Apparently China is now trying to tap the lucrative kosher market. A story on Bloomberg.com (thanks, Dad, for the tip) leads off like this:
Chinese exporters, facing a U.S. backlash over tainted food products, are turning to an unlikely group of inspectors to help clean up their act: Jewish rabbis.
While the whole story is rather humorous, I can only ask this question after reading the lead: What other kind of rabbis are there?
Find the full story here.
Many people complain that it’s difficult to find a synagogue to join in New York City. There are just so many options, that none of them feel exactly right - you might call it The Shul-Goers Dilemma. These days, however, I’m feeling pretty good at Temple Bet Pollan.
Michael Pollan gets his fair share of love on this blog, and his new book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
has already joined its predecessor, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
as a New York Times Best Seller. Pollan is in the middle of his second whirlwind book tour in two years (I guess he sleeps on the plane) – and I hear the same account every where he goes. Huge venue, sold out show, knockout performance.
Like any effective leader - Martin Luther King included - he’s charismatic and big on the big ideas that change the way we think - or in this case how we eat. But as I devoured (pun intented) Pollan’s new book on my subway commute, I wondered what, if anything, does his worldview offer to the Jewish community? And, perhaps more interestingly, what wisdom does the tribe have to offer back to him?
Read more »
As a staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety, I was appalled that the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cloned animals for use in our food today. I have to ask, “who does our federal government protect? How can they allow this into the food system without facts showing it is safe and without any labeling or public disclosure requirements?” As a Jew, it makes me ask other questions: “Will this be allowed in kosher milk? Kosher meat? What do our rabbis think? What about the eco-kosher movement?”
FDA Approves Cloned Animals for Our Food
Today’s FDA decision was a long-awaited regulatory assessment of cloned animals, proclaiming that food from cloned animals are just as safe as food from naturally raised animals. (See FDA on Cloning) And while the FDA did not address whether cloned milk and meat is kosher, they did decide today that it is safe for Americans to eat.
The FDA made this decision in the worst way possible. FDA based its decision on an incomplete and flawed review that relies on studies supplied by cloning companies that want to force this cloning technology on American consumers. Biotechnology companies such as ViaGen provided FDA with the “science” in this case. There are no peer reviewed studies showing that this stuff is safe for us to eat.
Read more »
We’re all familiar with the saying, “you are what you eat.” But two recent articles got me thinking that perhaps this old adage would be better stated, “you are what you think you eat.”
The first is a unnecessarily hateful article called “Extreme Eating” by Joel Stein in this week’s Time magazine. Stein decides to stick it to the “luddite” locavores, by making a meal strictly with ingredients grown 3,000 miles from his Los Angeles home and purchased at Whole Foods. (He must mistakenly believe that locavores revere Whole Foods as some sort of local food Mecca.) Stein writes:
“I want the world to come to me, to see it shrink so small it fits on my plate. I want Maine lobster in broth flavored with Spanish saffron. I want Alaskan salmon, truffles from Europe, a bottle of Beaujolais, a damn pineapple. And I want them much more than I want that carrot you grew in your garden. Because I know you’re going to talk to me for 20 minutes about your carrot.”
I’m not about to fight to the death for locavores or stop supplementing my CSA share with the occasional avocado or grapefruit. And as I’ve said before, there’s bound to be some backlash against sustainable food this year. But Stein’s “distavore” meal is little more than a petulant and obvious attack on a movement that has caused a lot of people to consider more carefully the impact of their food choices.
In his article, Stein likens his meal to one fit for a “European king.” Well, he’s right. European kings were known for cutting off people’s heads to get what they wanted, and in a sense, that’s exactly what his meal (ahem, publicity stunt) accomplished. Read more »
Fermentation is the foundation of warm sourdough bread, crunchy pickles and cold micro-brewed beer. And Sandor Ellix Katz is, in our humble opinion, the rebbe of fermentation.
Two weeks ago, Naftali posted a review of Sandor’s book Wild Fermentation. Now, you can read the exclusive (and incredibly inspiring) interview with Sandor, and answer the following question for a chance to win a copy of his book: What is your all-time favorite fermented food?
Interview with Sandor Ellix Katz
Who is Sandorkraut?
