{"id":617,"date":"2013-08-15T20:16:14","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T20:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/?p=617"},"modified":"2016-05-09T15:54:31","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T15:54:31","slug":"sticker-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/","title":{"rendered":"Sticker Shock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published Winter 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus<\/em> was to serve as the regional mashgiach<\/em> for national kashrus<\/em> organizations.\u00a0 If you were to ask my children which company was their all time favorite, the answer would be unanimous – the American Candy Company in Selma, Alabama.\u00a0 The American Candy Company specialized in a variety of hard candies including lollipops, candy canes, stick candies and the eye popping twirl pops. \u00a0The candy was certified kosher by a very reputable national kashrus<\/em> organization.\u00a0 The company also produced a heimishe<\/em> variety sold in the finest heimishe<\/em> candy stores. What was the difference between the ingredients and process of the regular label and the heimishe <\/em>label?\u00a0 Absolutely nothing, save one.\u00a0 I came to the plant on the day of the heimishe<\/em> production and saw that the candy ingredients and the release agent were appropriately kosher.\u00a0 Once that was determined, the packing cartons were stamped with the symbol of the kashrus<\/em> organization.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, one of the most costly expenditures in food manufacturing is the packaging material.\u00a0 This includes many facets, such as the artwork, accuracy of ingredients, and detailed nutritional information.\u00a0 This also involves various consumer confidence markings and allergen disclaimers, in addition to the kashrus<\/em> symbol.\u00a0\u00a0 An irreparable labeling error in any of these components can land a crippling blow to a company\u2019s expense account.\u00a0 When the Star-K discovered a labeling error on one of their company\u2019s soon-to-be marked products, the company promptly and responsibly destroyed their entire inventory of new packaging film and took a loss of over $50,000.00!<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s world of niche marketing, manufacturers are constantly looking for new marketing opportunities.\u00a0 A new and very lucrative marketing source has been discovered in the ultra- Orthodox segment of the kosher populace known as the heimishe<\/em> olam<\/em>. \u00a0Years ago, the wide variety of all American kosher foods were not available to the heimishe<\/em> market, nor was the heimishe<\/em> olam <\/em>interested in entering that arena.\u00a0 Currently, just about everything is available to the heimishe<\/em> niche market, which is very interested in mehadrin min hamehadrin<\/em> all American kosher food.\u00a0 Specialty production manufacturing takes place in just about every corner of the world, producing just about any product imaginable.<\/p>\n

Years ago, private label manufacturing was in its infancy.\u00a0 Nowadays, private labeling and contract manufacturing are booming businesses, the heimishe olam<\/em> not withstanding. \u00a0Many heimishe<\/em> companies market under their own brand name with their own special packaging.\u00a0 At times, they will use the existing manufacturer\u2019s packaging with a sticker.<\/p>\n

In order to reduce packaging costs, private label companies have opted to place a special sticker over the contract manufacturer\u2019s existing packaging. \u00a0This is a relatively inexpensive method to package a heimishe <\/em>product and charge a premium.\u00a0 The question is:\u00a0 Are all stickers created equal?\u00a0 \u00a0What is behind all the impressive Hebrew writing and extra rabbinical certifications?<\/p>\n

In the case of snack foods, where a national kashrus<\/em> organization doesn\u2019t require bishul Yisroel<\/em> for potato chips or pas Yisroel<\/em> for pretzels, a heimishe hechsher<\/em> will send a mashgiach<\/em> to turn on the fires or boiler at the start of production.\u00a0 It goes without saying that when the special production mashgiach<\/em> is present, the ingredients are checked and the run is monitored for the client.\u00a0 At times, certain ingredients are substituted since a heimishe hechsher<\/em> may accept one particular brand of oil or flavor blend but reject another. \u00a0For example, in the case of a kosher specialty production of a bubble gum filled lollipop, a kosher gum base was substituted to make the kosher bubble gum instead of the company\u2019s regular non-kosher bubble gum counterpart.<\/p>\n

