חשון תשס "ח / 2007 NOVEMBER ISSUE 6 סיוע לציבור, פסקי הלכה, רכיבים, מארעות ומדע Updates מארעות ומדע for the רכיבים, crc הלכה, Kashrus פסקי Professional סיעוא לציבור, Updates for the crc Kashrus Professional סיוע לציבור C OMMUNITY Warming Drawers on Shabbos One way in which we fulfill the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos is through the enjoyment of consuming our Shabbos food. One challenge of this mitzvah is to figure out how to make that food hot or warm on Shabbos morning. The most common method is to serve cholent or chamim (depending on which part of the world your ancestors are from), which is a special stew that is left on the blech from before Shabbos. But for one reason or another, there are lots of people who appreciate being able to have some other food, and they are always on the alert for creative new ways to warm that food up for the Shabbos seudah. That has led consumers to ask if and how they put food into a warming drawer on Shabbos. As expected, the answer to this modern question can be found by analyzing the earlier sources of the halacha. There are two reasons why one is not permitted to put food onto the fire (or the blech) on Shabbos even if the food is fully cooked: 1 Someone who is watching what you re doing may think that you are cooking the food, and be misled to think that cooking is permitted on Shabbos or that you aren t observant. After putting the food onto the fire, you might stoke/adjust the flame to speed up the warming process. This prohibition is called chazarah, and the two reasons given are known respectively as mechzi k mevashel and shemah yechateh. Over the years, numerous methods of warming up food for the daytime Shabbos seudah have been suggested, with the most accepted being placing the (fully 1 See Mishnah Berurah 253:37 and Sha ar HaTziun 253:37 citing the opinions of Rashi, Shabbos 36b " ה לא מחזרינן,ד Rabbeinu Tam (Sefer HaYashar, Chiddusim to Shabbos 36b) and others. cooked, dry) food on a part of the blech that s cooler than yad soledes bo (120 F) 2 or on top of another pot that s already on the fire. 3 The reason these suggestions are acceptable is because both reasons to forbid chazarah don t apply no one would think the person is cooking and they are sufficiently unusual to remind the person not to adjust the fire. 4 We now return to the warming drawers. The simplest models are constructed to only have one setting and that setting is not at a hot enough temperature to cook food. Putting food into such a warmer doesn t give the appearance of cooking, because it can t possibly get hot enough to cook, and there is no concern of shemah yechateh because it doesn t have an adjustable flame or thermostat. What about more sophisticated warmers that have multiple settings (e.g. low, medium, high) when some of those settings produce temperatures well over 200 F and can theoretically be used for slow cooking? Rav Schwartz has taken the position that such warmers may be used if (a) the warmer to set to low (i.e. a temperature where it can t be used for cooking) and (b) the knob used for adjusting the temperature is removed or covered. Under those circumstances, the two concerns of chazarah are addressed as there s no concern you ll adjust the temperature and anyone looking at the full picture will realize you can t possibly be cooking. Therefore food may be placed into the warmer on Shabbos. It is worth noting, that the above discussion is limited to cases where the food is completely cooked and contains no liquids at the time that it is placed into the warmer. If however, the food is not fully 2 See Iggeros Moshe O.C. I:94. 3 See Shulchan Aruch 253:3. 4 The rationale presented in the text to even permit chazarah on Shabbos for food that wasn t on the fire, follows the apparent and generally accepted (in the USA) opinion of Iggeros Moshe (O.C. IV:74 Bishul #35) as opposed to Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchaso (1:25 and footnote 72). Sappirim is a crc publication written by Rabbi Dovid Cohen and edited by Ms. Biranit Kohn
