<html>
<body>
<font size=3>At 01:50 PM 5/6/2013, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">What has changed? Now butter can
be made from whey.<br><br>
I noted that according to RMF zt"l, whey did not require an
hashgacha and<br>
therefore butter should still not require an hashgacha.<br>
</font></blockquote><br>
<Snip><br><br>
<font size=3>To state the obvious, both R. Blech and the OU have a
significant financial<br>
stake in claiming that butter (and countless other products) can only
be<br>
purchased with reliable hashgachah. Additionally, the RCA gets an
annual<br>
payoff from the OU Kosher division (as per a longstanding arrangement)
so<br>
RCA Rabbanim also have a strong incentive to claim that products can<br>
only be purchased with a reliable hashgachah.<br><br>
Apparently not everyone agrees with this psak. Furthermore,
it is not just the OU that says that whey should have hashgacha.
<br><br>
</font><font size=2>From
<a href="http://www.ok.org/Content.asp?ID=225" eudora="autourl">
http://www.ok.org/Content.asp?ID=225</a><br><br>
</font><font size=3>Some time ago we learned that significant kashrus
issues do arise with butter. Developments in the food industry are
ongoing, and such changes often have important kashrus ramifications.
Butter is mostly butterfat, with some additional milk elements and water
also present. Butter traditionally is made from sweet cream (commonly
called heavy cream), which is the thick layer skimmed off the top of
milk. Sweet cream contains both butterfat and buttermilk. The churning
action causes butterfat lumps to bond together into balls of butter,
while at the same time the buttermilk separates. You can easily make
butter at home, by taking heavy cream and mixing it with a beater until
it hardens to butter consistency.<br><br>
If butter contained only this cream and perhaps some salt and water, as
used to be the case, we could continue to classify butter in Group One;
however, this is no longer true.<br><br>
The primary kashrus issue concerning butter is that whey cream is often
added to it. Whey cream is a byproduct of cheese manufacturing. When milk
is curdled to make cheese, it separates into two parts: the mass that
will become the cheese, and a watery compound called whey, part of which
is cream.<br><br>
Today’s economic climate finds companies seeking to profit from every
possible aspect of their production; nothing is discarded if it can be
used in some way or sold. Having discovered that whey cream can be made
into butter, cheese companies sell the whey cream to butter companies.
<br><br>
Why would a butter company add whey cream to its products? The answer
again is economics; whey cream is less expensive than sweet cream. If a
company can successfully make butter by using whey cream, the company
stands to save money.<br><br>
And here our problem begins.<br><br>
Cheese needs kosher supervision for two reasons. First, all ingredients
in cheese, including the rennet (the curdling mechanism) in which it is
set, must come from a kosher source (either microbial, genetically
engineered, or a properly slaughtered animal). The starter culture also
must be kosher, as must any additives that enhance the flavor.<br><br>
If cheese is made from non-kosher ingredients, we treat the whey as not
kosher as well. (It should be noted that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, zt’l,
considers this whey kosher. However, because of complexities in using
whey cream that is made in this fashion, the major kashrus agencies do
not permit it in the products they certify.) <br><br>
See also
<a href="http://oukosher.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Daf18-2b.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://oukosher.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Daf18-2b.pdf</a>
page 13. <br><br>
And from
<a href="http://www.kashrut.com/trade/trade_links/wheycream/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.kashrut.com/trade/trade_links/wheycream/</a><br><br>
In practical terms, because of the difficulty of monitoring the different
types of whey cream coming into the butter plant and keeping them
segregated throughout the processing, some rabbis may require that a
plant either only use kosher whey cream or that it have a much higher
level of inspection to assure that only the right type of whey cream is
used for the kosher production. In most cases this will be cost
prohibitive (which is why most cheese is not compliant with gevinas
yisroel in the first place), so that in fact it is likely that only
kosher whey cream would be permitted in a kosher butter plant.<br><br>
Because of the changes in technology, production of all kosher butter
therefore requires kosher supervision. Prior to the use of more
sophisticated technology, butter was evaluated religiously rather like
milk, for which minimal active kosher supervision was deemed necessary.
This evolution reminds us that the day-to-day implementation of kosher
supervision is constantly updated in our high tech world.<br><br>
From
<a href="http://www.crcweb.org/kosher_articles/moderne_technology.php" eudora="autourl">
http://www.crcweb.org/kosher_articles/moderne_technology.php<br><br>
</a><b>Are their new avenues or paths in Kashruth that did not exist a
few years ago? <br><br>
</b> Certainly. Things change all the time. For instance,
butter was always kosher. It didn’t need to have a kosher
symbol on it because it can only be made from milk from a kosher animal.
<br><br>
It is not the case at all anymore. This is due to a cost saver that the
butter industry discovered. If you take a cup of whole milk and
separate the fat, the fat will be 10 percent sweet cream, and 90 percent
whey. Since butter is made out of the cream, the dairy wants a high
percentage of fat. The more fat there is, the higher the
profit. Most companies that sell cream are places that produce
other dairy products – like cheese factories. When making mozzarella or
other hard cheeses (usually non-kosher), the company cooks the cheese in
a bath of water. This method is done in order to get the right texture to
the finished product; you may notice this in the cheese placed on Pizza.
The excess fatty water is called cooker water and the fat volume is high.
<br><br>
Manufacturers have an incentive to place the cream from the cooker water
into the cream that is going to produce the butter.<br><br>
See also
<a href="http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-palate-whey.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-palate-whey.htm<br><br>
</a>Please see the extensive discussions about whey on these web
sites.<br><br>
Apparently the Big Five Kashrus Agencies [OU, OK, Star-K, Kof-K,
and CRC] have decided that whey does need supervision. This has now
become an industry kashrus standard. <br><br>
YL<br><br>
YL</font></body>
<br>
</html>