Let’s start with the basics: Of the roughly 344,936,881 people in the United
States, the Jewish population is estimated to account for approximately 2.30% – a very tiny percentage, based on the reported figures (figures which do not account for events like the mass, intentionally undocumented immigration of the early 1900s). The Orthodox branch of Jewry accounts for approximately 9% of the Jews in America. This means approximately 0.2% of the United States identifies as an Orthodox Jew. Other statistics put the total number of Orthodox Jews in the United States around 500,000, either way a very tiny number of people.
The Jewish faith, specifically the Orthodox branch, has a lot of strict requirements, one of them being diet. A Jew is supposed to only consume “kosher” food. If you would like the Google definition of kosher, “Kosher refers to food that complies with Jewish dietary laws, known as kashrut, which dictate what foods are permitted to be eaten, how they must be prepared, and how they can be combined. The term “kosher” comes from the Hebrew word kashér, meaning “fit” or “proper,” indicating that the food is suitable for consumption according to Jewish religious law.”
There are a variety of rules that go into kosher food, but at the heart of the laws are:
The prohibition against consuming insects visible to the naked eye. This is mentioned five times in the Torah.
In order for food to be labelled kosher, there must be a rabbi.
When it comes to meat, Jews are only supposed to eat animals with cloven hooves. This means no pigs, rabbits, etc. Meat from predator or scavenger birds, like eagles, owls, gulls, and hawks, is not kosher.
A non-Jew, “goy”, must abide by Jewish law in kosher preparation.
Historically speaking, food prepared by goys cannot be eaten by Jews. According to the laws of bishul akum, food that is both cooked entirely by a non-Jew and considered a “royal dish” (fit for a king’s table) may not be eaten by a Jew, even if the ingredients are kosher and the utensils are kosher. However, if a Jew participates in the cooking process—such as by lighting the fire, adding fuel, or stirring the food— the food is considered bishul Yisrael and is permitted.
And all meat must be slaughtered according to Jewish ritual law in order for it to be kosher. This is called Sheḥitah.
Sheḥitah is the Jewish method of ritual slaughter for food in which the animal’s throat is slit horizontally across. The procedure involves severing the trachea (windpipe), esophagus, jugular veins, and carotid arteries in one swift, smooth motion using a specially prepared knife called a chalaf. The knife must be perfectly smooth, without any notches or imperfections, and is examined before and after slaughter by running the fingernail and finger along its edge to detect flaws. Afterwards, the animal is hung and left to die as it bleeds out. All blood must be drained from the animal before it is butchered.
Out of the 2.3% of the United States that are Jewish, it is reported that only
10-20% of Jewish families practice kosher laws. So, that means 10% of 2%, or 0.002, of Jewish families practice kosher laws – a fraction of a small fraction.
So what do we have thus far? We have a microscopic fraction of people who choose to follow the Jewish dietary rules, which is great. I applaud the right to dietary choices, and I even more applaud those who believe in something and adhere to it by the book. What must be questioned is why and how kosher logos are on everything, and I do indeed mean everything, in the grocery store.
How do they get there? And why are they there? I shared a video on this topic a long time ago, but something told me there is more to the story. I thought I would spend 10 minutes looking into this, and three days later, I was still researching: unravelling one hell of a rabbit hole. I was dumbfounded by just how deep this mind-blowing conspiracy goes. Be sure to read this series in full; it’s a really important one, as it impacts you and your family.
Rewind back to the 1920s. This is when the first Kosher Certification Service sprang up, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation of America, known as “OU”. In 1923, the H. J. Heinz Company‘s vegetarian beans became the first product to be kosher certified by the OU. Despite the quick success, it would take a couple of decades for the OU to begin making major movement. Perhaps you are wondering why it would take so long. The answer is, quite simply, Jewish people didn’t want it (only a fraction of the fraction follow the strict dietary laws), and if your target customer base isn’t interested, that sure is a problem.
Come 1956, the papers reported that Kosher Foods were becoming more commonly used by the Jewish population. They went on to state the Union of Orthodox Jews had certified the foods of more than 125 companies, many of those being huge, famous brands. As a result, over 450 common grocery store items were stamped as Kosher.