Sandorkraut is an affectionate nickname I was given by friends thanks to my love of sauerkraut, my constant production of it, and more broadly my evangelical zeal about fermentation. My name is Sandor Ellix Katz. I’m a queer Jew born and raised in New York City who has been homesteading in rural Tennessee for the past 15 years.
My interest in fermentation developed out of overlapping interests in food, nutrition, and gardening. My book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods 
has propelled me into a mission of what I call cultural revivalism, spreading fermentation skills and fermentation fervor.
Read more »
*Thanks to Michael Croland of Heeb N’ Vegan for this guest post.
In 2007, we witnessed the very beginnings of a revolution in the way farmed animals are treated. Thanks to a series of major announcements this year, the cruel confinement typical of factory-farming is, in several cases, on its way out.
In January, Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pig-meat producer, announced that it is phasing out gestation crates—which prevent pregnant sows from turning around—within 10 years. The announcement has already had a ripple effect in the pork industry, as Maple Leaf Foods (Canada’s leading pork producer) announced shortly afterward that it would phase out gestation crates and Cargill Foods said that it has stopped using gestation crates in half of its pig factory farms.
Read more »
Today JTA reported on the upcoming biennial meeting in Orlando, in which the Conservative movement is expected to pass a resolution on the new Hechsher Tzedek, ethical kashrut labeling program.
The article also interviewed other religious and lay sources on the merits of the Hechsher Tzeek program. Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division raises an interesting question, mentioning that ensuring social justice in our food system is the responsibility of the government, not religious bodies.
I actually agree with Rabbi Genack– the government has a greater responsibility to do so, and a greater potential to create appropriate regulations….theoretically.
However, for a variety of reasons, the federal and state governmental bodies that would have a role in regulating, legislating, litigating and enforcing laws that ensure the safety and health of workers in the food industry, and ensure a safe and healthy food supply–including OSHA, the USDA, the WTO, those enforcing federal anti-trust laws– have been asleep at the wheel. In the absence of a more sustainable, ethical food system in which these externalities are appropriately regulated, civil society, including religious institutions have an obligation to work towards such a system, starting with the Jewish community’s Hechsher Tzedek.
YehuditBrachah reports on Jewschool about a new Nathan Cummings Foundation grant for Hechsher Tzedek. The budding Conservative movement initiative started by Rabbi Morris Allen. According to Allen’s blog, a group of Rabbis and lay leaders who have been working on the project will be presenting at the upcoming Conservative movement biennial convention in Orlando. Both the grant and the increasing momentum within the Conservative movement around the important issue of food justice in Kashrut should be exciting for both observers of kashrut and those concerned about food justice alike! (even better for those of us who fall into both categories!)
The beginnings of the Hechsher Tzedek originated with Allen’s first trip to the Agriprocessors’ kosher meat plant in Postville, IA–which produces meat under the label Rubashkin’s. Now a variety of potential ethical issues around the Agriprocessors’ plant have been coming to light– including the newest, which is a potential violation of precautions to prevent the spread of BSE, or Mad Cow Disease.
The Daily Forward continues its coverage of the UFCW campaign to bring Agriprocessors’ violations into the public eye. In conjunction with the Jewish Labor Committee, UFCW orchestrated a leafletting action outside Trader Joe’s that source Agriprocessors’ kosher meat last Wednesday. The UFCW leaflet included claims about violations of mad cow safety rules, a claim that was subsequently disputed by Sholom Rubashkin on the Agriprocessors’ website and in Yeshiva World News.
Also from Yeshiva World News: Osem has reportedly “recalled tens of thousands of bags of Bamba, Bissli, and Dubonim snacks” because of a small toy prize inside the package with 3.5 times the allowable level of lead. Maybe babies shouldn’t be fed Bamba anymore…
Stay tuned for updates on the UFCW campaign.
11.26.07 Update: The Jewish Advocate reports on last week’s leafletting action outside Trader Joe’s in Brookline, MA, organized by the Jewish Labor Committee.
Today’s New York Times included a fascinating op-ed called “Weed it and Reap,” by Michael Pollan, which notes the significant increase in public input on the 2007 Farm Bill. Has the public’s voice made a difference? Read “Weed it and Reap” here.
Have something to say about a kosher estabilishment in your area? Here’s your chance. Kosher Community Surveys is a surveying organization “dedicated to recognizing quality kosher establishments.” There are open surveys for the Washington DC and Philly area, and surveys opening soon across the country.
