canned veggies

Question

Bich-vode HaRav, Please excuse the length of this email. Based upon the following two articles is it the case that: 1- " . . . the following bean products must be purchased with a hechsher. These varieties include canned lima beans, kidneys, chick peas, garbanzo beans, great northern, black-eyed peas, purple hull and navy beans."? 2- Are all varieties of canned vegetables, including corn and peas kasher? 3- How accurate is their info? I put stars near waht I thought are some of the more relevant and interesting points. This article is found at: http://www.kashrut.com/articles/canart/ CAN IT BE KOSHER? by Rabbi Tzvi Rosen, Editor Kashrus Kurrents Reprinted with permission. Originally published in the Star-K Kashrus Kurrents, Fall, 2000 1- "Now the cans are ready to be sealed. Empty cans are filled and capped and are conveyed to the retorts. A retort is a large pressure cooker that cooks the vegetables for a controlled length of time and pressure to create a bacteria free environment in the can so that any microorganisms that may cause spoilage will be killed. Retorts, like any other piece of machinery, varies from the simple to the sophisticated. The old standard basket retort looks like a large horizontal torpedo that opens up to accept large baskets of cans in its cavity. May-lo Retorts have the cans drop into a bed of cold water. Once the cooker is filled with cans, the water is released from the cavity so that the cans can be steamed. A Stearolamatic Continuous Cooker has the cans travel along a timed chain belt, cooking the cans as they move along the track. A Hydrostatic Retort is a six story building of rotating shelves that can cook over 25,000 cans at one time when filled to capacity. Furthermore, today's hydrostatic cookers can have 2 separate shelving systems moving at different speeds. ****** It is not unusual to have 2 types of vegetables retorted at the same time in a Hydrostatic cooker. Quite a difference to the couple of hundred cans cooked in a basket retort." 2- " When producing pork and beans the common cannery practice is to put a small amount of pork in each can of pork and beans. Some companies use automatic meat depositors or flumes which automatically calibrates the meat proportion to the bean ratio; others still use the hit or miss hand deposit system. Not matter what the system, the amount of meat is so low that to the question that was once posed to a canning manufacturer, "Since you put only one tiny piece of meat in the pork and beans what is the real purpose for the meat?" "For the label," was the reply. ****** Truthfully, in order to avoid being regulated by the USDA, a canning company must keep the amount of meat per can below 2%! Indeed, in most cases this small meat quantity would be nullified, botul in the can because the meat quantity is less than 1/60 of the total volume of the cans content. This principle holds true in the vast majority of can sizes from the 15 oz. can on up to the 128 oz. size. In the single portion smaller sized cans, 10 oz. and down, the pork may not be botul. ******* ******What difference would bitul make? The small piece of pork would always remain non kosher. Who cares if the pork is botul b'shishim or not? Obviously the concern is not for the product itself but for maintaining the kosher integrity of the cookers. ******* When a kosher consumer picks up a can or corn that does not bear certification, these questions definitely are real concerns. What was produced in the plant? Have these cans been retorted together with treif product? ********If the retorts are disqualified because of the pork and beans, all subsequent vegetable productions would be disqualified as well. When kosher certifying a vegetable cannery, an integral part of the hechsher is to make sure that the kosher status of the processing equipment does not become compromised. ****** Moreover, as ethnic food popularity grows, so does canning diversification. A relatively new product that is available in cans is a Mexican favorite known as refried beans. Refried beans, a non kosher combination of beans, lard and seasonings, requires long periods of time to cook prior to canning. Other southern and south eastern favorites include shrimp jumbo and creole turtle soup. These specialty items use the same batch-up tanks, fill lines and cookers as the regular canned vegetables. **********It goes without saying that companies using common equipment for specialty batch cooking present real kashrus concerns for regular canned vegetables unless those plants are thoroughly kasherized between non kosher and kosher productions and are carefully monitored. Furthermore, another large grey area would present itself in the private label sector. The store brands, generic label or food service label can be made in many different facilities. Productions are moved from place to place, depending upon product availability and low price. There would be no way of knowing whether the corn or string beans are made in a totally kosher facility or in a plant that produces both kosher and non kosher on the same equipment. Here again the hechsher on the can gives the consumers the ability and confidence to separate the grey into black and white. The Best Buys: In the past it was assumed that canned vegetables, such as corn or peas, were overwhelmingly produced in an all vegetable, non problematic, kosher environment. That