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How do big brands like Kraft and others produce kosher certified foods while avoiding bishul akum? Do these brands have Jews on staff to light fires/operate machinery at the food production plants? Is the OU notified when these people switch jobs?

Danny Schoemann
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Avi Avraham
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  • Do you have a specific product in mind? Most don’t have a problem either because it’s eaten raw or because it’s not served on shulchan malachim – Chatzkel Mar 18 '24 at 19:26
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    Sure, wonder bread for instance – Avi Avraham Mar 18 '24 at 19:58
  • Oh. That’s pas palter not bishul akum. Is that all? – Chatzkel Mar 18 '24 at 20:01
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    M&Ms and other chocolates? I can't come up with another example off the top of my head – Avi Avraham Mar 18 '24 at 20:04
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    Why not assume that the supervising organization has a representative on premises, to carry out what is needed to make sure they keep to kashroot standards, and then have some kind of regional supervisor to check in and see that everything is being done correctly, from time to time? – Tamir Evan Mar 18 '24 at 20:06
  • Each item has its own calculation. There are a number of exceptions and each hechsher has their guidelines when they apply each. For example, something that’s a snack and not served in a meal is an exception according to some – Chatzkel Mar 18 '24 at 20:09
  • Peanut butter apparently needs a hechsher. https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/141320/does-peanut-butter-need-a-hechsher – Paul Walker Mar 19 '24 at 02:46
  • @TamirEvan that's pretty much how it works, except that not everything needs a representative on premises at all times. For different factories/productions there are varying schedules for mashgiach visits – Esther Mar 19 '24 at 13:49
  • It sounds to me that when the company signs the agreement with OU to buy/lease the rights to their hechsher, OU takes on the responsibility for the kosherness of the product. So you can't have your righteous gentile neighbor's homemade peanut butter, but you can buy it from a factory where your neighbor makes it. As long as the factory buys the hechsher. It sounds like a copyright for food. – Paul Walker Mar 19 '24 at 14:02
  • A much more interesting question is that of gevinas yisrael (Jewish cheese) at Kraft factories, which make kosher cheese 24/7. Cheese is extra-stringent and a Jew has to actually make it in order for it to be kosher. There are some interesting systems in place for that on Shabbos, since a Jew can't put enzymes into milk to make cheese on Shabbos because of Boneh. IIRC the mashgiach makes a kinyan on the enzymes, so that way when the non-Jewish workers put it into the milk, it belongs to a Jew and is therefore gevinas yisrael – Esther Mar 19 '24 at 14:47

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For foods where bishul akkum applies, meaning foods that are not edible raw and are oleh al shulchan melachim (important enough to be served at a king's table/fancy event), there is indeed a Jew present, a mashgiach who works for the kosher certifying agency, to turn on fires and heating equipment. Realize that many foods, especially ones produced by Kraft and the like, don't fall into that category.

In many factories, a fire can be burning for a long time, possibly even indefinitely, so it isn't necessarily required to have a Jew on hand at all times. In such cases, the kosher certifying agency will have systems in place to be aware of when a fire goes out or to ensure that only their own representative can turn it back on. One example of such a system would be equipment that logs if the fire goes out and turns back on. The kosher certifying agency can audit the logs periodically and see if the equipment was powered up by someone who wasn't authorized. In other cases, the mashgiach can place a tamper-proof seal to ensure nobody else opened it in the meantime.

In other cases, there is indeed a mashgiach who visits when needed to turn on fires (and check on other things, or possibly kasher equipment if needed).

Source: a rabbi/supervisor of mashgichim at the OU.

Esther
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The fire can also be lit remotely, as discussed here https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/57318/33522

However, as noted there, the Star-K does not agree that this method is halachically valid. The Star‑K in that same article describes a different method.

Would a glow bar or glow plug that was turned on by a Yehudi and was burning continuously qualify for bishul Yisroel? The minimum halachic requirement for bishul Yisroel is “hashlochas kisem”, literally, to throw a small wood chip into the fire. Any minor action that contributes heat to the cooking would qualify for bishul Yisroel. If the oven would be hotwired so that a bulb or a glow bar could be placed into the oven cavity, turned on by the Yehudi,and left on permanently, the additional heat given off by the light bulb or glow plug (which is considered fire) would more than qualify for hashlochas kisem and would fulfill the requirements of bishul Yisroel.

Thus if the mashgiach lights the bulb or glow bar, as long as it is left on the oven fire can always be turned on by a non-Jew without any issues. I have been told that the OU's poskim do not agree that the Star-K's method is halachically valid.

JMS
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