Page 2 Sappirim פסקי הלכה ACHA H AL cooked or contains liquids, one must consider the more serious questions of bishul, and would be forbidden from warming the food in the warming drawer (or just about anywhere else). Gevinas Yisroel on Acid-set Cheeses Part 2 of 2 In the first half of this article we saw that rennetset requires gevinas Yisroel, but it is generally accepted that acid-set (e.g. cottage, cream ) does not even if it contains a small amount of rennet. Different types of acid-set In the context of understanding these issues it is worthwhile to subdivide acid-set s based on how they are acidified and whether there is any separation of curd, as follows: Milk which is acidified through the addition of vinegar, lemon juice, or some other acid, is most similar to rennet-set in that something is added to the milk which causes it to change into. As such, the strict opinion cited above has their strongest argument in this case. A somewhat similar case is milk which is acidified via the introduction of lactic acid producing cultures/microorganisms. In this case, the culture doesn t directly affect the but it creates a byproduct which causes the to form (much like rennet does). However, some s form through a mere souring of the milk (as a result of sitting un-refrigerated for some time) without anything added to it. This case is least similar to rennet-set. In many forms of acid-set (e.g. farmers and cottage ) the finished is curd, much like rennetset s are. However, other s such as sour cream include the entire milk rather than just the casein/curd. In this way, sour cream is so different than rennet-set, that it s not clear if any Poskim would hold that it requires gevinas Yisroel. From this perspective, the word yogurt includes two distinct types of. Strained yogurts are similar to the farmers and cottage discussed above in that the finished product is just curd, with the whey being strained/filtered out. Other yogurts include all of the elements present in the milk (in a congealed form) with no separation of curd and whey to speak of. 5 As noted, it s not clear if any Poskim would rule that the latter form of yogurt requires gevinas Yisroel, and the Acharonim who ruled that yogurt must be gevinas Yisroel were likely discussing strained yogurts. Skyr The above issues are somewhat more complicated when dealing with Skyr which contains the relatively small amount of rennet associated with acid set s, but cannot possibly take on its true identity without that rennet. For hundreds of years, the people of Iceland have consumed a low-fat, highprotein, yogurt-like food known as Skyr (pronounced skeer ), and in recent years they have begun selling this item in the United States. Without rennet, Skyr is a watery yogurt beverage, but it is so commonly made with rennet to thicken it, that an expert who once saw a recipe that appeared to not contain rennet was sure that it was a mistake. Skyr contains too little rennet to independently coagulate the milk and therefore appears to qualify for the lenient logic proposed by Iggeros Moshe and presented in the text above. On the other hand, the underlying assumption of the lenient opinion is that the prohibition of gevinas akum doesn t apply to s which don t require the addition of rennet; if so, since rennet is required to give Skyr its authentic form one could argue that it should require gevinas Yisroel and the secondary issue of what role the rennet plays should be unimportant. 6 Rav Schwartz was inclined to be lenient on this issue as in essence Skyr is an acid-set, and the rennet merely plays a minor role in the s final form. See 5 It appears that un-homogenized milk is used to produce strained yogurts while homogenized milk is used for the other yogurts, as the casein in homogenized milk remains in solution under more adverse conditions (much in the way homogenized milk requires more rennet to coagulate). 6 There are also forms of sour cream that use relatively large amounts of rennet for an acid set (i.e. 6 ml. per 1,000 pounds) so that the sour cream will be thick enough to maintain its form after it is scooped out of the container.
November 2007 Page 3 the footnote regarding whether one can infer a lenient position on Skyr from the common custom to not require gevinas Yisroel on bakers. 7 Rennet use in different s In the preceding pages we ve seen that the common custom is that acid-set s do not require gevinas Yisroel even though they may contain a minimal amount of rennet. Which s qualify for this leniency? How can one tell whether the amount of rennet used is minimal or not? The following chart shows that the amount of rennet used in rennet-set s is so much greater than acid-set s, that by merely checking the s recipe one can easily know whether it does or doesn t require gevinas Yisroel. The chart is based on information given to the crc by David P. Brown, Senior Extension Associate at the Department of Food Science of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in November 2007. He cautioned that although the numbers given appear to be very exact, in fact the amount used varies up and down based on the production procedure used in the plant. Nonetheless, the difference in the amount of rennet used in rennet set s as compared to acid set is so great, that minor fluctuations from plant to plant are insignificant. Milliliters of Cheese rennet per 1,000 pounds milk Asiago 70 Bakers 4 Blue 72 Brick 86 Cheddar 90 Colby 90 Cottage 1 Cream 2 Edam 128 Milliliters of Cheese rennet per 1,000 pounds milk Emmentaler 70 Farmers 1 Feta 90 Gouda 128 Limburger 86 Mascarpone 0 Monterey 85 Monterey jack 85 Mozzarella 85-90 Muenster 86 Neufchatel 2 Paneer 0 Parmesan 70 Pot 1 Provolone 85-90 Reggiano 70 Ricotta 0-4 Romano 70 Roquefort 72 Sap Sago 70 Scamorza 85-90 Skyr 0-2 Sour cream 1-6 Swiss 70 Yogurt 0 Notes Acid-set s are highlighted in blue. Although pasteurized process (i.e. American ) isn t listed in this chart, it is clearly a rennet-set, and the amount of rennet required depends on the base used in production. 