From the highest of the Scottish Highlands now come varieties of single malt whisky manufactured by Tomintoul Distillery and newly certified by OU Kosher. Tomintoul, located in the community of the same name, the highest village in the Highlands, is owned by Angus Dundee, an independent company with over 50 years' experience in producing, blending, bottling and distributing top-quality Scotch whiskies and other spirits.
Many of our plants feature kashering of HTST plate pasteurization systems. It is particularly common for this kashering to occur via automated CIP, whereby the CIP system is programmed to operate at kashering temperatures.
By Rabbi D. Bistricer
For the past several months there has been much public discussion about the presence of parasites found in the flesh of fish, with the OU’s position consistently lenient. On June 1st, the OU hosted Rabbi Moshe Vaie, the world renowned expert in the field of hilchos tolaim and author of Bedikas Hamazon Ke’halacha. Rabbi Vaie, along with two other speakers, gave a thorough presentation about the current issue and its impact on the kosher fish industry. Also in attendance were kashrus professionals and representatives from the major kashrus agencies in the United States and Canada.
In a recent issue of Daf HaKashrus, we presented information about the contemporary controls and regulations that pertain to government inspection of milk, demonstrating (with the concurrence of Rav Belsky, shlita) that the Igros Moshe’s heter for cholov stam is alive and even stronger than before[1].
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
Cooling water systems
A common way to cool products is through the use of a cooling water system. In a cooling system, ambient or chilled water is used to cool hot products. The product transfers its heat with the cooling water (for example through the use of a heat exchanger) and then the water in turn is cooled. Most cooling systems accomplish this through the use of a cooling tower. Cooling towers make use of the cooling effect of evaporating water. Allowing a small portion of the water to evaporate into a moving air stream provides significant cooling to the rest of the water. While cooling towers are efficient ways of cooling water, they are also known to breed dangerous pathogens such as legionnaire’s disease. Therefore, although as we will discuss there are situations where we need to be pogem cooling water, under no condition should anyone taste cooling water חמירא סכנתא מאיסורא.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
One very practical application of ta’am lifgam is found in the middle of hilchos basar b'chalav. The Mechaber (Y.D. 95:4) says that if one places ash into a pot of hot water before dirty dishes are placed in it, then even if some dishes are milchig and some are fleishig, the pot and the dishes will remain kosher. This is because the ta'am of the ash combines with the ta'am of the fat and gives off a ta'am that is lifgam. This is the basis for the leniency to kasher kailim that are ben yomo, by using a davar hapogem (e.g. caustic).
By Rabbi Chaim Goldberg
By the time you see this article, you may have heard that there is serious discussion currently going on in the Torah world regarding “bugs” in many of your favorite fish. You may have heard snippets of the back and forth, seen a list of which rabbis permit and which rabbis forbid. I hope this article gives you a better understanding of the issues at hand, and provides a better understanding of where each side is coming from.
By Rabbi Eli Gersten
The term Chumra d’Pesach usually brings to mind Pesach minhagim that go beyond the letter of the law such as whitewashing walls or kashering leichter. However, there are also various halachos brought in Shulchan Aruch that are attributed to chumra d’Pesach as well.
OU Kosher, has long shared educational and informative DVDs on kashrut-related issues with the community, and now presents “HOW TO Kasher,” a DVD of collected ASK OU and ASK OU OUTREACH kashrut seminars related to the process of kosherizing that have occurred over the past several years.
Rav Belsky, Rabbi Elefant to Answer Halacha and Policy Questions:
The Orthodox Union will present its popular OU Kosher program, ASK OU OUTREACH, in Brooklyn by holding a series of kashrus shiurim on two Sundays in April – April 18 and April 25. Both days fall during the period of sefirah, a perfect time for introspection and Jewish education.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
The milling of grains has been going on for millennia, and in all that time, the process has not changed dramatically. Milling is still done by simply grinding kernels, albeit with rollers instead of stones. Sifting is still done with sifters, although by automated machines instead of by hand. There is another part of milling known as tempering. Tempering refers to spraying grain kernels with water before they are milled. This makes the bran tougher and less brittle. If the wheat kernel has not been tempered, the bran may shatter and leave brown flecks (“ash”) in the flour when the kernel is milled. This is undesirable in regular white flour. Tempering strengthens the bran so that it is removed from the endosperm easily and does not cause brown flecks in the flour.
OUKosher RSS Feeds