Here's the first item in which I need to highlight to all moslems worldwide. I hope it is the first of many to come.
Yes, that plastic food wrap or cling wrap that looks so simple and innocent. My first encounter with its ingredients was in 1995 when I visited one of my end-buyers (oleochemical user) in Memphis, TN, USA. They were buying ISOtank loads of our Oleic Acid which are kosher certified. As I visited their production plant/office, I remember asking them "What do you use the Oleic Acid for?". He replied, it's an ingredient that needs to be kosher as it is going to be used in a food packaging application. One of the items he spoke of was cling wrap. He says previously they were using animal based oleic acid (ours are made from 100% palm oil) however due to the increasing requests from kosher consumers, they had to convert to buying kosher-certified oleic acid in their production of chemicals used in the cling wrap. Furthermore the cling wrap manufacturer is kosher certified, hence they had to use only approved kosher certified items in their manufacturing process. Likewise, at that time the mad-cow disease scare was prevalent, hence the decision to stay away from any animal based oleic acid for fear of contracting the disease through other means. Still not convinced that the plastic cling wrap can be certified kosher, here are some pictures as proof. As you are probably aware, kosher products have labels with a circle U or a circle K on their packaging. Here are some pictures of products on supermarket shelves with kosher circle U or circle K on them. Yes, some of you might have not noticed it before as they're very small and discreet.
Now for the pictures of cling wrap that have kosher label on them. I'm not promoting Glad or Diamond's products; just that they're some of the cling wraps available in the market today that have proper kosher labeling for cling wrap products.
In comparison, again not demoting nor degrading First Choice's cling wrap; just that it does not have any kosher or halal labeling on it, hence we are mashbooh (meaning its halal status is doubtful or questionable; in Malay, "was-was") on the oleic acid used in the ingredients that make up the "oily"/clingy part of the plastic wrap.
In comparison, again not demoting nor degrading First Choice's cling wrap; just that it does not have any kosher or halal labeling on it, hence we are mashbooh (meaning its halal status is doubtful or questionable; in Malay, "was-was") on the oleic acid used in the ingredients that make up the "oily"/clingy part of the plastic wrap.
If you have any questions or comments, do drop me a line or post a comment. Salam.
Excellent article and congratulations. As you know, I too spend a significant time in the Fatty acid R&D, and still involved. I love telling vegetarians how much they are eating contains meat. I was involved from moving away from tallow based chemistries to Vegetables based products. Specifically during the Mad Cow outbreak in EU in 2000. In addition to packaging plastics, we also worked on medical tubes and IV bags. They are all now made with Vegitable Fatty acid, and also Kosher.
ReplyDeleteRamesh
Thanks Ramesh! Wow, even I didn't think of medical tubes and IV bags. Looks like it's a long road ahead for me to convince the "big-wigs" at JAKIM that they need to step it up a notch to keep ahead with food technology.
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ReplyDeleteKosher Food Certification
Great Article… I love to read your articles because your writing style is too good, it is very very helpful for all of us and I never get bored while reading your article because they are becomes more and more interesting from the starting lines until the end.
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