Kashrut- What Could Be Traif -Wrong/Forbidden- About That Innocent Plain Yogurt?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has found myself in the awkward position of discovering "unsupervised" yogurts in someone's kosher refrigerator. I live in Shiloh, Israel where, maybe excepting some of the small boutique dairies, all the dairy products including yogurts have one or more "hechshers," kashrut supervision certification logos. Of course, there are people who prefer one type of supervision over another, but I don't have the problem of searching the massive supermarket dairy displays for a good yogurt with a hechsher.
- So, are those wonderful Greek and other unsupervised yogurts kosher?
- In places where it's hard to find any certified kosher products can you eat the yogurts?
This Shabbat (in Torah Tidbits) I read an article which answered the question. Easy to Eat, Complex to Certify: Yogurt is a Favorite Food for the Cultured Among Us. It answers those questions, and the answer is very clear, a simple "no."
The following sentence summarizes the article, and I suggest you read the article very carefully:
"Of all dairy products, yogurt is among the most complex in terms of its kosher requirements and proper supervision."
2 comments:
As a mashgiach in a supermarket chain, one of the things I have to check is the hechsher on imported milk products.
This includes yogurts and cheeses as well as many other products that are made with milk powder or other milchik derivitives. The Rabbanut haRashit has a special category called "kasher l'ochlei avkat chalav nochri bilvad" This is because even though milk powder can only be made from the milk of kosher animals (Only bovines have the enzyme that keeps the milk from congealing during the process of making milk powder)still many are machmir on milk powder produced by non-jews. This is the major difference between Mehadrin and "regular" kashrut certification in milk products.BTW look out for my until-now secret 5 grain cholent recipe coming soon on my blog.
David, thanks for the input. I ought to blog about my chelm experience with food coloring.
5 grains? What about low carb people?
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