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ww ww VOLUME c h / NO. 9 SIVAN-TAMMUZ 5764 / JUNE-JULY 2004 SUMMER EDITION s xc THEDaf HaKashrus A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THEU RABBINIC FIELD REPRESENTATIVE NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT: DAF NOTES: The following lively “Shakla Vetarya” ORTHODOX UNION CERTIFIES – an email give and take between Moshe Kaufman – TRIAMINIC PEDIATRIC MAILBOX a Daf HaKashrus reader and the OU’s Rabbinic Coordinator Rabbi Chaim Goldberg concerned an COLD/COUGH/ALLERGY article written by Rabbi Goldberg in The Daf. We LIQUID MEDICATIONS AS KOSHER have entitled this exchange “On Seeing Red”. The Daf encourages its readers to initiate similar BY STEPHEN STEINER exchanges. Director of Public Relations In an important breakthrough for kosher consumers, the Orthodox Union and Novartis Consumer Health, Inc., a NJ-based ON SEEING RED Novartis company, jointly announced today that the company’s Re: Daf Hakashrus Vol. 11, No. 8 – Salmon colored with Triaminic® brand pediatric cold/cough/allergy liquid medica- Astaxanthin – by Rabbi Chaim Goldberg tions have been certified as kosher by the OU. Novartis Consumer First I want to thank the OU for the Daf HaKashrus series – Health, Inc. is the first major over-the-counter company to attain besides being entertaining they are most informative – I enjoy OU certification for pediatric cold/cough/allergy medications. them immensely and wanted to acknowledge my appreciation of OU has certified eight varieties of Triaminic liquid. The products them. will be available in packages bearing the famed U Kosher The subject issue discussed the OU’s heter for not requiring symbol this summer. They have been certified as OU pareve, simonim when shipping/selling fish fillets with a reddish-pinkish meaning they contain neither meat nor dairy ingredients. complexion as there are no non-kosher fish with said meat com- The eight varieties of Triaminic liquid are: Cold & Cough, cherry; plexion. The article went on to expertly explain why chemical Cough, berry; Chest & Nasal Congestion, tropical; Cough & supplements to the fish’s feed would not be able to produce the Nasal Congestion, orange-strawberry; Flu, Cough & Fever, bubble said complexion in non-kosher species, hence the heter still gum; Cold & Allergy, orange; Night Time Cough & Cold, grape; holds water (no pun intended). and Cough & Sore Throat, grape. The issue that gave me difficulty with the heter was that many The Orthodox Union is the world’s largest kosher certification years ago I visited an OU supervised lox processing plant and agency, certifying over 275,000 products produced in nearly 6,000 observed “white meat” salmon being soaked in a red dye in order plants located in 68 countries around the world. to produce the desired and marketable reddish-pinkish complex- “This is a very significant development for the kosher world,” ion. So, it appears that while the said complexion can only natu- declared Rabbi Menachem Genack, Rabbinic Administrator of rally (biologically) color the meat of kosher fish species, identical the OU Kosher Division. “In addition to the enormous growth of colorization can be found on a fish fillet coming from a non- food products being certified as OU Kosher, now a major line of kosher fish species in a non-biological dyeing process. over-the-counter pharmaceuticals is also being made available to Accordingly, using colorization as identification in lieu of simon- the kosher consumer. Triaminic is respected as an effective im would seem difficult. cold/cough/allergy medication for children, but because of the I would most appreciate your help in helping me figure out a way presence of possibly non-kosher glycerin, among other products, to deal with this problem. kosher observant parents could not give Triaminic to their chil- Thank you. dren. Now, thanks to the Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. - OU collaboration, they can.” Moshe Kaufman “The kosher marketplace has expanded to such a degree that manufacturers welcome the opportunity to receive OU certifica- Rabbi Goldberg Responds tion and are willing to make the investment necessary to meet the OU’s demanding standards,” Rabbi Genack declared. Dear Rabbi Kaufman, “Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. recognizes the importance of The process you observed is in fact performed on old salmon becoming a part of the ever-expanding kosher marketplace, and is which loses its red color due to age. There are two primary meth- proud to offer consumers a Triaminic product that meets the cer- ods of “reddening” old fish. One is to use injectors, where a hun- continued on next page continued on next page THE DAF HAKASHRUS is a publication of the UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA, Eleven Broadway, New York, NY 10004 27 dred or so small needles inject a dyed brine into the woodlike grain in the salmon’s flesh disappear. The reason for RED fish’s flesh at intervals of approximately one inch. this is that the dying process essentially “paints” the salmon, continued from previous page The other is to soak the flesh in a “cover brine” which much like the way wood loses its grain when it is painted (as slowly imbues color into the flesh. Often, these opposed to wood stain which accentuates the grain) processes are used together in the processing of smoked salmon. 