being the case, the kosher consumer had the right to assume that these vegetables whose labels did not bear kosher certification can be purchased without special kosher certification, unless there is evidence to the contrary. All bean products are produced by companies that specialize in dry pack bean productions, where there is a great likelihood that pork and beans or other meat productions are taking place. *****Therefore the following bean products must be purchased with a hechsher. These varieties include canned lima beans, kidneys, chick peas, garbanzo beans, great northern, black-eyed peas, purple hull and navy beans. ****** However, today with the ever increasing need for optimizing production and a quest for product diversification, the same set of previous assumptions for corn and peas may not be the case. Bearing these facts in mind, in an unprecedented kashrus inter-agency policy decision, all varieties of canned vegetables, including corn and peas, are now approved for use by all the major kosher certification agencies only when bearing reliable kosher certification. ******Of course if the determination can be made that a canned vegetable variety has been produced in an all kosher plant, the canned vegetable would be approved sans hechsher. However this determination is often hard to make. The same rule of thumb holds true to canned tomato products which has similar concerns as canned vegetables."********** SO THAT THEY WILL ENDURE FOR MANY YEARS by Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech Reprinted with permission of Rabbi Blech. Originally published in the MK Vaad News & Views, August 2000 The following is from the above article @ http://www.kashrut.com/articles/canning/ "You may have noticed that many vegetable products have begun displaying Kosher certification. The need for Hashgacha is based on the following concerns. While vegetables grown outside of Eretz Yisroel would be considered inherently Kosher, they are often processed in equipment that is also used for non-Kosher items. Fresh vegetables are generally harvested at a specific – and short – period of time. For example, peas, corn, and string beans are available for canning for only several weeks, during which time the entire crop must be processed. The processing involves preparing the vegetables for canning (cleaning, sorting, and blanching in hot water to deactivate the enzymes found in the vegetables), and then preparing a brine, the liquid added to the vegetable to fill the can. The sealed cans are then sterilized in large pressure cookers (called retorts). Years ago production facilities were designed for certain vegetables, and when the canning season for these vegetables ended the plant was shut down. Nowadays, more and more companies find such a system to be economically inefficient, and have devised uses for the plant during the "off-season". Some plants process non-Kosher soups and sauces. Beans and chickpeas are also processed in the off-season, since these are produced from dried beans, and often include pork & beans, chili, and similar meat products. Tomatoes and tomato sauces are often processed in the same equipment used to make meat and cheese flavored pizza sauces. Clearly, products coming form such canneries pose serious Kashrus concerns. Canneries that process such non-Kosher products can compromise the Kosher status of otherwise Kosher items in the following ways. The brine used for vegetables can be cooked in the same kettles used for non-Kosher items. Even where the brine is always Kosher, the brine used for non-Kosher production often comes into contact with the non-Kosher products and is then recirculated through the brine system. The retorts used to sterilize non-Kosher products become non-Kosher, and the subsequent processing of otherwise Kosher vegetables would compromise their Kosher status. Even if the facility would maintain separate processing systems for Kosher and non-Kosher production, the condensate from steam used to heat the non-Kosher products is often returned to a common boiler and then used to cook the otherwise Kosher items. Depending on the system, hot water used to cook non-Kosher products can also be recycled and used to cook the otherwise Kosher items. It is therefore imperative to ensure that cans of seemingly harmless vegetables be processed in the plant with a reliable Hashgacha. Administering a Hashgacha for a cannery raises concerns beyond the actual Kosher status of the equipment used. Some vegetables, such as potatoes, are subject to the rules of Bishul Akum, the requirement that they be cooked with the assistance of a Jewish person. In such a situation, the Mashgiach must light the boiler or otherwise participate in the cooking of the product for it to be considered Kosher. Sephardim have additional concerns regarding Bishul Akum, and a Rav should be consulted to determine which products are acceptable for their Kehilla. [It is interesting to note a recent discussion amongst contemporary Halachic authorities as to whether steam is considered Meushan (smoking) as regards Bishul Akum in canned foods, especially since it is the can that is steamed and not the food itself. See Mesorah I:95.] A further concern, common to both fresh and processed vegetables, stems from insect infestation. Vegetables prone to this problem, such a Brussels sprouts and cabbage, are not exempt by dint of the canning process."