Kosher candies with beef gelatin?

zaq

Wed, Mar 25 2015, 6:13 pm

In THEORY, yes. Rabbanim differ as to whether or not they consider gelatin to be fleishik. In practice, I would be very surprised if reliably kosher candies would be made with gelatin and not be at least labeled fleishik. And considering that candy is something often eaten between meals as a snack and is usually pareve or milchik, I think reliable kashrut agencies would hesitate to allow fleishik candies to be sold commercially. But I could be wrong here, as reliable kashrut agencies allow teas with milchik ingredients to be made under their hashgachot, and goodness knows lots of people serve tea after their fleishik Shabbos meals. (Moral of the story, always read the label of every package you buy, every time you buy it. Formulas change.)

Conservative kashrut accepts beef gelatin as a neutral material on the premise that it has been so processed and broken down chemically that it is its own thing and bears no relation to meat. I am not sure whether gelatin with Conservative hashgacha has to come from kosher shechted animals; my guess would be that it does not, based on the same logic that declares it pareve. AYLOR.

If a hashgacha seems suspicious, it probably is .When in doubt, contact the hashgacha organization. The numbers of manufacturers putting unauthorized kosher symbols on their packages is staggering. There have been instances of things like canned rattlesnake and octopus bearing an (obviously bogus) OU. Go to www.kashrut.com for kosher alerts and more.

Sanguine

Thu, Mar 26 2015, 8:39 am

Kosher gelatin comes from kosher animals. It comes from the bones or other disgusting stuff and isn't considered Besari (milk also comes from animals and eggs come from chickens Idea

). Foods with Kosher Gelatin can have a Hechsher and be pareve or even Chalavi But not everyone will eat foods with Kosher Gelatin (like marshmallows). But there is fish gelatin which is what you'll find in a more stringent Hechshers.

Sanguine

Thu, Mar 26 2015, 2:32 pm

amother wrote:

So are you saying that if a candy has beef gelatin it is very unlikely to be kosher?
And if it is kosher its not likely to be a stringent hechsher?

Nope. First of all, no one calls it beef gelitan. If you just see gelatin that's treif (probably from pig). If you see "Kosher Gelatin" it's from kosher animals and it's not considered meat. In Israel, the Rabbanut gives a hechsher on things (like marshmallows) with kosher gelatim. In general I trust a Rabaut hechsher but I won't eat the kosher gelatin and a lot of other people too. (Maybe it's just from growing up in NY where the word gelatin meant TREIF). They have fish gelatin which is on the better-than-Rabbanut hechshers and it's not a problem. (I wonder if Sfardim who consider fish Besari considers things with fish gelatin Besari)

greenfire

Thu, Mar 26 2015, 2:58 pm

a lot of people do take issue with the kashrus of some yogurts that use gelatin from beef derivatives

sonny boy will not eat any of those candies made with confectionery glazes because of kashrus reasons - including sprinkles ... why does one have to rely on batus b'shishim and no longer actually meaty - those things should be b'dieved rather than from the getgo

self-actualization

Thu, Mar 26 2015, 3:02 pm

Weird!

While I was cleaning for Pesach I found some Ghirardelli chocolate squares with mint filling that are Kof-K Dairy and one of the ingredients is gelatin. I emailed the Kof-K to ask about this and I see that Moslems all over are also wondering about this product and whether it is halal or not.

nylon

Thu, Mar 26 2015, 7:07 pm

The OU considers Kolatin, which is made from beef, to be pareve. There are numerous sources saying that gelatin is no longer fleischig, although at one point the Star-K did say they would not allow gelatin to be used in yoghurts. The main issue is the source of the gelatin. The OU requires that gelatin come not only from a kosher animal (I.e. bovine rather than porcine) but that the animals be shechted.

HOWEVER, if you see an item with "kosher gelatin" in the ingredients, WITHOUT A RELIABLE HASHGACHA, this is problematic. That may seem obvious but in this case it's a specific issue: when a label says "kosher gelatin" it typically means bovine gelatin from non-shechted animals. This is why yoghurts with such gelatin will bear a plain "K" while other yoghurts from the same company will have an OU.

My assumption is that if it has a reliable, mainstream Orthodox American hashgacha (which would include the Kof-K), that the gelatin is Kolatin or fish derived. Without contacting Ghirardhelli I would not know which, but knowing something of cost as well as the market demands of vegetarians, would be more likely to assume fish.

(I have been told that this is not true for a standard, not mehadrin, hechsher in israel--I do not know if this is a kula which is universal amongst the Rabbanut, or whether one simply can't assume, since a product certified by one Rabbanut must be accepted by all the others...)

Sanguine

Fri, Mar 27 2015, 3:28 am

nylon wrote:

WOW a real knowledgeable answer. I don't think I said anything erroneous but this is a real explanation