4) Industry does not produce commercial quantities of “dyed” We are not concerned about this by fresh (frozen, etc) salmon for the following reasons: salmon, and it is up to the individual users to “dye” it. The rea- son you saw the processing plant do the dying themselves is 1) Injectors make the flesh of the meat very soft (similar to bang- because there is no market for commercially produced “dyed” ing a hard steak with a meat tenderizer). The texture of the fillets. flesh is mushy and is only useful when being further processed (smoking removes significant moisture which In short, though dying salmon does make it have a redder color effectively firms the flesh). Even an average consumer would than it had when it was white, there is no question that those even quickly notice the sickly quality of this meat (quite frankly, vaguely familiar with what salmon is supposed to look like would even after it is smoked). Cover brine alone is effective only not be fooled by “dyed” product. Individual consumers who are in small amounts (to cover the lack of color in the spaces unfamiliar with what salmon should look like should not purchase in between injections and make the color more even). any salmon product without hashgachah. Even having skin on the Though it might be possible to create a strong enough brine fillet would not help such an individual, since he would not be to color the entire thickness of a fillet without injections, this able to independently identify it even with skin, rather than by would undoubtedly cause the outer layer of flesh to be checking the scales as one would any fish one is not familiar extremely red. with. 2) The color used when dying meat does not in the slightest Thank you for giving my article such attention, and for your inter- resemble actual salmon color. If you compare cheap quality est in bringing a potential issue to the attention of the Orthodox smoked salmon against the “good stuff” you can clearly see Union. We appreciate the opportunity for (.sp nwwc) wt,gna tjuur this. You might even wonder why people believe the almost as we gain from both Chachomim and laymen who bring issues to neon-orange color appeals to people (a plant manager in one our attention. of Los Angeles’s larger smokehouses pointed this out to me). Though they possibly could create a normal colored dye, this With my best wishes for a good Shabbos, has never been observed in any of the factories we visit on Rabbi Chaim Goldberg three different continents. Rabbinic Coordinator 3) When salmon is dyed, the white fat layers which appear as Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America tified kosher standards of the As a result of this philosophy, “Any medicine which SNEEZE Orthodox Union,” said Lynne is required for an illness which is even remotely life- continued from previous page Millheiser, Senior Vice President, threatening is not required to be kosher. Jewish law OTC Business Unit North America. regarding solid tablets and pills is even less stringent, The issue of whether medications must be kosher is as they are inedible and swallowing them isn’t even often misunderstood, declared Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu considered like eating food.” Safran, Senior Rabbinic Coordinator at OU But over-the-counter medications, like cold/cough/ Kosher, who served as liaison to Triaminic execu- allergy medications, are another story. tives and oversaw the product’s OU certification “People wrongly think these products don’t have to process. The issue, in fact, is so complex, that last be certified. But they are taken in non-life threaten- year the OU sponsored a seminar for rabbis and ing situations and therefore they must be certified,” other interested observers on kosher law regarding Rabbi Safran said. medications and vitamins. “For the enhancement of one’s health and the treat- “The guiding principle of Jewish law, as given to us ment of certain conditions that are not life-threaten- in the Torah, is V’Chai Bahem - And you should ing, one must seek out a kosher product. One such live by them,” declared Rabbi Safran. "The Talmud example is cough syrup,” he declared. explains that G-d gave us these laws for us to live by, Rabbi Safran noted that in addition to glycerin, so that our life may be enhanced and strengthened. cold/cough/allergy medications may contain many However, these laws are put aside in order to main- ingredients - including artificial flavorings - that may tain and continue life.

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