Jerusalem – Israeli law requires manufacturers that want the benefits of kashrus certification see to it that their production line meets the standards set by the local chief rabbinate. According to the Kashrus Fraud Law, if Unilever makes powdered soup broth in Haifa, the ingredients must be under the supervision of the Haifa Chief Rabbinate.
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Companies pay the local rabbinate an annual fee, based on a set rate, in addition to the salaries of the mashgichim. The law, therefore, seems to be stacked against the glatt kashrus organizations. Yet store shelves in Israel, especially at supermarkets in charedi neighborhoods, are filled with Badatz Edah Charedis seals on innumerable labels.
The major companies refuse to reveal how much they pay kashrus organizations, but the owner of a small firm divulged that mashgichim at the top organizations cost him NIS 40-50 per hour.
To reach the charedi sector, some corporations are willing to meet all of the halachic requirements stipulated, despite the added costs. Consumers who pay little attention to the hechsher will buy the product regardless, and a glatt heshsher will expand the product’s potential consumer market.
The various “badatzim,” as the top heshsherim are commonly referred to, “are a sales promotion,” explains Rabbi Haggai Bar Giora, who heads the Chief Rabbinate’s shechita and medications department. But the Eda Charedis offers an added benefit: just about everybody is willing to eat it. And the Edah Charedis charges accordingly.
“The Eda Charedis seal is better than advertising,” says Rabbi Yehoshua Gross of the Eda Chareidis, a comment that sounds like an ad slogan itself. “Advertising brings in 10 percent of the buyers that the Badatz seal brings in.”
The Eda Charedis is an empire that extends over large swaths of the country, the glatt department of Tnuva, Telma and Elite, the Sugat line, artificial sweeteners, Vered Hagalil chocolate and Mei Eden mineral water.
“We were here before the Rabbinate,” Rabbi Gross told Ynet’s Hebrew website. “The Eda Charedis set up the Badatz 80 or 90 years ago for the small community of charedim who didn’t want to eat whatever came into their hands. Today we have more than 200 factories in Eretz Yisroel.
“We don’t have set rates. We charge according to the oversight expenses and it all depends on the type of work involved. There are places where the mashgiach goes in and out a few times a day, there are places where a mashgiach is onsite 24 hours a day, such as an egg layer farm, which also has seven mashgichim working every shift. At a shechita house there’s a team of several mashgichim, and when it comes to flour there’s more work in the summer. These are all examples of factors that play a part in the costs.”
The leading competitors are HaRav Landau, which oversees the Coca-Cola plant, HaRav Rubin of Rechovot, which oversees certain Strauss and Yotvata dairy products, Agudas Yisroel, which oversees Tara dairy products, Badatz Machzikei HaDas, which is run by Belz, Shearis Yisroel, Yoreh Deah, HaRav Efrati, and Beis Yosef, which is under HaRav Ovadia Yosef.
Rabbi Weiss says the kashrus standards at the Eda Charedis are unsurpassed. To look into a single ingredient in a brand of soup broth powder they won’t hesitate to fly abroad – at the manufacturer’s or importer’s expense – to check the raw ingredients and the production conditions at the factory.
“We check all of the raw ingredients ourselves, and that makes the difference. Every week we fly dozens of people abroad,” he says. The manufacturer covers the plane fares, lodging costs and the wages, of course.
“We don’t sign commercial contracts. We have them sign a declaration saying the owner pledges to heed all of our directives. We’re paid a fee through a standing bank order and the mashgichim get paid by the hour.”
“We’re the most widely accepted,” says Rabbi Weiss. “It makes a difference when someone opens a kashrus organization based on political considerations. We don’t have any political considerations.”
absolutely no political considerations…lol!!!!
Many products with the Badatz Hechsher are of very poor quality and I am not judging the chechsher but the quality of product I can judge
The Belz hashgacha is at least the equal of the Badatz and typically of a much higher quality.
If there are two hashgachos are a product doesn’t one cancel the other out?
Harav Landaus hechsher is still #1 as far as its high level of kashrus is concerned
The eda’s stamp is different it could be misledding to some people
Don’t fool yourself the Badatz Hechsher is business like any other business and we should boycott their products, I don’t need to support my enemy, yes they hate any of us who would no subsume into their ways and beliefs, I was always for live and let live, don’t judge me and I won’t judge your action or inaction, but in the last few months I came to the conclusion that if we don’t fight them we will eventually have the Charedi Taliban, or Charedi Mullahs try to control our life and we will have a Jewish Iran, or Jewish Afghan, the time for live and let live has passed we are at the threshold of total war which the Charedi community has openly declared.
The eda is investing tremendous amount in pr of the hecsher
I don’t say its not a good supervision but the popularity comes from pr
As others have noted above, there are many hachsharim that are by far superior then Badatz, Badatz is merely a brand name, and unfortunately corrupted from top to bottom, like the Hisachdis they are not what they used to be 20 years ago.
2 years ago there was a big national survey done by questioning thousands of Israeli residents on their kashrus references, it turned out that 85 percent of observant Israelis prefer the Eda – Badatz over other hechsherim, Rav Landa of Bnei brak came in on the second place at about 30 percent.
50 shekels per hour is more then double the minimum wage in Israel.and thats only for the mashgiachim.I wonder how much the big guys charge just to have their holy names on these items….it seems like a racket to me..
most people dont know the difference between one hechser to the next hechser,they just follow whatever makes them feel holier and better.Basically whatever has better PR.In reality there is little or no difference between all these hechsarim,including the rabbinute..it’s all a business….
“no political considerations”?!
what a joke! ask anyone in the israeli food production business about that. badatz wont allow a 2nd hasgocha certify products it certifies (such as the local rabbunut). it’s disgusting. the only exception is the OU, (another “political considertion”)
When Belz started the Eda published worldwide that Belz hechsher is not kosher. For the sake of peace the Belzer Rebbe offered the Eda what was basically a “peace on your terms” deal and the Belzer Rebbe and Rabbi Weiss both signed an agreement. Within 2 weeks the Eda broke the deal. The Eda are a bunch of money-grabbing crooks and the only reason they have a high standard of kashrut is because they are constantly being watched by Belz and She’eiris
I specifically try to rely on the Rabinut relative to Badatz when there is a choice, which there is usually in Eretz HaKodesh, thank Gd. As a religious Zionist, how can I justify supporting anti-State charedi institutions when there is a choice. Just as the Kashrut organizations take matters into consideration when determining whether or not to provide certification that doesn’t strictly pertain to kashrut, so do I.