Sixth Sense
The Safety of the World's Food Supply
By Menachem Lubinsky... U.S. consumers of imported food and ingredients could not have been pleased by the recent expose in The New York Times about the badly polluted waters in China, a country that supplies many ingredients and food products. In this specific expose, the culprit was fish, but earlier reports broadened the target to food ingredients, many of which reach the U.S. market. While on the surface the safety of the world's food supply may not appear to be a kosher issue, kashrus agencies are not turning a blind eye to the problem. Numerous articles have appeared in kashrus publications about the problem, particularly imported foods from Asia. Some of the organizations say that they raise the red flag whenever they are aware that conditions may be damaging to the health of consumers. As opposed to strong oversight of food produced in the U.S., many foreign governments pay only lip service to the safety of foods produced in their country.

The oddity is that after these reports appeared, not one Jewish source voiced their concern about the safety of food from abroad, not from the rabbis who espouse the idea of eco-kosher and not from publications that are forever jumping on any tidbit of information that may cast aspersions on the safety of kosher foods produced in this country. In the U.S., the USDA and other agencies closely monitor conditions at food plants, particularly slaughterhouses like Agriprocessors, which are constantly under scrutiny by those seeking to discredit kosher slaughter. The news from abroad should give pause and serve as an occasion to be grateful for our government's tough standards in food safety. Together with the high standards of kashrus of our kosher supervising agencies, it should give consumers the ultimate comfort that what they are eating is not damaging to their health.