K A S H R U T . C O M_©

As kashrut reform takes hold, businesses put their money where the mouths are

January 23, 2022 from The TimesOfIsrael:

"Now free to switch overseeing agencies, food establishment owners say they’ll do so only if it’s good for business — and it often isn’t

"Until now, the chief rabbinate and local religious councils have been the only bodies that can issue kosher certificates, which costs businesses about $2.18-2.49 million a year.

"Now, however, with the first stage of the kashrut reform led by Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana taking effect, any restaurant, food store and factory can choose from among all religious councils nationwide to provide them with kashrut supervision, rather than only being able to use their local council.

"The reform will eventually enable private organizations to provide supervision services — with oversight by the rabbinate — starting in 2023.

"This is the long-awaited privatization of the kosher certification industry, a path paved by the religious Tzohar organization, which launched its own kosher certification agency in 2018. They took over from a grassroots group that first entered the industry years before, aiming to break the rabbinate’s hold.

"Tzohar can use the term ‘announcement,’ or ‘halachic,’ (which means according to Jewish law) in its certificates, but not the word ‘kosher.’ For the time being, that word belongs to the chief rabbinate alone.

"The organization will be able to use the word ‘kosher’ in their certificates in a year’s time, as part of the reforms."