FYI Wrigleys Gum

Question

Dear Rabbi, It seems the gum base is rarely from a non-kosher source. Wrigley’s Letter The following is a letter from Wrigleys written to a kosher consumer’s request for information about the kosher status of their product. August 1, 2001 Dear Mr. .......... Thank you for writing to ask about the kosher status of Wrigley’s gum in the United States. We appreciate your interest in our brands. At one time, in the U.S., most Wrigley products were made with vegetable or mineral derived softening ingredients that conformed to Jewish dietary regulations. For many years, we had also been able to maintain rabbinical supervision of our factories when delivery of these ingredients to us could be guaranteed. The L.S. Dreyfus Co., the chewing gum base manufactruing subsidiary of the Wrigley Co., still has rabbinical supervision for its gum base, which is the essential ingredient in chewins gum. They supply chewisn gum base to all Wrigley operations and to other chewing gum manufactures around the world. In the U.S., the availability of vegetable and mineral derived softeners has decreased over the years as major suppliers for synthetic material have closed their manufacturing facilities. Since we can no longer guarantee that all Wrigley brands from all of our factories will always be kosher, we have discontinued absolute assurance of our use of kosher ingredients. Further, in the U.S., because vegetable/mineral derived softeners are generally blended with non-vegetable/mineral derived softeners, we cannot determine their exact origin any more than we can determine if the sugar used in our brands comes from cane or beet sources. Our primary goal is to manufacture a product that is safe, wholesome and meets domestic and international government food regulations. With those regulations in hand, we test the ingredients we purchase to assure their safety and purity. Considering the conscientious efforts we have made over the years to maintain kosher status of all our brands, we regret having to relinquish it. While we will continue to use kosher ingredients whenever and wherever practical, under present conditions we cannot give continuous assurance of the kosher status of our products in the U.S. We are sorry that our product may not always be acceptable for your diet. However, we appreciate your writint to the Wrigley Co. so that we can give you the facts. Thank you again for your interest. Sincerely, Nancy Slivoski Consumner Affairs Coordinator All the best, Martin