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Hechsherim on stores, and rice cauliflower

Question:

  1. Does riced cauliflower with a circle K require checking for infestation? It does not say it has been checked (like Bodek says).
  2. Why would some frozen vegetables from the same store have different kosher symbols? The frozen peppers from Whole Foods have OU whereas most other veggies have triangle K. And might this vary across the country? Can the certification be trusted if it is not consistent?

Answer:

1. According to CRC Kosher (Chicago) commercially produced rice cauliflower does not require kosher certification. I would assume it is because it is washed well after it is shredded, so that no bugs remain

2. The products in a store can have kosher supervision in one of two ways. Some stores have a supervising agency’s hechsher on the store itself, and it should include all the products sold and/or produced in the store, (you have to check the sign of the hechsher to verify that it actually includes, as sometimes it doesn’t include everything). If that is the case, the hechsher will only allow other hechsherim that it feels is on it’s standard of acceptability.

Most other stores, such as supermarkets, etc. don’t have a hechsher on the store itself, rather they sell various sealed products, with each company and product having whichever hechsher it has. When that is the case, the store will have many different hechsherim on different products, and it is up to the customer to choose, which hechsherim they rely on.

As a side point, it is common nowadays for stores to “repackage” candies, nuts etc. into their own plastic containers, with a sticker on it saying which company and hechsher was on the original box. Alternatively stores place open candies and nuts in bins in the store with a sticker of a hechsher on the outside of the bin. This is NOT a hechsher, and essentially the customer is now relying on the integrity of the store owner’s claim, as to which company and hechsher the product is from, (and also relying that no mistakes were made).  There are some stores that for this reason have a hechsher on the stores repackaging of products. If that is the case, then it would be considered as if the product have the hechsher of the certifying Rov who gives a hechsher on that store.

Best wishes

It is important to note that his information is aas of the date of the publishing of this post. See comments

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