[Avodah] Kellogg's Products containing gelatin & interesting story

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

.
On Areivim, there's a discussion about some Hindus (whose religion
forbids beef) who discovered that some Kellogg's cereals (not the ones
under hashgacha for kashrus) contain beef gelatin. They are very
upset, despite the fact that gelatin IS listed among the ingredients.

I referred to Aruch Hashulchan YD 115:6, which has a similar story
about the cream in a certain coffee shop. R' Zev Sero responded:

> Not a coffee shop.  They bought milk from a grocery, ...

Good point. "Chenvani" does not refer to any specific type of shop. I
don't know why I always presumed it to be a coffeehouse. Thanks.

> ... relying on the poskim (e.g. Pri Chadash) who are lenient
> with chalav akum in modern Western societies for all the
> well-known reasons.  In other words they "didn't keep cholov
> yisroel", just like many people today.

And if their posek said that it is okay to rely on such milk, then
what did they do wrong?

The problem is that it was NOT just plain milk. That AhS's word's are
"chalav shamen shekorin smant" - fatty milk that is called "smant".
(If anyone knows the proper pronunciation of this word, and a good
description of it, I'd appreciate it.)

The issue here is not Chalav Yisrael, but simply paying attention to
what you're eating. It wasn't just plain milk. It was a prepared food
that even went by another name. And the very first time that they
asked the proprietor about it, he told them exactly what it contained.
In my view, this shows that until that day, they made not the
slightest effort to determine the kashrus of that product.

Perhaps someone will tell me that in that time and place, it was
common knowledge that smant has no non-kosher ingredients, and that
this case was an exception to that rule. If so, I refer you to what I
wrote here 15 years ago:
(http://aspaqlaria.aishdas.org/avodah/vol08/v08n098.shtml#03)

> Suppose you are at a hotel, and in the morning they offer a free
> breakfast in the lobby. You see a pitcher full of orange-colored
> liquid. Can one presume that it is plain orange juice, which I
> understand to not need a hechsher? Perhaps one can make that
> assumption, but to me, the point of the Aruch Hashulchan is that
> one should at least make a minimal effort to ask one of the staff,
> and verify that it really is orange juice, and not some cheap
> orange-colored drink. If one presumes it to be pure orange juice,
> isn't that EXACTLY what the men in the story did?

Akiva Miller