Another aspect of a heimishe<\/em> specialty production is the elimination of rework from their product.\u00a0 Typically, when products are manufactured mistakes are likely to occur during the production.\u00a0 In order to minimize loss and waste, companies will blend the mismanufactured items into subsequent runs.\u00a0 This process is known as rework.\u00a0 Bakeries rework old bakery goods into their freshly baked products.\u00a0 Candy companies will regrind and remelt misshapen candy.\u00a0 Margarine companies remelt sticks of margarine, discard the old wrappers and send the margarine through the votaters a second time.\u00a0 If a heimishe<\/em> label appears on a product, it can possibly mean that no rework items were allowed for the special production.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, at times the standards of the national agency are totally acceptable to the heimishe<\/em> company, and the label is stuck on as a marketing tool.\u00a0 Nothing is different except that the heimishe <\/em>consumer would not purchase the product without the appearance of the name of a Rav<\/em> Hamachshir<\/em> in Hebrew and pay a premium price for the sticker.\u00a0 It is unfortunate that this type of sticker casts aspersions on the reliability of the regular kosher certification that appears on the package.\u00a0 It also causes consumers on a limited budget to pay a premium for a Hebrew sticker.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, stickers are used by the certifying agency to help a newly certified company get started.\u00a0 Occasionally, a newly kosher certified manufacturer will request to deplete pre-existing inventory before printing new packaging.\u00a0 \u00a0Since destroying packaging materials can be very costly, the hashgacha<\/em> agency will allow the manufacturer to print labels containing the name of the company, the product, and the kashrus<\/em> symbol to affix to existing packaging.\u00a0 New packaging would incorporate the kashrus <\/em>symbol on the package.<\/p>\n

Another frequent appearance of stickers emerges during Passover production.\u00a0 If a product bears a generic sticker stating \u201cKosher for Passover\u201d, the innocent unassuming Passover shopper has no way of knowing whether or not the label is legitimate.\u00a0 Under no circumstances should a product be purchased with a generic sticker that simply bears a kashrus<\/em> symbol and the words \u201cKosher for Passover,\u201d without the name of the company or product incorporated onto the sticker.\u00a0 To the credit of national kashrus<\/em> agencies, products are carefully monitored and standards are rigorous.\u00a0 This includes monitoring what goes into the product, as well as how it is packaged.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented growth of the kosher food industry has proven to be very lucrative for honest, hard working manufacturers.\u00a0 Yet, there are those few opportunists who engage in mislabeling some products with kosher symbols or labels in order to sell their products.\u00a0 Although misuse of a kosher symbol is a trademark violation, there are products that surface with unauthorized kosher markings on the packaging.\u00a0 It goes without saying that it is easier to misrepresent a product as being kosher when a sticker appears on the item.\u00a0 Therefore, it is incumbent upon the kosher consumer to be aware and vigilant to ensure that they purchase products that are properly labeled and reliably kosher.\u00a0 Caveat emptor<\/em> \u2013 Let the buyer beware!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published Winter 2010<\/p>\n

Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the regional mashgiach for national kashrus organizations.\u00a0 If you were to ask my children which company was their all time favorite, the answer would be unanimous – the American Candy Company in Selma, Alabama.\u00a0 The American Candy Company specialized in a variety of hard candies including lollipops, candy canes, stick candies and the eye popping twirl pops. \u00a0The candy was certified kosher by a very reputable national kashrus organization.\u00a0 The company also produced a heimishe variety sold in the finest heimishe candy stores. What was the difference between the ingredients and process of the regular label and the heimishe label?\u00a0 Absolutely nothing, save one.\u00a0 I came to the plant on the day of the heimishe production and saw that the candy ingredients and the release […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,27,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashurs-kurrents-2010","category-kashrus-kurrents","category-winter-kashrus-kurrents-2010"],"yoast_head":"\nSticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"STAR-K Kosher Certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7\"},\"headline\":\"Sticker Shock\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1127,\"articleSection\":[\"2010\",\"Kashrus Kurrents\",\"Winter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7\"},\"description\":\"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/617\\\/sticker-shock\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sticker Shock\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/\",\"name\":\"STAR-K Kosher Certification\",\"description\":\"Providing Kosher certification worldwide\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/author\\\/rosen\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification","description":"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification","og_description":"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/","og_site_name":"STAR-K Kosher Certification","article_published_time":"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00","author":"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/"},"author":{"name":"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7"},"headline":"Sticker Shock","datePublished":"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/"},"wordCount":1127,"articleSection":["2010","Kashrus Kurrents","Winter"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/","url":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/","name":"Sticker Shock | STAR-K Kosher Certification","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-15T20:16:14+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-09T15:54:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7"},"description":"Published Winter 2010 Years ago, when I was a young rabbi in Birmingham, Alabama, an important aspect of my out- of-town rabbanus was to serve as the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/617\/sticker-shock\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sticker Shock"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/","name":"STAR-K Kosher Certification","description":"Providing Kosher certification worldwide","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/312222f9a0e094c3895fa616249e18d7","name":"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab5a2af943b8f77cb3011d124d5f89a5ce9a8921709d5142aa28142c2b0ad928?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rabbi Tzvi Rosen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/author\/rosen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3826,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/3826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}