Reuters reported that Cargill recalled over 1 million pounds of beef distributed in the US because of possible e. coli contamination. This is the second major recall for Cargill in the last month, prompting me to wonder, what is safe to eat these days? Read the article here.
I often listen to talk radio when I cook. And today, while I was prepping for a Shabbat dinner I’m cooking tomorrow at the Foster City JCC where I’m facilitating a discussion on organic food, I heard an interview with Howard Lyman, otherwise known as the Mad Cowboy. If you haven’t heard of Lyman yet, you will.
A fourth-generation cattle rancher from Montana, Lyman converted his family’s small organic family farm into a massive feedlot with 5,000 cattle at one time. He was no different than all the other cattle ranchers, until he was diagnosed with a tumor on his spinal chord, paralyzing him from the waist down. Lyman had surgery, and was granted his mobility. But he also decided that that tumor was a wake-up call. He sold the farm, and decided to become a bit of a crusader, speaking out about the evils of the feedlots, and urging people to go vegan.
Imagine, a Montana cattleman promoting veganism. It is pretty funny when you think about it. Read more »
No, this isn’t a photo of the living quarters of undocumented Latin@ workers crammed into the 
basement of a Postville meat processing plant — but the temporary residence of “over 100 Bochurim [Rabbi Moshe Rubaskin has been hosting] in his home for the month of Tishrai.”
The plant, of course, is referring to the Rubashkins’ Agriprocessors slaughterhouse and packaging plant, the largest kosher beef producer in the U.S., which received 250 noncompliance citations for food safety from the USDA in 2006, the source of two Class I recalls in the past 9 months, as compared to 34 recalls in all of 2006 for the entire beef, poultry and egg industry.
And the man: Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, convicted criminal and probable felon, who spent the Chagim celebrating with hundreds of community members and politicians, despite a recent indictment by a federal grand jury for toxic waste dumping at the site of his former Montex
textile plant in Allentown, PA.
A local paper, the Morning Call, has more on the nature of the crime(s) of Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, who is the brother of Agriprocessors’ president Sholom Rubaskin, and Moshe’s son Sholom Rubaskin– illegally storing hazardous waste on the site of their former textile plant, lying about it, followed by several fires (of unknown but suspicious origin) started at the plant, and over $400,000 in unpaid taxes. The city of Allentown is now left with the pleasant task of making redevelopment decisions for this 5 acre property contaminated by toxic waste dumping and burning, located next to Good Sheperd Rehabilitation hospital and residential areas.
By Sept 17th, the father-son duo were free Read more »
Related to an earlier post regarding bottled water, evangelical-type eco-warriors are known to say that all sorts of things are bad for us — frequently because our awareness about what is safe and unsafe lie on the many unexamined habits and practices that we don’t examine closely. Scientific study to prove one way or the other frequently is barely keeping up — or ineffectively communicated to the public. But of all the horrors, just as bottled water is bad for Ha’Olam, now our beloved Nalgene bottles are bad too?? How??
A little bit of internet research is useful, categorized here in brief.
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In this month of Tammuz, we confront a great paradox. The sun is passing through its highest point in the sky. Flowers are blooming, tomatoes are just starting to burst from the vine, and berries – mmm, the berries – this is the time of greatest abundance. Dipping into cool waters at this time is one of life’s greatest joys.
Yet in our tradition, we are moving through a time of deep reflection and mourning for loss. On the 9th of Tammuz, the first exile of the Jews began as the Judean King abandoned the Temple and the Babylonians breached the outer walls of the Temple. (Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 26a-b.) Today, on the 17th of Tamuz, Jews traditionally fast from sun-up to sun-down, mourning the destruction of the Temple. This is also recognized as the day when Moses dashed the first set of Tablets from Sinai in response to our worship of the Golden calf. (Exodus 32:19.)
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China is the red elephant in the room when issues of food safety and food security arise. Last month’s pet food poisoning debacle highlighted the all-but-absent Chinese equivalent of the FDA. Which isn’t saying much, because the Food & Drug Administration itself is woefully unprepared and underfunded (LA Times) to protect the public.
The Economist weighs in and this morning, KosherToday (below) takes a harsh look at China’s lax infrastructure in keeping up to par on American kosher standards as well. Read more »
