning
As someone who’s intimately involved with Kosher and with Kosher in China specifically, I
wish to note the following,
a) Any food which requires Kosher supervision (for whatever reason) during the
ACTUAL production, as opposed to the product being inherently kosher such as
Sugar, etc. must have a Mashgiach temidi in China more so then in most countries.
The Chinese vocabulary does not possess the word “truth, honesty, integrity, etc.”!
b) Despite what the aforementioned organizations claim, subterfuge, evasiveness,
downright swindle is rampant and the norm. We’ve had incidents where they tried
to pull fast ones right under the nose of the Mashgichim and then had the chutzpa
to claim we’re hallucinating!
c) The financial incentive and payment schedule one gets from Chinese companies,
blinds the organization into believing its all “honky dory”; it’s far from that.
d) I can’t write details for then my anonymity will be gone; I have details galore to
safely state, the consumer should not eat any food or ingredient from China, which
requires kosher certification, unless he’s satisfied that there’s a mashgiach temidi
present. The organizations charge hundreds of thousands of dollars in yearly fees. It
suffices to pay for Mashgichim temidim and thousands will still remain in their bank
accounts.
e) Remember; CHINA IS A COMMUNIST COUNTRY! One cannot, may not and will not,
visit a plant, food processing establishment, etc. unannounced!!! There’s no such
thing in China. Having said this, the consumer should think hard and fast about the
reasons for this article.
f) Last but not least, it’s not beyond the Chinese authorities to ban any Rabbi,
Supervisor, Mashgiach, etc. from getting a Visa just for bad mouthing their
companies; as a matter of fact most Mashgichim traveling there apply as a visitor
and not as a Kosher Food Inspector!!