There seems to be a lot of kashrut organizations that deal with their respective hashgachas. But rarely do they advise about other organizations or products that arent certified. Are there any websites or organizations that would answer questions about items that arent certified or dont need to be certified. Sort of like a neutral kashrut authority. Does such a thing exist?
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1Do you mean like this?– Charles KoppelmanCommented Nov 11, 2014 at 5:58
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@CharlesKoppelman right I know the star-k and the crc have such websites and are helpful. But I was wondering if there were more as the crc prohibit things that the star-k permits. I just wanted to know if there were more than just those two. Because other kashrus agencies dont really answer questions outside of their hashgacha.– TreeKingCommented Nov 11, 2014 at 9:39
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Sooo.... you want a reference of pure halakha without all those people getting in the way?– Charles KoppelmanCommented Nov 11, 2014 at 21:03
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@CharlesKoppelman thats the idea– TreeKingCommented Nov 11, 2014 at 23:05
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2 Answers
According to some people at the star k (for example) organizations are careful not to say something specific about other organizations or things that are not under their hashgacha for a number of reasons.
- If they do not certify something, they have often not been able to investigate it
- They cannot say that something is "not kosher" because that would be like libeling the people who do claim it is kosher
- They will at most say that something is "not recommended" unless there is something so obvious that anyone can see it
- There are so many products and certifying agencies that it is impossible to know about every single one.
answered Nov 11, 2014 at 12:08
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But it is possible to have a certain opinion about a product, which might be under a bad hechsher or no hechsher. I was looking for an organization that deals with those sorts of products.– TreeKingCommented Nov 11, 2014 at 23:09
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@armoose While they might give a hint, reputable kashrus agencies are extremely carely as to what they say. They can have opinions about certain products, but they are very careful in their language so as not to give the wrong impression. Commented Nov 12, 2014 at 0:20
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no I agree with you totally. My answer above was toward the question of whether there exists a sort of neutral agency that would comment on non-hechsher or bad hechshered products.– TreeKingCommented Nov 13, 2014 at 8:12
Kashrut.org styles itself as such an organization. Note, however (as it posts on its home page) it has a decidedly anti-Kashrus Agency/establishment agenda.
In addition, on several European countries (England, France and the Netherlands I am familiar with personally, others probably as well) have the local Beis Din basically performing that function by issuing lists of acceptable products that are not actually certified.
The CRC (which is "Kashrus Agency establishment") also maintains several lists aimed at identifying products which can be used without formal certification. In addition, I know they take questions, although they aren't as public about it as Kashrut.org.
