Turning to kosher cuts
As various health scares raise fears about the food supply, more
consumers are viewing the strictly prepared meats as a safer alternative.
Americans are snapping up kosher
food products across the country, prompted by health concerns and a belief
that kosher meats and poultry — prepared under strict Jewish dietary laws —
are a safer choice amid fears of mad cow disease and bacterial
contamination.
Kosher laws are stricter than U.S. Department of Agriculture standards when
it comes to the health of animals that can be eaten. They prohibit, for
example, using cows with broken bones or animals that are visibly sick. The
laws strictly dictate how the animals are fed, killed and processed.
Harry Geedey, marketing vice president for Empire Kosher Poultry Inc., the
nation's largest kosher poultry producer, said the religious requirements
"add another level of safety" to the meat supply. After USDA inspectors at
Empire's Pennsylvania plant finish their work, rabbis "trained in veterinary
science" and kosher law perform additional inspections, rejecting "about
three times more than what the USDA does," Geedey said.
The number of health-conscious consumers who seek out kosher products has
been steadily rising. The market has received an extra boost from several
food scares, including beef contaminated with deadly E. coli bacteria and
December's discovery of a cow in Washington state infected with bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, food industry executives and
local butchers say.
Manes Wiezel, the founder of Los Angeles-based City Glatt Inc., a wholesale
distributor of "glatt kosher" meats (processed at the strictest level of
kosher), has noticed a steady and significant increase in sales. Because the
U.S. Jewish population is holding steady, he and others in the kosher
industry attribute the extra demand to buyers who are not motivated by
religion but by health and food safety concerns.
Among local butchers, Herschel Berengut, the owner of G&K Kosher Meat Market
in Los Angeles, said non-Jewish Filipinos and African Americans recently
became first-time customers after seeking confirmation that kosher meat is
more rigorously inspected than regular meat.
Like organic meat and poultry, kosher meats and poultry are hormone-free.
Joseph Azizi, a co-owner of Santa Monica Kosher Market in West Los Angeles,
said the meat scare had brought new Latino and Japanese customers from the
surrounding neighborhood. He said sales had risen about 30% recently, noting
that the regional supermarket labor strike, which has sent some people in
search of new places to shop, was another possible factor in the upswing in
business.
After reports of mad cow disease in Washington, Azizi hoisted a yellow and
red banner above the storefront that reads: "Don't Get 'Mad' Get Kosher /
Kosher Meat Is Safe." That sign reassured some existing customers and
brought in non-Jewish customers along with non-kosher Jews.
Because kosher dietary laws prohibit the mixing of meat and milk products,
kosher food labeling is particularly rigorous. Foods are categorized as
meat, dairy or pareve — a neutral category containing neither meat nor
dairy. The meticulous labeling has helped drive a steady 15% annual growth
in the U.S. market for kosher products, according to market research firms
that monitor the kosher food industry. Among the buyers: vegetarians who
know that certified products don't contain hidden meat products; people with
lactose intolerance who must avoid hidden milk products; Muslims, Hindus and
Seventh-day Adventists whose dietary prohibitions overlap with kosher laws;
and the growing group of Americans choosing kosher foods as a more healthful
alternative.
National supermarket chains, which sell roughly three-fourths of the
nation's kosher products, are increasing their kosher offerings to meet this
growing demand.
Menachem Lubinsky, editor of Kosher Today, a New York-based newsletter, said
the number of certified kosher products had soared from 16,000 in 1977 to
80,000 today, including such well-known food items as Oreo cookies. He said
about a third of all supermarket items were certified kosher. In 2003,
kosher foods comprised about $170 billion of the $500 billion in U.S. food
sales.
"Our non-Jewish customers are seeing the health benefits," said Terry
O'Neil, a spokesman for Ralphs Grocery Co. in Compton, which has kosher
butchers in eight of its stores, with plans to add more. "As we've expanded
the departments to a lot of new stores, we've seen an increase in the
cross-section of our customers purchasing kosher."
Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz, director of the Kosher Information Bureau in North
Hollywood, has noticed the change among people who sign up for supermarket
tours that his organization sponsors. The tour groups, which used to cater
almost exclusively to Orthodox Jews, now include a lot of people who are not
Jewish.
Strict dietary laws govern certification
To be certified kosher, animals must be raised, killed and processed
according to strict Jewish dietary law. Symbols of kosher certification
include the letter K, often in combination with other symbols, or a U
surrounded by a circle. The word "pareve" on a label means that the food
contains neither meat nor dairy products.
Kosher poultry cannot show any signs of being pecked, sick or injured. The
birds are killed with a slit to the neck, allowing the blood to drain out.
They're never plunged into hot water (a theoretical source of bacterial
contamination), but are washed in cold water before being soaked, salted and
washed again. Experts in the koshering process say the extensive use of salt
helps kill bacteria.
To be kosher, cows must be younger than 30 months. Dairy cows are never
used. Kosher laws preclude using a stun gun or a bullet to the brain, which
could scatter brain and nerve tissue (a source of mad cow disease). The
animal must be hand-slaughtered by slitting its neck. Religious inspectors
look for signs of broken bones, disease or scarred or punctured organs,
which disqualify the animal. Downer cattle are never used, and about only
40% of healthy cattle qualify as kosher. Meat can be taken from only the
forequarters; it is then soaked and salted to draw out the blood.
— Jane E. Allen, Times Staff Writer
origin:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-he-kosher2feb02,1,3182801.story?coll=la-health-medicine
Article licensing and reprint options
SimpleToRemember.com - Judaism Online |