If OU supervised Agriprocessors was 'kosher,' and if Orthodox rabbis did not object to Agriprocessors' animal and worker abuse, will these 'organic' products really be organic?
The Jewish Week reports:
The Orthodox Union has announced it will recommend Organic National and International Certifiers of Lincolnwood, Ill. to OU companies looking to obtain organic certification. Star-K is taking it one step further, training its mashgichim, with the help of Quality Assurance International (QAI), to be organic supervisors.
“There’s a lot of overlap between companies seeking kosher and organic certification,” said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, chief operating officer of the OU’s Kosher Division. “The customers seeking these certifications are concerned about what they eat for religious and health reasons.”
Organic certification requires a license from the government, which mandates following specific regulations. The OU chose to partner with Organic National and International Certifiers because they are “user-friendly and very much in line with the OU philosophy,” the rabbi said.
Star-K hopes to streamline the process, training an initial four mashgichim to be organic supervisors. “Companies don’t like having people going through their records for kosher and organic certifications,” said Avrom Pollak, president of Star-K. “If the same people at the same time are doing the same thing, the companies are more receptive, and our kosher consumers like the idea of having more organic products available to them.”
By streamlining the process, using one certifier for both kosher and organic instead of two separate ones, Star-K has enticed many companies to get on board, most recently Natural Dairy Products Inc. of Pennsylvania, Nutsco Inc. of Camden, N.J., Alvarado Street Bakery of California and Arizona Nutritional Supplements, among others.…