Not Extortion!
Perhaps it's best to ignore these things, but I sent a long comment to the web site that hosted this article: The "Kosher Nostra Scam" on the American Consumer. I said:
I am responding to Ernesto Cienfuegos' "Kosher Nostra" article. Ernesto regards the money that food companies pay to get a kosher symbol on their product as a sort of tax or extortion. This is inaccurate. The companies bear this cost because it enables them to make larger profits. A great number of Americans (and people elsewhere), not just Jews, prefer to buy products that have a kosher symbol on them. No one forces food companies to get rabbinic supervision of their products. They do it to make money. And larger profits sometimes means lower retail prices, not higher prices.
The cost of a food product (and its retail price) reflect all the costs that a company decides is appropriate. That includes the quality of ingredients, the cost of labeling and also advertising. I would like to assure Ernesto that the wholesale cost of food he buys would be lower if companies used lower quality ingredients and did not advertise at all. Some companies DO use lower quality ingredients, and he is welcome to chose them as he prefers.
For traditionally religious Jews, the kosher symbols indicate that the laws of our religion allow us to use that food. For vegetarians, the symbols provide a reliable way to know whether there are traces of meat in a product. For those with dairy allergies, the symbols provide a reliable way to know whether there might be traces of milk in a product. Normal government labeling is not as accurate for these purposes.
For a great many shoppers, the kosher symbols, by suggesting greater supervision of the manufacturing process, indicate that products may be cleaner and more reliable. That is one of the reasons why non-food products also bear kosher symbols. In fact, kosher symbols on some non-food products are there ENTIRELY to attract non-Jewish buyers who feel that kosher symbols mean better quality, and have no relevance at all to religious Jews.
Food manufacturers are simply taking advantage of the needs of all these groups, to sell more product, when they arrange to get kosher symbols.
posted by Isak @ 9:59 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I completely don't disagree with what you are saying here, but I feel I must add something. Although you can generally be sure that you know what you are getting with regard to meat or dairy when you are looking at food with kosher symbols - kosher food seems to be lagging behind the times when it comes to properly listing ingredients for those who have other concerns about what exactly is in their food.
I was recently shopping for food for my nephew, who has many food allergies. Kosher marinara sauce - for some odd reason - writes up their ingreidients saying vague things such as "herbs" or "spices". This, I am assured, is not good enough for my nephew, as we really don't know what "herbs" or "spices" means. Naturally this has nothing to do with kashrut. Nevertheless, out of curiousity, I looked at the labels of a bunch of non-kosher marinara sauces, many of which were proud to label all of their ingredients. At least presumably.
I am eagerly awaiting the time when more vegan and healthfood type companies realize that they can improve their profits by paying extra for the hexture!
The company that vaguely lists "herbs" and "spices" may be breaking the law about labeling. But it's also possible that the amounts of each ingreient are so minute that they are legal.
Bear in mind that for most foods, there are ingredients that can be present in small quantities and legally not listed. A detailed list by another manufacturer is not necessarily a complete list.
- Isak
http://minyanofhits.blogspot.com/
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