Picking and choosing different koshering agencies

justforfun87

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:16 pm

I know it is frowned upon to pick a Rabbi based on psaks but I wonder if this applies to kasher agencies as well. We are very middle of the road modern family. I learned today that the OU which we eat all the time is very lenient when it comes to a specific product which the Star K for example would not agree with. Is it ok to deliberately follow them on this issue because I want to eat this product? Thoughts? Please don't say ask your rav because we bother him about bigger issues.

justforfun87

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:24 pm

amother [ NeonYellow ] wrote:

I’m Not following your line of thinking.

The OU says it is ok to buy salmon without the skin on. Star K disagrees. I want to buy Salmon, is it ok to listen to the OU because they are more lenient?

ra_mom

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:27 pm

We look into the kashrus agency, decide if we can rely on them, and then buy products from all of those agencies.
It's ok if one agency approves the product and the other doesn't, if we feel that both are reliable.
If I followed one rav at one specific agency, then that would be different and I would ask questions about other agencies and when they are ok to use and when they are not.

amother

Brickred

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:28 pm

We eat many hechsherim but pick and choose foods based on our stringencies.

pas yisroel - ou not makpid - crackers, cookies, pretzels, bread
Bushel yisroel - ou holds diff then us especially with canned products and tuna
Confectionary glaze - we don’t eat it so check ingredients
Wine - we don’t drink ou wine so check ingredients for wine or grapes. Affects many candy, some jams
Meat/chicken- only eat specific hechsherim
Skinless tuna - wouldn’t buy ou bec they skin on ship

Etc.

So while we are pretty strict with what we eat I believe certain ou products are superior kashrut wise bec their runs are consistent. Like Mayo, ketchup, candy. So we eat tons of ou but only to our standards.

amother

Brickred

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:29 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

The OU says it is ok to buy salmon without the skin on. Star K disagrees. I want to buy Salmon, is it ok to listen to the OU because they are more lenient?

I think part of it is to know the reasoning. Some rabbanim allow skinning specifically for salmon on ship like ou (sold at Costco) but may rabbanim hold it is assur to skin on ship. So it really goes based on how you hold - not the specific hechsher
So I don’t think it’s a matter of choosing a hechsher I think it’s a matter of knowing the reason.

ra_mom

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:29 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

The OU says it is ok to buy salmon without the skin on. Star K disagrees. I want to buy Salmon, is it ok to listen to the OU because they are more lenient?

Usually you follow mesorah or ask a rav you are close to.
Curious about the salmon- you mean certified salmon without skin, or salmon at a random fishmonger without skin?

amother

Brickred

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:31 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Usually you follow mesorah or ask a rav you are close to.
Curious about the salmon- you mean certified salmon without skin, or salmon at a random fishmonger without skin?

Ou certifies salmon skinned on ship. Depending on opinion you follow some rabbanim say you can’t skin any fish on a ship.

justforfun87

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:36 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Usually you follow mesorah or ask a rav you are close to.
Curious about the salmon- you mean certified salmon without skin, or salmon at a random fishmonger without skin?

The OK and OU based on my Googling said not certified at a random store is ok even WITHOUT skin for example at Costco.

amother

NeonOrange

Fri, Jun 03 2022, 1:42 pm

If you are mainstream regular frum usa without a "sect" the 4 main/largest hechsherim (ou, kaf-k, star-k & crc) are used by everyone as a whole. Sometimes they have slight differences in how they pasken, but we trust the rabbis that its all good.