1,000 pounds of milk is equal to approximately 116 gallons or 439 liters. 8 7 Some have suggested that we can infer a lenient position on Skyr from the common custom to not require gevinas Yisroel on bakers. They argue that in the same way that bakers cannot properly form without rennet, but it is leniently viewed as being an acid-set, so too Skyr should be treated leniently. However, in addition to questioning the status of bakers itself, one could question this proof based on David Brown s assertion that rennet doesn t actually play any role in the actual formation of bakers. He suggested that: Bakers is made from skim milk like cottage [] but is not cut or cooked. It is dipped or pumped into muslin bags (traditional method) or pumped through a curd separator. The addition of the rennet helps with draining or separation of the whey from the curd. The rennet indirectly serves as a processing aid. 8 The specific gravity of milk is 1.035 which means that 1,000 pounds of milk has the same volume as about 966 pounds of water. Since there are 8.33 pounds of water per gallon and 3.79 liters in a gallon, we can calculate that 1,000 pounds of milk is equal to about 116 gallons (966 / 8.33 = 116) or 439 liters (116 * 3.79 = 439).
Page 4 Sappirim ר כיבים NTS I NGREDIE Know your Kosher Molecules Rabbi Dr. Moshe Rosenfeld Senior Rabbinical Coordinator & Chemist, London Beis Din The following is a transcript of Rabbi Rosenfeld s presentation at the AKO General Membership Conference on November 13, 2007. Knowledge of chemistry is an absolute must for someone involved in serious kosher certification, and the following are some examples of where that knowledge is useful: Taurine Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) was discovered in mussels, mammal milk, and oysters and it was deemed important enough to be added to infant formulas, energy drinks and similar items. Should we be concerned that it is in fact produced from animal sources? In nature it is found at only 0.2 grams per kilo of meat which means that a kilo of taurine should cost a few hundred dollars, yet it sells regularly for a few dollars a kilo because it can easily be synthesized from ethanolamine and sulfuric acid (e.g. oleum or vitriol). Thus, knowing a bit about the science of how it can be produced and the cost of the finished product, makes it clear that it is almost always produced synthetically and doesn t present a kashrus issue (with the exception of natural taurine which obviously does). Onion Oil 2-3 tons of onions are required to produce a kilo of onion oil, and that product sells for $3,000 a kilo. However, the synthetic version sells for next to nothing and in almost every application one would have to be out of their wits to purchase the real onion oil. This case is the opposite of the previous one, in that true onion oil is free of kashrus concerns, while synthetic onion oil is a blend of various materials including, but not limited to, stabilizers and diluents which require investigation before approval as kosher. Bone Oil Someone asked how the LBD can certify polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) if the Merck Index says that pyrrol is derived from bone oil which is in turn derived from the destructive distillation of bones! The faults with these questions are that (a) pyrrol can be made infinitely cheaper via a Hantzsch pyrrol synthesis of formaldehyde and ammonia and (b) polyvinyl pyrrolidone is made via a polymerization process and not from pyrrol at all. As an aside, the aforementioned destructive distillation process of bone oil yields a byproduct known as animal charcoal or bone char which is commonly used in the continuous process of sugar purification; this process is common in the United States but banned in Europe. Hexalactone A Rav HaMachshir once asked which oil is used to create hexalactone, which showed his lack of knowledge because (a) (gamma) hexalactone is produced cheaply from the condensation of sodiomalonic acid and ethylene oxide, and (b) although