We are not writing about חלב ישראל or פח ישראל; the milk and breads are off the supermarket shelves.
In the U.S., the federal government regulates foods and food products that cross state lines; states regulate in-state food products not already covered by The Feds.
We know, because the government tells us, that milk labeled cow’s milk is from cows, contented or not. Goat’s milk Is from goats.
Government inspectors, albeit few in number, regularly check to assure milking areas are clean and that the products are kept at appropriate temperatures from barn to processor.
For what it’s worth, I have been to dairy farms with state Ag Agents. Seeing is believing.
It’s not the milk that is suspect.
How many people do you know that make offerings of milk to false gods? Not many these days.
ADDITIVES are the problem.
Almost all store-bought milk is loaded with chemicals.
What goes into these chemicals is the question and the reason to “look for a kosher label” on dairy products.
What about goodies from the bakery? If you are not concerned with when the grain for the flour was harvested (yoshan), flour is flour is flour.
Most bakeries long ago abandoned lard as shortening. (By the way, hard ice cream was – perhaps still is – made in lard-lined tubs; one more reason to look for the kosher label.)
But most flours are “enriched” which means that they have been “improved upon” by adding extra ingredients. Once again, we are greeted with a variety of chemicals.
This scrivener is not a chemist or food scientist so I am obliged to depend on what one hopes are reliable kosher labels. If the kashrut organization fails to do due diligence, well that the organization’s averah – actually plural, averote.
I suppose this could, and maybe should be expanded to include additives to food fed to livestock and fowl destined for our tables. Kashrut inspectors should perhaps check for what an animal is fed as well as assure that slaughter and organ inspection are according to the laws of kashrut.
“Kosher” does not mean “pure” nor even “clean.” “Kosher” only means that whatever when into the food product, and how the product was handled, is permitted by Torah and the authorities.
