OU Branches Out In For-Profit Sector

The OU has branched out into gluten-free certification through it's "subsidiary" Food Services, Inc.:

… The Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group® (GIG), is the first program of its kind in the world. The addition of a gluten-free certification mark to a food label quickly gives the increasing number of gluten-free shoppers assurance that the product is safe to eat, meaning the product is free of gluten and possible cross-contamination from gluten.…

The GFCO was developed in cooperation with the Food Services, Inc., a subsidiary of the Orthodox Union (the "OU"), the world's largest and oldest kosher certification agency. The OU's nearly 500 field representatives, proficient in modern food production techniques and chemical and biological processes, will conduct plant inspections and product reviews for the GFCO.

"Food Services, Inc. and the Orthodox Union are pleased to be included in this key development on behalf of those who for health reasons are required to be gluten-free," declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, Chief Executive Officer of the OU. "The OU's standard of excellence in kosher certification is recognized worldwide. OU field inspectors are deeply familiar with modern food technology and with the intricacies of industrial food manufacturing equipment, which will be applied to their work with Food Services, Inc. We look forward to this opportunity to use our expertise on behalf of the gluten-free consumer." …

Funny, isn't it? The OU uses animals raised under conditions forbidden by halakha, allows cruel handling of animals at it's non-US plants, and enabled throat-ripping and other abominations at Rubashkin's Postville, Iowa slaughterhouse. While gluten-free supervision is very important (and I have personal experience with living a gluten-free diet to back that up), perhaps dealing with actual Jewish issues like cruelty to animals on factory farms that raise animals for kosher slaughter and chickens for eggs should be dealt with first. But doing so would require honest rabbinic leadership with a backbone – something in very short supply in today's Orthodoxy. So we continue to unnecessarily torture animals to produce our food, something so un-Biblical that only rabbis – like those at the OU – could endorse it.

Comments

[anon]

I guess the OU will next go into the Home Health Care business or maybe psychology business-who knows what is next?

[Conserva-Girl]

Inshallah, OU Halal will not be far behind...

OU appears to be branching out into clothing, which makes sense if you consider that you're supposed to say a shechechyanu when you get new stuff... we went to Queens, to one of the frummy shops that sell *both* kinds of skirts- below-the-knee for that risque "come hither" look and the floor sweepers that clear a path in the dirt behind you. The shirts were manufactured for "O-U Wear" (not kidding, really) and some of the other more "streetwise" stuff (hey, it's streetwise enough for Bais Yaakov) had a label that said "Baby O".

(Disclaimer: the events portrayed are true, but I am not in any way seriously implying that the OU has ever given given hashgacha to women's clothing, just as I am not implying that the OU would ever condone the wearing of clothing with street cred. While the labels clearly said "O-U Wear", it is understood that the OU probably never had nor ever will have a business relationship with the apparel industry. Unless, of course, there is a way to convince consumers that hashgacha is needed for clothing manufacture, in which case we will see a quick rise in the demand for "Bigdei Yisroel" which, we can only assume, will follow additional strictures.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

>actual Jewish issues like cruelty to animals

Or even cruelty to people. I'd like to see a Jewish organization that would give a הכשר to companies that treat employees fairly. If anyone knows of such a place, please post it here.

Just the other day, I talked with an OU rabbi about a בעל הבית who has an OU הכשר who treats his employees despicably (like Saddam Hussein, according to the OU rabbi) yet they still give his company a הכשר. He told me the OU doesn't want to get involved with such things.

[shmuel munkes]

poor conserv-a girl - couldn't find edible undies that were kosher l'pesach

[shmuel munkes]

BTW nigritude - if you don't like their personnel policies, don't buy their food - just don't say it's not kosher

[Neo-Conservaguy]

Shmuel - and how, pray tell, would you even know about the existence of edible undies, much less what one would do with them?

As for declaring the kosher status of food or a product based upon issues external to the actual contents of the food, the precedent has been well set to exactly do so: pat yisrael, bishul yisrael, and "kosher wine" were created not to address any real issues with the kosher status of the foods in question, but rather to effect social engineering - to prevent intermarriage. What about toiveling? It doesn't address any real issue with the cleanliness of the items, but rather was a tax upon imported clay cookware to help reduce the local economic impact of such goods. Precedent for the proper treatment of employees most certainly exists in Jewish legal texts: for example, an employer not allowed to hold wages earned - employees must be payed in a timely manner.

The OU, that bastion of right-wing "Orthodox Jews", should be consistent with Jewish halachic tradition and declare ethical treatment of employees and the prevention of cruel treatment of animals before and during kosher slaughter a REQUIREMENT OF LAW for certification. Oh wait - IT ALREADY IS!

[Conserva-Girl]

Shmuel, I wouldn't even bother looking for those in Queens. Everyone knows that the best kosher l'Pesach undies are from Lakewood. But you have to order ahead of time 'cause I hear they go fast.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

>BTW nigritude - if you don't like their
>personnel policies, don't buy their food
- >just don't say it's not kosher

The restaurant chain, "Hooters" has a personnel policy that require its waitresses to "flaunt their goods." If they served kosher chicken wings, I guess you would be eating there.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

>should be consistent with Jewish halachic
>tradition and declare ethical treatment of
>employees

Right on! The OU enjoys tax exempt status to boot, BY VIRTUE OF THE FACT that they are TAX EXEMPT entity due to their status as a RELIGIOUS organization. The rabbis I have spoken with, including one at the OU's headquarters want to pretend that they are just an ordinary vendor -- like, say, the company that monitors the rodent traps placed in the food preparation areas. How is the public interest served by granting a TAX EXEMPTION to an entity that conducts itself as a secular business?