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Ed Morgan   Letter 10   14-Aug-2004   Next steps in the public scrutiny of the kosher business

Montreal Kosher Logo
"Coût: de 2 500 à 3 000 $ par année pour une fromagerie artisanale.  Les grands producteurs préfèrent garder ces chiffres secrets." � Fabien Deglise

"The cost: from $2,500 to $3,000 per year for a small cheese producer. The big producers prefer to keep their numbers secret." � Fabien Deglise

14 August 2004



Ed Morgan
National President, Canadian Jewish Congress
Faculty of Law
University of Toronto
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON      M5S 2C5


Ed Morgan:

The Quebec consumer magazine Protégez-Vous of August 2002 demonstrates that the kosher business has been a subject of public concern to Canadians for at least two years.

What remains to be introduced into the public discussion is what kosher certification costs the Canadian consumer, and whether the mechanism of its spread is a criminal conspiracy under the Canadian Competition Act, as has been discussed in my 19-Jun-2004 letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin  www.ukar.org/martin/martin17.html.

In addition to the economic questions that the kosher business raises, there are moral ones which might be even more important, among which is the question of whether a Canadian consumer purchasing aluminum foil, plastic baggies, laundry bleach, and toilet-bowl cleaner at his local supermarket unknowingly pays for the bullet with which an Israeli sniper shoots a Palestinian child.




Lubomyr Prytulak

cc:

Hon. Irwin COTLER, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa ON  K1A 0H8
The Rt. Hon. Paul MARTIN, Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A2
Hon. Anne MCLELLAN, Hill Office, House of Commons, Ottawa ON  K1A 0A6
Sheridan SCOTT, Commissioner of Competition, 50 Victoria Street, Gatineau, QC    K1A 0C9


The original Protégez-Vous article whose images, along with French transcript and English translation, accompanied the above letter to Ed Morgan has been removed from the Ukrainian Archive web site at the request of its author, Fabien Deglise, which is no great loss as most of its information was redundant with information already posted at Jewish Tax.  The title below gives an idea of the flavor of the original, and the fragment quoted provides some fresh information along with reinforcement of central conclusions.

"Kascher" in the original title suggests the similar-sounding "cachée," making "The kosher side of food" call to mind "The hidden side of food."

The Protégez-Vous web site is at www.protegez-vous.qc.ca/

Thanks to M.R. for bringing the Protégez-Vous article to my attention and for providing the translation.



The kosher side
of food

Cookies, orange juice, yogurt, cereals, potato chips... most of the food products
in your refrigerator or your pantry are certified kosher.

by Fabien Deglise



Plus saint?

Reprenons la question de notre lecteur: les aliments kascher seraient-ils meilleurs pour la santé que ceux qui ne le sont pas?  �Pour la santé morale, sans aucun doute�, estime le rabbin David Sabbah.  Pour le reste, [...] pour un goy � non-juif en yiddish � c'est blanc bonnet et bonnet blanc.  �Dans les deux cas, la qualité est strictement la même, indique France Provost, de l'Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments, car les règles d'hygiène et de salubrité imposées par le gouvemement fédéral sont les mêmes pour tout le monde.� 		Healthier?

Let's go back to our reader's question: are kosher products better for one's health than those which aren't?  "For moral health, no doubt about it", says rabbi David Sabbah.  As for anything else, [...] for a goy � non-jew in the yiddish language � there is no difference.  "In both cases, the quality is strictly the same, explains France Provost, of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, because the rules concerning hygiene and health imposed by the federal government are the same for everyone".
Solange Doré, de A.Lassonde, qui produit des jus d'orange Oasis certifiés kascher, le confirme: �Les oranges qui entrent dans la composition de nos jus kascher sont les mêmes que celles de nos jus qui ne le sont pas.  Idem pour le nettoyage de nos équipements.  Sauf que, dans un cas, un rabbin s'est occupé de la supervision, alors que dans l'autre, c'est un de nos employés.� Solange Doré, of A. Lassonde, the company that produces the certified kosher orange juice Oasis, confirms it: "The oranges used in our kosher juices are the same ones that are used in our non-kosher juices.  Same goes for the cleaning of our equipment.  The difference is that in one case a rabbi supervised the operations, and in the other, it was one of our employees".
Un rabbin à qui il est toutefois nécessaire de verser, comme le prévoit la Tora, une �taxe rabbinique� pour le �remercier� de ses services et pour utiliser l'un des nombreux symboles de certification kasher.  Coût: de 2 500 à 3 000 $ par année pour une fromagerie artisanale.  Les grands producteurs préfèrent garder ces chiffres secrets.
16    PROTÉGEZ-VOUS    Août 2002 		A rabbi, however, to which one must give, like the Torah says, a "rabbinical tax" to "thank" him for his services and to be able to use one of the numerous symbols of kosher certification.  The cost: from $2,500 to $3,000 per year for a small cheese producer.  The big producers prefer to keep their numbers secret.
16    PROTECT YOURSELF    August 2002

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