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England - Kellogg's 'Suitable for Vegetarians' Rice Krispies Bar Not Kosher |
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Oberon Gardner and his family bought the Rice Krispies Squares bars at a supermarket in Colchester, Essex. Labels on 5,000 multipacks carried the words "suitable for vegetarians", even though the full ingredients list explained that around one per cent of the marshmallow bar contained pork gelatine.
It was only later that 21-year-old Mr Gardner inspected the individual wrapper more carefully. "After my sister ate one bar and I took a bite of mine, it occurred to me that I had never seen any marshmallow without some form of gelatine in," he said. "I decided before I ate any more to see what was substituted in its place. I was absolutely disgusted to find that the ingredients list stated it had pork gelatine in it.
I felt so sick. I have been vegetarian all my life, so it was a real shock to the system.
"When I rang Kellogg's, they were at first very rude and said I was lying, but then they went away and discovered it was on all the multipack wrappers."
Mr Gardner was offered a refund, but had a request for compensation turned down. A Kellogg's spokeswoman said: "We would like to apologise sincerely to the Gardner family. We have a strict quality-control process in place and labelling issues are extremely rare."
She said the company halted production after being made aware of the error and now plans to cover the "suitable for vegetarians" label with stickers on remaining misprinted packs.
The company also contacted the Manchester Beth Din in an attempt to understand the implications of the incorrect labelling. A spokesman for the Beth Din said: "At no time did Kellogg's portray the product as kosher - and any consumer worried about their consumption of kosher food should not buy items which only state ‘suitable for vegetarians'. "They should look for a kosher logo on the packaging or take guidance from the correct kosher authorities."
The kashrut division of the London Beth Din lists all Kellogg's cereal bars as not kosher.
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Read Comments (12) — Post Yours »
1
Oct 10, 2008 at 07:57 AM Simon Says:
The Manchester Beis Din do have their logo on many Kellogs things in Europre tho - lets hope they don't put their logo on the wrong products.
2
Oct 10, 2008 at 09:07 AM Anonymous Says:
MBD have never certified the cereal bars, only the cereals themselves - and, until recently, not all the cereals were certified. It has only been through Kellogg's co-operation that so many cereals are now kosher certified. When they had a promotion with free cereal bars attached to the cereal packs, they carried a special warning that they were NOT kosher certified. Your safest bet is to ALWAYS look for the logo and not rely on suitable for vegetarians, often the product is manufactured on the same line as products containing non-kosher ingredients.
3
Oct 10, 2008 at 09:04 AM Kosher Man Says:
Thats what you get for only looking at the "ingredients" rather then looking for a Kosher Heksher and I mean KOSHER not Heksher Tzedek or Circle R (Reform) Heksher.
4
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:18 AM Anonymous Says:
Are the companies that put a hechsher on Kellogs allowed to inspect the plants (without an appointment) or are just given a list of ingredients? Maybe the cereals are processed on the same machines as the marshmallow bars.
5
Oct 10, 2008 at 10:23 AM Oy Gevald Says:
Well said, "Kosher Man". In this day and age, there is absolutely no reason to "assume" anything by reading labels. No Hashgocho, no eating! No one will starve!
6
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:27 AM Anonymous Says:
no big deal rav ovadia yosef permits gelatin
7
Oct 10, 2008 at 11:22 AM T. Says:
What vegetarian would eat "pork gelatine" anyway? We've moved greatly away from times when ingredient reading would be at all acceptable.
8
Oct 10, 2008 at 12:27 PM Out of the United States Says:
“ Thats what you get for only looking at the "ingredients" rather then looking for a Kosher Heksher and I mean KOSHER not Heksher Tzedek or Circle R (Reform) Heksher. ”
In the rest of the world, hekshers all but don't exist. Except for wine, cheese, matzoh, and products only available through kosher importers, anyone in Australia or England or most European countries has to get a special "kosher list" published by the local Vaad -- which is always changing, of course. And it's impossible to keep up 100%.
That said, nobody ever goes by the ingredients list. (I think in this article, the ingredients even said "pork gelatine.") But don't assume everywhere in the world is as lucky as the United States, where every wrapper has an official heksher!!
9
Oct 10, 2008 at 12:50 PM Anonymous Says:
My wife had a non-jewish co-worker who was a strict vegetarian, and she started eating only kosher cheese because she decided it was the only stuff she could trust.
10
Oct 10, 2008 at 01:09 PM Anonymous Says:
“ Thats what you get for only looking at the "ingredients" rather then looking for a Kosher Heksher and I mean KOSHER not Heksher Tzedek or Circle R (Reform) Heksher. ”
Uh sorry dude by circle R means registered
11
Oct 10, 2008 at 04:19 PM Anonymous Says:
“ Uh sorry dude by circle R means registered ”
Really? I thought the "Circle-R" menat Orthodox Rabbis!
:-D
12
Oct 10, 2008 at 05:35 PM Kosher Man Says:
“ Uh sorry dude by circle R means registered ”
Not the brightest which on the menorah I see... The reform and secular eat 100% TREIF, they follow Circle R Heksher ;)