The paper went on to state that, although a decade ago Jews were not interested in these foods, these items were now in restaurants, on airlines, in hotels, and more. If you do not understand what is going on here, let me explain it: Jews did not want the kosher foods. The OU got 450 common products stamped with the kosher symbol. Then, because people purchased the common products (which they would have done anyway), they pointed at the sales data and said, “See! People now want this stuff!”
With the success of the kosher program came the kosher laws. San Francisco was one of the earliest on board. This law made it illegal for any food producer to use the word kosher if it’s not kosher per the standards the rabbis involved in the kosher movement laid out. The papers exclaimed that San Fran’s Governor Knight’s kosher food law was strongly supported by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of the Bay Area.
With the help of the government, more and more companies opted in so that their products could display the stamp, but this program didn’t come without cost. According to a Tom Metzger interview with Carl Straight regarding the Kosher Food scheme, in 1957, Coca-Cola was paying rabbinical associations $30,000 every year for each plant they owned to be able to use the kosher logo. The newspapers would later confirm that meat packers were required to pay a “kosher tax” of 4 cents per pound of meat that they shipped into Memphis, Tennessee.
In Wisconsin, Jews were going meatless due to their two-cents-per-pound tax.
In Toronto, Canada, a 2-cent tax was added to every chicken sold in Kosher butcher shops. They claimed that this money was to fund Jewish schools.
In the 1960s, per new government laws, stores were required to advertise kosher meat. These laws forced stores that sell kosher meat to post signs showing which meats were kosher and additional signs labelling meats that were not kosher. Excellent free, forced advertising for the kosher industry.
In July of 1961, an interesting article appeared in The Wisconsin Jewish
Chronicle. It was titled “Kosher Food for Epicureans” and said that “many Jews are escaping from kosher foods,” but then went on to state that many newlywed couples were establishing “kosher homes”.
The same year, another paper, when referring to kosher foods, said these foods are “Israel’s birth and growth reawakened”.
By 1962, the US government was deeply involved in the kosher scheme. The FTC demanded that kosher food be prepared according to Jewish laws, meaning the laws that were set forth by the rabbis overseeing the kosher program. This meant “kosher agents” needed to be put on payroll to ensure correct processing. Now, public tax money was funding the kosher food scheme, which oversaw the processing of foods for the very small quantity of Jews who chose to consume this diet.
Come 1964, the Kosher Foods representative for the Department of Public Health for the state of California was caught threatening businesses. According to the article, the businesses were slaughtering chickens and using hot water to clean them instead of the kosher process of letting the blood drain. After the businesses received the threat, the Kosher Department of Public Health representative sent letters to markets and wholesale companies urging them to boycott chicken purchases from businesses not following kosher laws.
The same year, cruise ships began carrying kosher food.
1965 was the year of the Baltimore Food Control Bill, but by this point in time, the city was already paying for full-time Jewish inspectors.
In 1966, Michigan adopted kosher food laws. It had now become fraudulent to advertise kosher food if it can be discovered that there is a single element of non-kosher in it.
In 1967, the city of Sacramento was forced to lay off its Kosher Food Agent because there was no appropriation by the Legislature regarding funds to be put toward this newly formed government job.
In Miami in 1970, numerous new kosher laws were passed. The first was to require a special license to be obtained by any business that wishes to sell kosher food. The second was to authorize the city’s kosher food inspector to seize and confiscate kosher food being sold “in violation” of the kosher food ordinances. The third empowered the kosher food inspector to make arrests! And the fourth allowed judges to suspend the licenses of anyone violating kosher food ordinances.
The same year, airlines began carrying kosher foods. The papers now reported that sales were up on Kosher food because non-Jews were beginning to consume it. However, they also reported that Jews still refuse to eat it. Although Jews were still uninterested in this diet, over 300 food items were now labelled kosher. This included Maxwell House coffee, Del Monte catsup, Dr Pepper beverages, Hawaiian Punch, Brer Rabbit molasses, assorted desserts, Sunshine biscuits, Palmolive dish soap, and more. You may be thinking, “Wait, what? Did you just say Palmolive dish soap? I thought kosher was for food?”. It turned out that because kosher Jews touch food with their hands, they needed their soap to be kosher to avoid contamination.
In 1972, kosher food had made its way into hospitals. While this was happening, the Miami Beach food inspector was accused of extortion. From the news article, we learn that rabbis had been overseeing meatpacking plants. The rabbis would tag meat as kosher before it was loaded onto trucks to be shipped. It turns out, this particular rabbi was extorting additional money in exchange for his kosher sign-off.
