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I recently noticed that the bottle of Kedem Kosher grape juice that I purchased has a notice on the label which reads 'FOR SACRAMENTAL PURPOSES ONLY'.

I assume this means that it's being sold to be used only for Kiddush, Havdalah or the Four Cups at the Seder.

Why is it in the company's interests to sell it in this way? Does it confer some legal, regulatory or tax advantage?

[Tangential bonus question: What happens if I want to drink it for other, non-sacramental purposes?]

Joel K
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    I recommend you ask the manufacturer. – msh210 Aug 09 '18 at 14:10
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    @msh210 They don’t provide a contact email address on their website - just a mailing address and phone number – Joel K Aug 09 '18 at 14:12
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    @JoelK so take pen to paper and ask them? (Unless of course you have a phone.) – msh210 Aug 09 '18 at 14:14
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    @msh210 I may well do that, but if someone here knows, then that will provide an answer much more speedily – Joel K Aug 09 '18 at 14:15
  • I saw this on European bottles as well. Maybe for export purposes? – Kazi bácsi Aug 09 '18 at 14:29
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    @JoelK As an aside, if you’re interested in privacy, you might want to post a different picture that doesn’t have that receipt in it, which kinda gives away your general location. – DonielF Aug 09 '18 at 15:21
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    Seems to me that this question is not relevant to the site as it is more relevant to non-Jewish tax law than Judaism. There may be a Judaic interest in the "Tangential bonus question: What happens if I want to drink it for other, non-sacramental purposes?" – Avrohom Yitzchok Aug 09 '18 at 16:56
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    @AvrohomYitzchok The question is about words about religion on a Jewish product's label, not about tax law, even if the answer is about tax law. – Isaac Moses Aug 09 '18 at 17:57
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    @DonielF the picture is from google images, although the link to the original site is dead. – Heshy Aug 09 '18 at 18:28
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    I second @AvrohomYitzchok’s comment. The question is Jewish-motivated, but there’s no reason necessarily to assume that a Jew using this site would know the answer. If the question were the tangential one and asking if a product marketed for sacramental purposes was used for other purposes, then I would say this is fine, but at the moment, I’m voting to close. – DonielF Aug 09 '18 at 22:50
  • I notice there's [tag:united-states] but not [tag:great-britain] or [tag:united-kingdom] which this question would benefit from. – CJ Dennis Aug 10 '18 at 00:17
  • Does Rabbi Tuckman's loophole apply? – Daniel ben Noach Aug 10 '18 at 03:46
  • That's in fact how it's used in my house for people that don't drink wine. Also consider the aspect of sugar and public health. Some locales have Sugary Drink Tax or Sugar Tax. – Nissim Nanach Jan 14 '21 at 17:42

3 Answers3

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The reason is to exempt it from Value Added Tax.

See the regulation at this www.gov.uk site.

The important bit says:

4.7 Food and drink for religious and sacramental use

The existence of religious laws requiring certain foods to be prepared in particular ways (for example, kosher or halal) doesn’t affect the liability of the final product, which is judged according to the normal VAT rules. However, the following liabilities have been agreed in respect of some specialised food products, which have exclusively sacramental use:

communion wafers used in the celebration of the Christian Communion, Mass or Eucharist are zero rated

unfermented communion wine is also zero rated (but fermented communion wine is standard rated)

unfermented grape juice for use at the Jewish seder or kaddish (sic!)is zero rated provided it is marked prominently in English ‘for sacramental use only’

"Zero-rated" means that there is a zero rate of Value Added Tax.

Avrohom Yitzchok
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Sacrimental purposes exempts from tax in many places like New York see here: https://tax.ny.gov/pubs_and_bulls/tg_bulletins/abt/exempt_sales_and_uses.htm

yosefkorn
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  • I have to view that law. AFAIK, all wines are taxed, and I've never seen this wording placed on Kedem (or any other brand's) wines. – DanF Aug 09 '18 at 21:25
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I'm not good enough at reading legislative mumbo-jumbo to completely understand the particulars of the section in question, but New York state has a law (the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law) which specifies certain restrictions on alcoholic beverages. Section 6 in particular deals with wine.

I don't know for sure that this law is the reason Kedem puts this disclaimer on the bottles, but it seems plausible to me that they do it just to avoid the possibility of legal mix-ups even though it may not be strictly necessary for non-alcoholic beverages. There is a section in the law (76(10)) which makes an exception to some of the restrictions for sacramental purposes.

Someone who is better at reading these kinds of things may be able to clarify the law better than I can.

Daniel
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