New Kosher Standards Set

Conservative movement releases guidelines for its ethical kashrut certification.

by Ben Harris
JTA

The Conservative movement released a policy statement and guidelines for its much-anticipated ethical kashrut certification, outlining the social justice standards companies are expected to meet if their foodstuffs are to qualify for the designation.
According to the document (www.uscj.org/images/hekhsher_tzedek_policy_statement_and_working_guidelines.pdf) released last Thursday, products will be evaluated in five main areas: employees’ wages and benefits, employee health and safety, product development, corporate transparency and environmental impact — and assessed in part on the basis of information from third-party sources.

Essential to acquiring the Hekhsher Tzedek certification is a company’s willingness to engage with the movement’s leadership. Hekhsher Tzedek is a joint initiative of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly.
The new guidelines are seen as an important step forward

for the initiative, which represents the first effort to brand kosher foods as ethically produced on the basis of criteria separate from the ritual aspects of food production.

It also marks the most significant attempt by Conservative rabbis to influence the national kosher food market, an area traditionally dominated by the Orthodox.
“We believe that we have now demonstrated that it is indeed possible to have verifiable standards in these areas that will allow us to demonstrate that as an enhancement to ritual certification of kosher food, you can ensure that kosher observance is mindful and sensitive to God’s creation,” said Rabbi Morris Allen, the founder and director of Hekhsher Tzedek.

Rabbi Michael Siegel, who co-chairs the nine-member commission overseeing the project, told JTA he expects to see the Hekhsher Tzedek label on food products by Jan. 1, 2009.

Though he wouldn’t name names, Siegel said the commission already is in talks with several companies who have been receptive to the idea.
In the coming weeks, Heksher Tzedek plans to release a marketing plan and a rabbinic paper on ethical concerns within kashrut by Rabbi Avram Reisner, a commission member.
Some in the kosher world have met the initiative with skepticism, even hostility. These skeptics question what they see as the expansion of the concept of kosher, which traditionally has focused more narrowly on ritual and dietary concerns.
Rabbi Avrom Pollak, the president of Star-K, a kosher certifier that works with more than 1,500 manufacturers, told JTA he is all in favor of treating workers ethically, but expressed doubt that companies would find it in their financial interest to pay for Hekhsher Tzedek.

Rabbi Allen conceived of the idea of Hekhsher Tzedek in 2006, the same year that an expose in the Forward detailed allegations of worker mistreatment at Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat plant.

The initiative received a boost in May when federal agents raided Agriprocessors’ Postville, Iowa plant, arresting nearly 400 illegal workers and prompting another round of allegations against the company. Agriprocessors has denied any wrongdoing.
The Postville raid thrust issues of worker treatment in the production of kosher food to the forefront of a national debate over the parameters of kosher certification. Rabbi Allen said he envisions a day when consumers will look for the Hekhsher Tzedek label before purchasing food the same way some now look for a kosher label.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization