EXPERTS say that the US kosher food and drink industry could reach sales of $200 billion next year and fish such as canned tuna are taking a small but growing share, writes Velo Mitrovich.

The demand for kosher tuna is not only in areas with a large Jewish population, such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, but throughout the US and crosses over to non-Jews who view the kosher seal as an additional stamp of quality.

With food scares hitting most European countries, non-Jewish consumers are beginning to buy more and more products which feature a kosher certification seal on the pack.

"If you want to export to the US, you need kosher certification ö it's a sign of quality, " says Rabbi Danny Moore, director of certification for the London Beth Din Kashrut Division, which is Europe's largest kosher certification body.

Over the past year and half, the rabbi has travelled frequently to Thailand's southernmost province of Pattani, where he inspected tuna canneries for kosher canning. He says that the work a tuna canning company has to do to be given ö and to keep ö kosher certification is considerable, adding that it is also expensive.

The majority of this expense is not to pay for the rabbi inspectors, but in following the rules which require downtime before the kosher canning process can begin.

"These plants have to shut down completely 24 hours before we begin. It's expensive for them but, if it wasn't economically viable, they wouldn't be doing it, " says Rabbi Danny Moore.

"One company told me:

'Being certified kosher is not only important for our standards, but other customers ö who don't buy kosher ö look at us in a better light'." About 5500 miles away in San Diego, California, John Stiker of Bumble Bee Seafoods echoes the rabbi's comments on how kosher stands for quality.

He is senior vice president of product management and has closely observed the importance of having a kosher symbol on Bumble Bee Tuna's cans and pouches.

"The OU symbol [Orthodox Union] is on almost all our tuna products. We consider it very important, " says John Stiker.

"Even consumers not of the Jewish faith see it as an indication of quality." More than 70 of Bumble Bee's tuna products ö including those made for regional markets such as Hawaii's Coral brand ö are certified kosher by the OU. Its only non-kosher tuna products are salads.

Rabbi Mordechai Kuber, Kashrut co-ordinator for the OU in Israel, says that the number of Orthodox Jews in the US who eat only kosher foods is about 1 million out of a total US population of almost 300 million.

In spite of this small number of religious kosher consumers, as much as 90% of the processed food market in the US is kosher certified, he says.

There are claims that most non-Jewish US consumers' belief in the high quality of kosher products stems from a hotdog advert campaign launched in 1965.

Hebrew National ö a manufacturer of kosher delicatessen meats since 1936 ö broke out of its New York City market with a nationwide campaign which featured the slogan 'We answer to a higher authority.' This made Hebrew National's hot dogs gain nationwide popularity among consumers who were turned off by the idea of what part of the cow and pig could be going into their non-kosher hot dogs.

Integrated Marketing Communications of the US says that there is clear evidence that a kosher symbol boosts market share, that a kosher product can win more favourable shelf space and that, positioned next to a competing non-kosher brand, a kosher product will do better by 20%.

This data has remained constant even in smaller cities far from heavier concentrations of Orthodox Jews.

What kosher means KOSHER is the Hebrew word for 'proper' or 'fit' and it can be applied to all food and food ingredients which comply with Judaism's dietary laws, also the cleaning and maintenance of equipment used to prepare it.

These laws are just as strict, too, about what is 'proper' from the sea as from land. Just as pork is strictly forbidden so, too, is shrimp.

"The Bible says that fish has to have fins and scales. So common tuna types such as skipjack, albacore, yellowfin, bluefin and tongol are all kosher but species like shark are not, " says Rabbi Danny Moore.

The 'not' list includes all shellfish, fish with leathery skin such as monkfish, catfish, and rays, swordfish, eel, and sturgeon. Kosher fish includes cod, soles, pollock, mackerel, herring and bream.

However, its not as simple as following a list.

Orthodox Jews must take care when buying fresh, whole fish, filleted or frozen fish because of the possibility of substitution of non-kosher fish, or of contamination by remnants of non-kosher fish from knives and cutting boards.

