1

As far as I understand, many American Jews eat "cholov hacompanies" (=non-CY) because there is a very good heter for it from the Igros Moshe. However, R'Moshe's heter seems to apply only to dairy products manufactured inside the U.S., since it relies on properties of the oversight system that exist here, but not in other countries. (I, like the author in the link, have been told that even in first-world European countries, his hechsher does not apply.)

If that is true, should(n't) even people who eat Cholov Stam be careful about imported packaged foods? It may be that U.S. regulation only allows the import of foods that meet domestic standards, but I doubt it. And perhaps there are some countries from which the dairy would be acceptable--but surely not all. So why don't people seem worried about this issue in the least? Should they be?

Community
  • 1
SAH
  • 19,756
  • 4
  • 56
  • 165
  • 1
    How is this not a dupe of the question you linked to? If people eat Swiss chocolates, they must assume switzerland has good oversight too. If you want to know which countries it applies to, see that question. – Double AA Nov 04 '16 at 14:41
  • @DoubleAA Unlike that question, mine is talking about imported foods in the U.S., which people never seem to worry about. (I definitely don't think most people are saying to themselves, "Well, I'll eat this chocolate because it's from Britain and I know to trust Britain [though not other countries]" and even if they were, it is unclear that they would have an actual heter for it other than their own opinion. I think what most people are doing, instead, is not worrying about it because they generally don't worry about anything CY-related, although maybe in this case they should. Does that + – SAH Nov 04 '16 at 14:58
  • make sense? How should I edit my question to express it better? – SAH Nov 04 '16 at 14:58
  • @SAH All that does is explain your biases in what people are assuming. It doesn't explain how the question is different. The question is still 'does britain have appropriate supervision?' You are just phrasing it in more of a 'rant-am i right?' way where you impugn many people's actions. – Double AA Nov 04 '16 at 15:02
  • 1
    You might have been told that other countries are no good, but other answers there have more votes. Clearly other people have other positions. One even cites the london beit din! – Double AA Nov 04 '16 at 15:04
  • @SAH As far as I know, people check the certifications being used by the other countries rather than making assumptions. For example, in England the London Bais Din is used. In Rome there was an ice cream stand that had a hechsher. When items are imported (such as Swiss chocolates) the individual items have a hechsher. – sabbahillel Nov 04 '16 at 15:23
  • @sabbahillel I'm not talking about general hechsherim but about cholov yisroel in particular, which many hechsherim do not seem to consider. – SAH Nov 04 '16 at 15:52
  • 1
    @SAH They all consider it. Some choose to accept RMF and some don't. No one is ignoring this clear and explicit Halakha. – Double AA Nov 04 '16 at 16:40
  • @DoubleAA it doesn't afaik have anything to do with R'MF, since he was only talking about food manufactured in the U.S.; I am talking about food manufactured overseas and imported – SAH Nov 04 '16 at 17:42
  • 1
    @SAH Sorry. I meant "RMF's reasoning". A foreign Hekhsher can also read his reasoning and decide it applies in their case too. Even in the US we need rabbis to read RMF's reasoning and decide it still applies in the US nowadays given the current government oversight policies. – Double AA Nov 04 '16 at 18:14
  • @SAH Note that when a product has a hechsher, that means that they certify that whatever halachos apply are correct and there is nothing to forbid that product.Unless the product wants to get a "Chalav Yisrael" certificate, the hechsher will certify that the milk used is kosher, whether because of Chalav Yisrael or for reasons like Rav Moshe's psak. It will not specify all the halachos on the label. Thus all you need to see is the kashrus certificate. – sabbahillel Nov 04 '16 at 19:02
  • @DoubleAA and sabbahillel Thanks for these comments; if you could flesh them out a bit, I think they would be good answers. I'm a little confused, though, about this idea that "when a product has a hechsher, that means that they certify that whatever halachos apply are correct." Does this include halachos outside of kashrus? I'm trying to think of an example of standard halachos that might not be covered; all I can think of at the moment are maaser/terumah/orlah/netai rivii/shmita and bugs with fruit, but I guess fruit doesnt have a hechsher anyway so it doesn't apply...Could anything else + – SAH Nov 07 '16 at 16:00
  • ...possibly come into play? Maybe you guys can help @sabbahillel – SAH Nov 07 '16 at 16:00
  • 1
    @SAH Hashgachot in Israel actually do account for maaser/terumah/etc. and fruit stores there do need Hashgachot (in some circumstances you can buy and tithe the produce on your own if there is no Hashgacha). – Double AA Nov 07 '16 at 19:04

0 Answers0