Kashrus of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

Question

Ok, this is a little lighthearted but so be it. I am curious why I can't find the answer to this online.

I was once told by someone involved with a nationwide kashrus organization that Pepperidge Farm Goldfish are specifically not given hasgacha as a gezeirah, so that children won't think real goldfish are kosher. (This presumably isn't an ingredient or production issue, as 95 of their other products are under supervision.)

I've always assumed this was common knowledge and I remember talking with friends about it, because you can certainly buy Beigel and Beigel goldfish in Israel. But I was talking to my wife and the principal of our day school about it and neither one of them had ever heard this explanation.

I assumed "everyone" knew this but apparently not. Does anyone have a "source" for this? (E.g., an article in Kashrus Magazine?) Has anyone else ever heard this before?

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I'll edit this, given Fred's correction below. Apparently goldfish, being carp, are indeed kosher, although please keep them out of my gefilte fish. So, forgetting my narishkeit above, I'm left wondering why those of the Pepperidge Farm variety aren't kosher.

Answer 1

Here is an article which seems to answer the question directly:

"While packaged goods companies say it is not expensive to reformulate, it can be tricky. Pepperidge Farm says it did not certify its cheese Goldfish crackers because a synthetic enzyme in kosher cheeses produces a flavor that is unacceptable to the company. "

Strangely enough, it seems that at some point, some were OU supervised (I am linking to a cached page because the regular page won't load).

Answer 2

Regarding the question of whether eating kosher crackers shaped like non-kosher animals might be in some way undesirable, see this question.

Goldfish, a type of carp, is listed as kosher by the CRC, so the reason that you heard for lack of certification does not seem tenable or legitimate. As you mentioned, there are fish shaped kosher crackers made by בייגל בייגל in Israel.

Regarding your last question, a New York Times article from 1989 claims:

Pepperidge Farm says it did not certify its cheese Goldfish crackers because a synthetic enzyme in kosher cheeses produces a flavor that is unacceptable to the company.

I don't know how the status of the cheese crackers might relate to the "Original Goldfish Baked Snack Crackers", but the ingredients list for that product indicates that it contains milk. I don't know if Pepperidge Farm has reason to avoid using kosher milk in these crackers, but I doubt it.

I instead suspect that the various Goldfish products are run on the same production lines, so that if Pepperidge Farm chooses to use non-kosher ingredients in any of those products, all of the Goldfish products could potentially be contaminated and would therefore not receive kosher certification.

It should be easy enough to verify the actual reason behind the lack of certification by contacting the Orthodox Union, which certifies other Pepperidge Farm products, or by contacting Pepperidge Farm by phone or via their website.