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I was in Costco today and saw chopped romaine lettuce with the KORC symbol. I was wondering if anyone knows if this symbol is accepted by the OU or other large Kashrus organizations.

KORC symbol; a large "K" in a square, with smaller letters "O" "R" and "C" arranged vertically on the right-hand side of the square

MTL
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Gershon Gold
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    http://www.kashrut.com/agencies/ San Francisco – Double AA Feb 12 '15 at 03:13
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    I personally found a bug in a can of OU soup. Don't trust OU? What if someone found a bug in Star K once? We'd all starve to death. – Clint Eastwood Aug 30 '15 at 23:16
  • Please note that the OU has a strict policy of not recommending other kashrus agencies. They will never speak to the quality of the kashrus of another agency as a rule. – Yehuda Feb 28 '21 at 17:40

4 Answers4

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The Atlanta Kashrus Agency does not recommend the KORC.

The AKC does not recommend the KORC certification. Lettuce products with this certification have been found to have have insects and require additional washing and checking.

C. Ben Yosef
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    Is this a blanket non-recommendation of KORC on all products or just the lettuce? – DanF Feb 12 '15 at 19:23
  • I quoted them verbatim. I would read it as a blanket non-recommendation. To add to this is the answer of SkinnyJ which points out that KORC appears on neither the cRc nor KosherQuest (Rabbi Eidlitz, based in California) lists of reliable hashgachot. – C. Ben Yosef Feb 12 '15 at 19:49
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    Um, you have to check lettuce for bugs, and wash it, no matter if it has a hechsher on it. :-/ – ezra Mar 22 '18 at 03:34
  • @Ezra: The OU and Star-K give certification to lettuce and there is no need to wash or check for bugs. – C. Ben Yosef Apr 08 '18 at 16:55
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    @DanF I have spoken personally with the head of the AKC and he told me that KORC should not be relied upon in general. – Daniel May 23 '18 at 04:10
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Considering the opacity around the acceptability of different kashruth certification organizations in America, I don't think many people will be able to accurately answer this question. That being said, KORC appears on neither the cRc nor KosherQuest (Rabbi Eidlitz, based in California) lists of reliable hashgachot (although they of course have disclaimers that absence from the list does not mean it is not acceptable).

Yosef Weiner
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This info is on Kashrut.com :

Orthodox Rabbinical Council of San Francisco 1851 Noriega Street, P.O. Box 22491, San Francisco, CA 94122 415-564-5665, Fax: 415-665-0394 Rabbi Jacob Traub, Chairman Email: orcsf@aol.com

I could not find any info on any kashrut site regarding its reliability. As a matter of fact, various web forums debate its kashrut, with none mentioning why.

I think, therefore, on this, you may have to relay this to your rav. I know some rabbanim are lenient regarding a questionable hechsher on produce. (My rav, e.g., allowed all cut up fresh fruit from Costco even without a hechsher on it.)

Isaac Moses
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DanF
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    This post says nothing about whether "this symbol is accepted by the OU or other large Kashrus organizations" and is therefore not an answer. – Isaac Moses Feb 12 '15 at 15:11
  • @IsaacMoses But doesn't this answer show who that organization is? – MTL Feb 12 '15 at 15:26
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    @Shokhet The question at hand is not who it is, but whether it's accepted. – Isaac Moses Feb 12 '15 at 15:27
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    @IsaacMoses Ah. I thought it was closer to my question, as "is it a good hechsher" is (AIUI) primarily opinion-based. However, "what does the OU say about it" should be fine. – MTL Feb 12 '15 at 15:29
  • Which web forums? How can they "debate" something without "saying why"? Do you mean that they just assert that it's unreliable? – Isaac Moses Feb 12 '15 at 15:58
  • @IsaacMoses - I'mamother was one of them. I can't access it now as my browser blocks many sites. What I saw yesterday didn't completely explain why it was questionable. It just said it was. – DanF Feb 12 '15 at 16:17
  • Chopped fruit (which are unlikely to be bug infested) are far from a proof for chopped romaine (which is likely infested). In fact, generally, if a mainstream brand is using an obscure certification, it's because the mainstream certifications refuse to endorse the product on halachik grounds. – Loewian Feb 12 '15 at 18:22
  • @loewian - Yes. You make a good point. OTOH, there are certifications on produce (I believe that Dole makes packaged salad mixes) that have not been inspected for bugs. – DanF Feb 12 '15 at 18:40
  • I believe though that, at least in the case of romaine and similarly infestation-prone produce, mainstream kashrut agencies have regular inspections to ascertain it's not an unusually infested crop, as well as strict washing procedures. If a crop is still infested, I believe that run is not certified. – Loewian Feb 12 '15 at 19:10
  • This isnt to say that KORC is not presenting a halachically legitimate ruling. Just one that is not currently mainstream. (E.g. they may have a valid definition of the halachik usage of statistics (rov) upon which they rely. I believe the star-k was once more lenient on chopped romaine and that there were rumors they changed their position more for political reasons rather than a genuine halachik reevaluation. Though I only know of this as a rumor.) – Loewian Feb 12 '15 at 19:14
  • @loewian - I guess that where there are big profits to be made, a good rumor can be turned into a halacha or issur - esp. in kashrut business :-* – DanF Feb 12 '15 at 19:21
  • As @loewian pointed out, there is a big difference between produce not prone to infestations and produce that is (e.g. romaine lettuce). – Fred Feb 13 '15 at 07:41
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I have posed this same question to Haredi and Modern Orthodox in our community.the simple answer is buyer beware. Neither crc nor cor (Canada) list them, and the reference card(COR) that I hand out to converts in Calgary does not list them. I would avoid them, unless a major hescher approves them. It is after all, about publishing clear rules, available to the public and rabbinic users alike! That is to say... how do you certify breads,broccoli, cauliflower, nuts and bulk foods? What is the laws of dairy and fish and MEAT? My great uncle started one of the first meat plants under Lubbavitch supervision. I only accept what I can verify. Yes, sometimes you may make a mistake, just don't do it again...Hashem understands and forgives.

ISAAC
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