What Is Kosher? – General Overview
Kosher is a process of food production that adheres to dietary guidelines set forth in the Bible and clarified over the centuries by rabbinic authorities in Jewish law.
Kosher observance is a historical, communal, and personal commitment, and a connection to the will of the Creator. To those who observe kosher, its concepts also offer reminders of lessons in kindness and sensitivity to animals, attention to detail in everyday matters, self-control, and thinking before acting.
Kosher is discussed at length in Jewish law and in mystical philosophy.
Kosher food is “health food” for the soul.
According to the Kabbalah, eating is a process of purification. When we eat, we separate the coarse material from the Divine energy in the food. Everything in the world contains some sort of Divine energy. But non-kosher foods are too “coarse” for us to purify by eating. Rather than providing spiritual energy, once metabolized, these foods actually stand in the way and block energy flow.
Globalqcert’s STANDARDS FOR KOSHER CERTIFICATION
Although there are many rules and strict guidelines Globalqcert adheres to, here are some of the more common questions we are asked about our kosher standards policy:
We never allow unsupervised dairy products, including butter and powdered milk.
We allow only Glatt kosher meat.
We never allow products that look like non-kosher items, e.g. soy cheeseburgers, imitation shrimp, and so on.
Products we certify, are never listed as D. E. (made on dairy equipment). They are either supervised dairy (Cholov Yisroel) or parve.
All fruits and vegetables are carefully washed, and thoroughly examined.
All foodservice facilities have a permanent, on site kosher-supervisor (Mashgiach tmidi) who opens the facility and lock it at the end of operation.
We never certify Gebrochts as “Kosher for Passover”, neither at foodservice locations (i.e. hotel or restaurant) nor as individual single packed products.
We never rely on leniencies (Heterim) regarding gelatin, even from dry bones, or other ingredients produced using similar leniencies.
