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Kashrut: With the assistance of our kashrut staff, we do local supervisions, implementing sephardic and ashkenazik restrictions.
Families, businesses, importers, and manufacturers of food products can rely on the Beth Din for assistance in Kashrut. Establishing and supervising ongoing kosher food preparation and handling is available throughout the Western United States, Canada, Mexico and the Far East.
Commercial facilities have enjoyed increased sales and profits by expanding their market to include the huge number of consumers seeking food products with reliable Hashgacha (Kosher supervision).
Anyone interested
in learning about the advantages, requirements, and low cost involved
in observing the highest standard of food quality in the universe
is invited to contact us. Our Kashrut activities are performed under the
name and logo WCRC-BADATZ, which is known and respected throughout the
region.
West Kosher: Exceptional Items
For specialty products -- natural, holistic, and alternative health remedies from major manufacturers -- we use the West Kosher symbol. This includes special medical/exotic foods and other items with exceptional circumstances.
About natural, alternative remedies:
Naturopathic remedies and medicines are based on the understanding that the human body has an innate healing ability. Naturopathic doctors teach their patients to use diet (among other therapies) to enhance their bodies ability to ward off and combat disease. Naturopathic physicians craft comprehensive treatment plans that blend the best of modern medical science and traditional natural medical approaches to restore health. Naturopathic and other alternative health remedies are gentler on the body, and usually have fewer side effects. Some reasons for this are that the herbal tinctures used in alternative health remedies work gradually.
The West Kosher symbol:
The kashrut issues for these types of remedies can be very complex, prompting the need for the West Kosher symbol. The manufacturing processes used to produce such alternative products involve many details that must be thoroughly researched and investigated, and require specialized expertise. These foods and remedies are very sensitive to kashrut law and are often difficult to certify, which is why they require extensive study and investigation before they can be certified 100% kosher. The West Kosher symbol adheres to the strictest standards of kashrut, down to the complex, minute details of the production of natural, alternative health remedies.
REQUIREMENTS FOR KOSHER CERTIFICATION
Kosher laws are based on principles set forth in the Bible with elucidation in Rabbinic literature such as the Talmud and the Code of Jewish Law.
All foods and their components and derivatives are divided into 4 Categories:
1) Meat
2) Dairy
3) Pareve (Neutral)
4) Non-Kosher, which includes mixtures of Meat and Dairy, and mixtures of Meat and Fish.
These categories are explained below.
Meat
These include: Animals that chew their cud (generally cattle and sheep), and have split hooves; All species of poultry;
The animals must be slaughtered in a prescribed manner by a trained ritual slaughterer ("shochet"). The meat
must then undergo a soaking and salting procedure to remove the blood ("Koshering"). The entire procedure must be performed under the supervision of a Rabbinic supervisor ("mashgiach").
Dairy
This includes milk and all its derivatives.
Milk from a non-Kosher animal (e.g. pig, camel) is not Kosher.
Even a very small amount of meat or dairy (or their derivative) in a product gives that product a "meat" or "dairy" status.
Furthermore, food processed with heat on equipment previously used for a dairy product, acquires dairy status unless the cleaning process complies with kosher sterilisation.
Pareve (Neutral)
Everything Kosher that does not fall under the above two categories i.e. neither meat nor dairy.
Included under 'pareve' are eggs, plants, and Kosher fish (with fins and scales).
While meat and dairy products and their derivatives may not be mixed or eaten together in any amount, 'pareve' (neutral) products can be mixed with either meat or dairy products.
Fish is an exception: it may not be mixed with meat.
Non-Kosher
There are two categories of non-Kosher:
Intrinsically non-Kosher:
Non-Kosher processing methods:
Ingredients that require Rabbinic certification if the finished product is to be Kosher certified:
Levels of Supervision
A common misconception is that Kosher production requires a Rabbinic supervisor to be present at all times. While the presence of a supervisor is certainly an advantage, modern production methods allow certification to take place as long as the production complies with rigid work instructions and defined bills of material.
A typical facility may only require an annual certification audit with additional surveillance audits (as determined once the certification audit has been conducted).
There are exceptions to this:
Passover Guidelines
Passover, an eight-day festival in March/April each year, has an added restriction against the consumption of any food that contains 'leaven'.
In addition to the above restrictions, the following and their derivatives may not be used for Passover unless they have specific Rabbinic certification for Passover:
Note: Derivatives that include the following are also prohibited for Passover without specific Rabbinic certification for Passover: Alcohol, beer, dextrose from wheat or corn including their derivatives (such as sorbitol).
Moreover, all products requiring Passover certification must be manufactured under Rabbinic supervision.
