China Goes Kosher

[m_gigena]

(...) as Exporters Use Rabbis to Reassure Consumers

By Mark Drajem

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- 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.

Kosher certifications by rabbis have doubled to more than 300 in China in the past two years, according to the Orthodox Union, a New York-based organization that does inspections. The group expects thousands more plants to get certified in the next few years, covering everything from spices and chemical additives to frozen berries, sliced garlic and beef.

Chinese exporters, eager to gain access to the $11.5 billion U.S. kosher market, had already begun seeking the certifications before the uproar over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet food began last year. Now, after a rush of recalls, the rabbis say the companies are paying for the inspections to ease growing concern among U.S. consumers about imports from China.

``When we certify a product, consumers know there is another pair of eyes'' on it, said Mordechai Grunberg, an American rabbi whose seven-member team examines Chinese factories, scans company books, and even drops in for surprise inspections to ensure the biblical dietary laws are followed.

The surge of kosher certifications hasn't come without hiccups. Many Chinese companies were unfamiliar with the concept: One furniture maker asked for kosher certification, drawing a polite rebuff. Another facility asked to get certified as kosher even though it was smoking eel on site, a kosher no- no. The company was turned down; it is now building a separate, kosher-only facility.

Jarred by Grilling

And many companies weren't ready for the grilling the rabbis gave them on their first visits to their plants, seeing it as a sign of distrust. ``In China, everything works on relationships,'' said Grunberg of the Orthodox Union, which certifies more than 400,000 products worldwide.

Grunberg first traveled to China in 1981 in what would have been the first kosher-certification there. It didn't work out. His translator failed to meet him at the airport and his hotel had rats. Grunberg didn't bother to examine the facility, instead returning to New York the next day.

``It was a trip wasted,'' he said in a telephone interview from Israel, where he lives. When he returned two decades later, ``it was a different China.''

Now, kosher ``is part of the vernacular'' as companies there try to take advantage of the U.S. market, he said.

Fully half the Chinese exports to the U.S. of $2.5 billion a year in food ingredients, such as coloring agents and preservatives, are kosher, up 150 percent from two years ago, the Orthodox Union estimates.

`Vote of Confidence'

Zhoushan Genho Food Co., in eastern China's Zhejiang province, got its frozen tuna fillets certified as kosher last August. Its sales have picked up, too.

``At a time of renewed international scrutiny on quality and safety, any additional stamp of approval or certification is equivalent to a vote of confidence,'' said sales manager Chen Xing.

``If unsafe food is getting through, then someone has dropped the ball,'' said James Morehouse, a senior partner at A.T. Kearney in Chicago and lead author of a study on China's food-safety system. ``The rabbis are an example of a working inspection system.''

[PerfectWagnerite]

(...) as Exporters Use Rabbis to Reassure Consumers

Oh RABBIS...I thought RABBITS.

[маразм1]

No offense, but this is b.s.

I worked in the food industry, briefly.  Kosher does not mean anything in terms of food being higher quality.  food is being picked up from the floor and served to the customers, every once in a while, the rabbi comes in, tastes the food, with the same fork he licked when he tasted food from different containers. 

there is Kosher Delight in brooklyn, and i've gone there several times, just out of desperation--everything else was closed.  Both times i was there, my stomach felt like there was a revolution going on inside.

[m_gigena]

No offense, but this is b.s.

A lot of people doesn't really know what kosher is about

The surge of kosher certifications hasn't come without hiccups. Many Chinese companies were unfamiliar with the concept: One furniture maker asked for kosher certification, drawing a polite rebuff. Another facility asked to get certified as kosher even though it was smoking eel on site, a kosher no- no. The company was turned down; it is now building a separate, kosher-only facility.