OU Kashrut

Glimpses into the world of OU kashrut supervision

Q:  Can I look at the ingredient statement of a food to determine if it is kosher?

A:  No. These statements are not designed to provide kosher information. Many ingredients, such as glycerin, may be derived from either kosher or non-kosher sources, and one cannot tell which from the label. Moreover, some ingredients may incorporate sub-ingredients that the label is not required to list at all. What exactly is in that “natural flavor”, anyway? Even if a product is made from all-kosher or all-pareve ingredients, it can be rendered non-kosher or dairy by the processing equipment.
Case in point - VEGETABLE OIL
The belief that vegetable oil can only be vegetable oil coupled with the notion that animal fat can’t be produced on the same equipment has sown some confusion in this area.  It is definitely true that the consumption and use of animal based fats have dropped dramatically over the past decade… However, this does not mean that the non-kosher oils and fats are not produced on the same equipment as vegetable oil…
The only time that there is no common equipment issue is in the crush plants. This is where the vegetable or bean of choice is brought to be extracted… Animal fat is not extracted in the same way, so at the crush plant there would be no concern of commonality…
After the oil has been manufactured into the crude state, it is either refined in the same plant or transported to a different plant for refining. Both of these possibilities, refining and transportation, presents a possible problem from a kashrus perspective.
Refining is the process by which crude oil is made ready to be used for human consumption by removing impurities from the crude oil.  The refining of oils involves a number of different procedures… (such as Alkali Refining, Bleaching, Deodorization - any remaining materials in the oil that can cause spoilage or unpleasant odors are removed through the process. Oil is pumped into a deodorizer which is a very large piece of equipment that heats the oil in a vacuum.
All of these processes are performed hot and can be done to both animal fat and vegetable oil.
The kashering of a deodorizer is extremely difficult… The preference is to use vegetable oil from all-vegetable plants.  A deodorizer is approximately six stores high… oil is pumped, heated and centrifuged at temperatures as high as 700degrees - It is difficult to clean because after each deodorization process a film of oil adheres to the deodorizer and is not easily removed… kashering is very labor intense.
Animal fat can be refined and processed in any of the same ways that vegetable oil is in the post-crush processes.  This leads us to the problem of transportation. Vegetable oil, whether it be crude, partially refined or fully refined can leave the processing plant in one of several ways.
It could be piped into the hold of a ship. This hold may have contained treif liquids which would then render the holds themselves non-kosher. This is because treif animal fats are stored while hot . It is like cooking treif fat in a pot and then using that pot either to store kosher oil or to cook kosher oil. Kosher vegetable oil can sometimes be kept at temperatures considered hot. Even without the heating element, another problem would be “kavush”. Kavush takes place when a cold liquid sits in a utensil for 24 hours or more, and it by Halacha is viewed as being cooked there…
A third concern is the medium of heat, which often is recirculating steam. If steam that was used to heat treif animal fat is then recirculated to heat kosher vegetable oil, the Kosher status of the vegetable oil will be compromised. To address these issues, Kashrus agencies have taken these steps to maintain the integrity of the kosher certified product.
1) Kosher oils may only be shipped in holds that have been used exclusively for kosher products for the last three shipments. 2) Adjacent holds may only contain kosher products. 3) Recirculating steam must be chemically treated with a caustic like chemical which will render the steam PAGUM (foul tasting). Something which is “pagum” can’t make something else treif…
Here’s another potential problem… hydrogenated oils… Hydrogenation in- creases the shelf life and flavor stability of products containing these oils… vegetable shortenings, margarine, crackers, cookies, pretzels and any other food made with or fried in oil. Hydrogenation presents a kashrus concern because tallow (cattle, sheep or horse fat) and lard (hog fat) can also be hydrogenated. Thus the commonality of equipment issue has again surfaced.
The next time you take a bite of your favorite snack food, think about all the effort of the Kashrut agency to make sure that all of the components are Kosher.

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