hexanoic acid (C-6) comes from oil, it s impossible to produce hexalactone from hexanoic acid. Indigo Carmine & Carmine Indigo carmine (a.k.a. acid blue 74) was discovered in 1878 and synthesized a few years later. It is produced from orthoaminobenzoic acid (Anthranilic acid) and poses no kashrus concerns. Unfortunately, it has the word carmine in its name which causes people to be nervous. Carmine is created from crushed beetles and is clearly not kosher. There is currently no method of producing it through synthetic means in a laboratory. An LBD Mashgiach once came across a biscuit from China labeled as containing all natural ingredients which listed E-120 (carmine) on the ingredient panel and, as expected, the biscuit had a reddish color to it. When the Rav HaMachshir told them that it was a printing error, the LBD isolated the color from the biscuit and ran a thin layer chromatography (TLC) test on the color and on carmine, and it indicated that the color was carmine. They showed these results to the Rav HaMachshir who responded that his lab told him that there s no test for carmine (but he and his lab didn t respond when the LBD showed him how they arrived at these results. Four months later (!) the Rav HaMachshir sent a Mashgiach to the plant who reported that the company was using Ponceau 4R (a
November 2007 Page 5 IENCE מארעות ומדע E XPER synthetic color, 9 which isn t legal in the USA), but of course, the Mashgiach really can t visually discern between carmine and Ponceau 4R and didn t bother bringing some back to a lab for testing. If the Rav HaMachshir in this case had sampled the ingredient and performed his own analysis, he d have created true mirsas and earned the respect of the company, because companies can quickly differentiate between those who know the business and those who don t. Mislabeled Product A specific retail establishment represented their foods as being of a perceived higher quality (e.g. organic meat, farm-raised eggs) of the type that has no bearing on kashrus. A suspicious consumer checked through the store s garbage and found that these representations were false, and brought it to the attention of the Rav HaMachshir who was able to confirm the allegations. Should this type of fraud be sufficient grounds for removing kosher certification from the store? In response to this, Rav Schwartz pointed to Shulchan Aruch 10 who cites two opinions as to whether someone who is a מומר for thievery or similar aveiros is trusted to check his own shechitah-knife. מומר] for these purposes is defined as someone who repeatedly violated the prohibition]. 11 The first opinion holds that such a person can be trusted but the second opinion, of Rambam, 12 says that he is suspect. In 1947-48, Rav Schwartz learned Chullin and he can still hear the voice of his Rebbi, Rav Dovid Lifschitz zt l, ringing in his ear as he read the words of Rosh, 13 which explains Rambam s position: והרמב"ם ז"ל כתב דישראל עבריין לאחת מן העבירות צריך לבדוק לו סכין. ואפשר דסבר כיון דחזינן שלתאותו עובר אחת מן העבירות שבתורה חיישינן דפקר שלא לטרוח לקיים שום מצוה כהלכתה. The Rambam zt l writes that one must check the shechitah-knife of a Jewish person who callously violates one of the mitzvos. According to the Rambam it may be understood that once we ve seen that the person violates a Torah prohibition for personal gain, we must be concerned that he won t make the effort required to perform any other mitzvah properly. Rav Schwartz was left with a lasting impression that one should be wary of people who steal or cheat in the nonkashrus portion of their business; being dishonest or misrepresenting food as organic doesn t directly affect kashrus, but it shows a conniving nature which might lead the person to eventually deceive people on kashrus issues. Therefore, we should view mislabeling a product as a kashrus violation even though the mislabeling was about a non-kashrus issue. Penalty for a Mistake An RC mistakenly booked a flight for the wrong day, and the airline charged $55 to correct the mistake. Rav Schwartz ruled that employees are expected to be careful when spending their employer's money, and therefore the RC is halachically required to pay the penalty his mistake. He did however note that in many such cases, the employer chooses to overlook and absorb such mistakes if they don't involve too much money, and before he got these words out of his mouth Rabbi Kushner said that he'd cover the cost and be mochel his rights. 9 Incidentally, Ponceau 4R (E124) also goes by the name Cochineal Red A. 10 Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 2:6. 11 See Taz 2:9 & Shach 2:18. 12 Rambam, Hil. Shechitah 4:14. 13 Rosh, Chullin I:7 cited in Taz 2:9.