In another article, we learn that chickens that didn’t fully comply with kosher food laws were being seized in raids. The tax-funded police, working on behalf of the rabbis, confiscated nine cases of them, equal to around 100 birds. The owners of the S. H. Kosher Meat Market were then arrested by the police and faced the loss of their license and up to six months in jail.
The same year as the raid and arrest, a hotel served non-kosher cakes, which would have been kosher, except they were not because the rules are different during Passover. When a kosher foods agent showed up unannounced to perform an inspection, four total sheet cakes were discovered inside the hotel. The owner was charged with kosher fraud. In court, the hotel owner explained his non-Jewish kitchen steward created the cakes, not knowing about the change in rules for these specific days. His lawyers then challenged the State on the grounds that the State’s enforcement of religious beliefs violates the laws regarding the separation of
Church and State. The courts ruled the kosher food laws were Constitutional.
Also in 1972, there was a large movement to expose what was now being called “the kosher food racket”. Mrs. Trude Weiss, a former editor of a Jewish newspaper, was crusading against the scheme. She called attention to the hundreds of products currently in stores, stamped with the kosher letter U symbol. She said, “Zionism is a ruthless and vicious racket which preys upon Jews and Gentiles alike. The taxes being loaded upon Americans to support the world Zionism are almost unbelievable. The kosher food racket is a part of this swindle.”
By 1975, aluminium foil, floor cleaners, and detergents had all become kosher products, which put them under the control of the kosher foods industry. This meant inspections by rabbis were required for every single business and every product they produced. And, should the business be found not to be manufacturing these items per kosher standards, the products could all be seized and the owners of the businesses prosecuted. Each time a kosher inspector showed up to inspect, the business had to cover the cost of it.
In 1979, the papers pointed out that “Of the 6 million Jews in the United States, only 1 million keep kosher. In Charlotte, North Carolina, there were only 900 total Jewish Families, and of them, only 35 to 40 followed kosher rules.” Despite such a small number of supporters, these foods were in every grocery store across the nation, and nearly all cities and states had kosher food laws and kosher food policing. The policing led to business owners losing their livelihoods for alleged violations.
By 1980, anyone who tried to speak out against the food scheme was labeled anti-Semitic.
In 1983, Lever Brothers, the Chicago-based manufacturer of soap products, decided to go kosher. They invested millions of dollars in changing their production lines to meet the criteria the rabbi laid out for them. Procter and Gamble then followed suit and shut down their factory so it could undergo conversion.
The next year, the Miami Beach public began questioning why they were funding inspectors. They said these costs should be consumed by the Jewish clergy. The newspapers stated the cost to Miami Beach taxpayers was $25,000 annually, just for the rabbi. $25,000 back then is equivalent to $98,293.69 today. So this rabbi was getting paid nearly $100,000 a year to enforce Kosher Food Laws on Miami Beach. These costs do not include the expenses for police to investigate, seize, and arrest, nor do they include the cost of judges and the court system to prosecute individuals. They also do not include the cost to incarcerate those who were found guilty.
In 1984, it was discovered that the Elk’s Club (an American fraternal order brotherhood that is probably the Freemasons or tied to them) had been converted into a Kosher Foods office. This was ruled illegal, as it was a violation of the lease, city code, and zoning laws.
The next year, New York Mayor Mario Cuomo created the State Kosher Food Council.
Come 1985, the Kosher Foods Enforcement Bureau (headed by rabbis) was in full swing, conducting “intensive monitoring” of businesses. This Bureau worked alongside the Consumer Affairs Commissioner. In only nine months’ time, the agencies discovered over 700 assorted violations, which raked in over $30,000 in fines (worth roughly $100,000 today). What exactly were these fines for? Per the paper, “Breaching the trust of the Jewish community”.
The next year, in New Jersey, a rabbi working for the Enforcement Bureau showed up to perform a hotel inspection and found non-kosher French fries on the floor of a room. They were fined. It didn’t matter how those fries got there; a customer bringing them in from McDonald’s was irrelevant. The fact was, the fries could not be in that hotel because they could contaminate the kosher foods. At another hotel, non-kosher meat was discovered. They, too, were fined. The same year, a rabbi was appointed to be the Enforcement Chief of Kosher Food Law. This rabbi was also the director of Agudath Israel, a worldwide Jewish political movement.
