Wrigleys Gum and Geletin

Question

Dear Rabbi Abadi. I just found your very interesting and informative web site. I am an orthodox Ashkanazi FFB person. I have some questions about the Wrigleys Gum and Geletin. I saw on your postings you say that Wrigleys Gum is kosher. Can you please explain. I have spoken to local rabbis who tell me it is not kosher they also told me there are problems with geletin. I have also found several sites on the internet that imply that the gum is not kosher. It appears from these sites that the softeners used in the gum is not kosher. I found the following letter from Wrigleys on Kosherquest.org web site. http://www.kosherquest.org/html/candy_&_gum_2002.htm ------------------------------------------------ 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 ----------------------------------------------------- The above mentioned website also talks about candies and warns about geletin. In some of your posts you have stated that geletin is kosher. This is what the web site said: ------------------------------------------------------- depend on the certification of candy by a reliable kosher certifying agency. Some candy companies even list "kosher gelatin" as one of the ingredients. This is often a grave kashrus problem and should always raise a red flag to the kosher consumer. Kosher gelatin usually refers to a lenient heter used by some Rabbis, but unacceptable to most orthodox Halachic authorities. In addition to the actual ingredients themselves, there is always a concern about the utensils in which the candy was produced. For example, in the case of marshmallows, many of the marshmallows today contain treif gelatin. Even many that claim to be "kosher" are unacceptable to most orthodox Jews as they contain questionable "kosher" gelatin. Since the same company that manufactures these unacceptable gelatins may also produce a run of kosher (acceptable) marshmallows, the certifying agency must be careful that the mashgiach be on top of the kashering of these utensils from one run to the next. ---------------------------------------------------- Can you please explain to me why there is a difference of opinion between you and the other rabbies from this other site as well as the local Rabbies that I questioned. Thank you in advance and have a Shona Tova! Ira Rabinowitz