Products such as fish sticks ö made from 100% pollock ö might seem to be kosher, but the oil used in frying would need to come from a kosher source or it would make the whole product non-kosher.

Smoked fish can present several problems. A new brine solution must be made in kosherised tanks/vats using salt without any anticaking agent if it is for Passover fish and no nonkosher species can be smoked in the same smoke chamber.

While all tunas might be kosher due to their scales and fins, a cannery could be processing non-kosher seafood with the same equipment it uses for tuna, making the tuna non-kosher.

The only way for a processing plant to guarantee that it is kosher is to have a specially trained rabbi inspect it.

Passing a rabbi's inspection RABBI Danny Moore says that London Beth Din has certified 'hundreds and hundreds' of companies around the world after lengthy inspections.

He says that the first step a company takes is to send London Beth Din an application. This is studied to see if it would be feasible for the company to be kosher.

"For instance, if it is a tuna cannery which uses the same facilities and equipment for canning non-kosher species such as squid, it would be rejected straight out, " he says.

The next step is to send a rabbi to inspect. This might require a number of visits to ensure the plant meets kosher cleanliness standards and that all steps of the processing follow the rules.

Once the certificate is issued, London Beth Din conducts inspection visits, ranging from one to many, depending on the business.

This procedure is similar to how other rabbinical bodies also conduct their certification process. However, these groups can differ with the certification process.

For tuna, the London Beth Din issues only a batch certificate and a rabbi must be present during the tuna canning, while the OU issues a year round certificate and does not require a rabbi to be present during canning.

Jewish law ö halacha ö states that a Jew must be involved in the cooking process of many foods so the London Beth Din interprets this as meaning a rabbi must be present to check each fish for fins and scales and to turn the tuna cookers on.

Rabbi Danny Moore travels to Thailand when a specific order of tuna is being prepared. Last year he went five times and each time supervised about $500,000 worth of canned product.

"We're in from the beginning to the end, " says Rabbi Danny Moore in describing what for him and one other rabbi are days filled with eight on/eight off watches until the kosher run is finished.

He says that the advantage of having this higher standard ö as compared to OU ö is that the London Bin Din certificate is accepted by a wider share of the worldwide Orthodox Jewish market.

A cannery must be shut down with no production for 24 hours while it is thoroughly cleaned before Rabbi Danny Moore arrives.

Then, he overseas the 'koshering' of the plant which entails cleaning the brine tanks, oil tanks, precookers and production line at 100 deg. C. The boilers then need to be emptied and the tanks refilled with fresh water.

If the boiler is used to feed steam to another production line in a different building that uses non kosher fish species or ingredients, e. g.

for pet food, this entire building needs to be made kosher as well ö and only kosher products used while the tuna is being canned. This is because kosher certification bodies view steam as allowing two-way travel.

For the entire canning process, he and another rabbi keep watch over the canning.

Afterwards, each box of kosher tuna is stamped with a special inkjet code and serial numbered labels. A double check of the codes takes place when the tuna arrives at its destination.

"We know how much tuna has been produced. If there's more at the destination, we'd know, " says Rabbi Danny Moore.

Tuna for Passover DURING the eight days of Passover ö Pesach ö even stricter food requirements are in place and this is reflected in canned kosher tuna as well.

"We believe that during Passover no food can be eaten which might contain leaven, " says Rabbi Danny Moore.

However, because of the expense of using kosher for Passover oils, tuna is packed with only salt ö without any anti caking agent ö and water added.

John Stiker of Bumble Bee says its Passover tuna is selling well and that the company decided to redesign the can, printing it to make it similar to the rest of Bumble Bee's premier line of tuna and reflect more of what's inside.

The new can is upside down with lithographic printing directly on the can, similar to Bumble Bee's Prime Fillet and to European canned tuna.

"We did away with its black paper label to reflect more of what's inside: prime tuna fillet, " says John Stiker.

News

Kosher tuna a sign of quality ö and growing sales!