Immediately after the appointment came new Passover laws regarding how pieces of chicken are packaged. Amongst many changes, no package of kosher chicken could exceed two pounds. This meant, when a chicken provider chose to make their product line kosher, consumers could no longer purchase bulk chicken; they would instead have to pay for multiple small packages.
Even after all of this, shockingly, The Journal Times, on Sunday, October 19, 1986, published “Demand for kosher food products has been flat, while costs have continued to climb”. In fact, the costs were so high that the butchers’ unions of New York were losing all of their members because the butchers, both kosher and non-kosher, didn’t want to be a part of the kosher food system. They stated membership has dropped from 15,000 to only 6,000.
But the kosher train didn’t stop for a second. By 1989, over 17,500 products had become kosher. Heinz, like many other large businesses, now employed multiple full-time rabbis.
By 1989, vodka became Kosher.
The same year, the Oregonian newspaper displayed a chart showing the massive boom in kosher products and buyers, the vast majority of which were non-Jews.
Come 1990, kosher foods were a $1 BILLION a year industry. As more and more products got the kosher stamp, more and more people bought them. This led to the papers exclaiming there was a “demand for kosher foods”.
Amongst the companies that had become kosher were Faygo, Pepsi, Hershey’s Chocolate, Cape Cod potato chips, Maxwell’s House Coffee, almost all Betty Crocker products, Hunt’s Ketchup, Dannon yogurts, Nestle, Lipton Tea, Ortega Mexican Foods, Coors beer, Spring Water, and more. In fact, 30% of all packaged goods and 40% of health food were now stamped with the kosher symbols. At some point in time, postage stamps, issued by the government, would also become kosher. After all, Jews have to touch and lick them, so it just made sense to pay a rabbi to oversee the process of making them and ensure the ingredients are “safe”.
By 1993, the kosher foods market was raking in over $2 billion in sales annually, and vendors had begun challenging the legality of the program in court. A hot dog vendor in Maryland was fined because he cooked kosher hot dogs next to non-kosher hot dogs. He took the case to court and challenged the constitutionality of the entire scheme. Like the Miami Beach vendors that came before him, he claimed the State should not be enforcing, nor overseeing, religion. The paper reported that his case was pending in the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, other people began complaining that the cost of a kosher chicken was double the cost of a non-kosher bird of the same size. You see, the average American consumer didn’t care if the food was kosher or not; they wanted it to be affordable. They didn’t want to pay extra to have the process overseen by a rabbi. But now, because such a large portion of the grocery store had become kosher stamped, their options were to buy the product they want that has increased in price, or settle for the product they don’t want because the price is less.
In 1992, natural fat was removed from the steel industry so all steel could become kosher. Yes, steel needed to be kosher because steel is used to make cans and cans touch the hands and lips of the fraction of the fraction of Jews who choose to follow the kosher diet. This changeover was going to cost a steel manufacturing plant $500 million to change their machinery and process.
In 1996, the US Military began purchasing kosher rations by the millions for the troops. (It is estimated that Jews make up 0.20% of the military).
Two years later, the news reported that the vast majority of kosher item purchases were being made by non-Jews. Duh. If you stamp everything we need to purchase, common sense is that we have to buy it. The same year, Nabisco became kosher certified.
1999 was the year of the kosher hotels. Israel’s rabbis declared that, if hotels wanted to be kosher, they could no longer display Christian symbols. This included displaying a Christmas tree. Should a hotel choose to put any decor anywhere that could be considered Christian, they would lose their kosher certification.
Come the following year, 2000, non-kosher and kosher goods could no longer be made in the same building for fear of cross-contamination. Next, companies that sold kosher products could no longer also sell non-kosher, even if made in a different building, because they could, at some point, come in contact with each other. This meant businesses had to make tough decisions: either open new plants and continue to make non-kosher products, or get rid of their non-kosher products entirely.
And the rest is history. The kosher business grew and grew, and here we are now. Everything in the store, no matter which store you go to, anywhere in the nation, is stamped with kosher symbols, all of which mean they were prepared with rabbinical supervision and involve Jews in the manufacturing process. Every company with a stamp must take marching orders from the rabbis. But what exactly does this mean? And is the food actually better for us? And does this cost us anything? The answers may surprise you…
