New York – Cholov Yisroel milk has the dubious reputation of not only being the most expensive milk on the market, but of also possessing the absolutely uncanny ability to spoil in the time it takes to get from the checkout lane to the car.
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Cholov Yisroel, which translates literally from the Hebrew as Jewish milk, is differentiated from regular milk -referred to in halachic literature as cholov stam (plain milk) or cholov akum (Gentile milk) — by the presence of two Jewish witnesses who observe the milking to ensure that no milk from non-kosher animals was used. A landmark opinion issued by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l during the summer of 1954 allowed religious Jews in the United States to use regular milk since US laws governing dairy production impose penalties on farmers caught passing off as cow’s milk the milk of other animals. Those regulations, Rav Moshe felt, were equivalent to Jews actually watching the milking.
While many today rely on that p’sak (halachic ruling), the market for Cholov Yisroel is thriving, kashruth experts say, despite being considerably more expensive than the unsupervised product.
Consumers who prefer Cholov Yisroel can expect to pay an extra fifty cents a gallon, on average, over the price of regular milk, according to Kosher Today. Given the tendency of Cholov Yisroel to spoil well before its legal expiration date, you could arguably put the true price of Cholov Yisroel at four times that of regular milk.
Rabbi Tzvi Rosen, kashruth administrator for the Star-K kosher supervision agency and editor of Kashruth Currents, doesn’t dispute the spoilage claim, but blames it on “poor handling” of the milk both in transportation and in storage in supermarkets. Cholov Yisroel plants are modern ones, he said.
“There’s no farm there that is just a Chasidic guy with a pail. They’re big farms,” Rabbi Rosen explained.
Cholov Yisroel is produced either on dairy farms devoted exclusively to Cholov Yisroel production, or at larger non-exclusive plants that set aside times to produce supervised milk. According to Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, a kashruth supervisor and dairy specialist for the Orthodox Union, some dairy farms outside of the US are utilizing video screening so that kosher supervisors do not technically have to be on-site at the plant.
Rabbi Uri Neumann, also of the Star-K, offered a variety of reasons for possible spoilage. The somatic cell count inside the milk correlates to how fast the milk will spoil, he explained, and that depends on individual farming.
Different pasteurization processes also affect how the milk will taste. At 190 degrees Fahrenheit milk need only be pasteurized for a few seconds; at 170 degrees 30 to 49 seconds is required; at 290 degrees only two seconds are needed.
But the main reason for the common problem with spoilage, Rabbi Neumann maintains, is refrigeration, which directly affects how long milk will last.
“You keep milk refrigerated at 35 degrees, you’ll get a seventeen day shelf life. In dairies the milk is chilled to 32-34 degrees. If you keep the pasteurized tanks clean you’ll have less bacteria. If the truck or store isn’t refrigerated it will lead to a lower shelf live,” Rabbi Neumann explained. “The Cholov Yisroel industry used to leave the milk [in front of stores] at five in the morning, leaving it out an hour. That could be where the oldness comes from. If [the milk’s] temperature is at 40 degrees it’ll last 17 days; at 50 degrees it’ll last 14 days; at 80 degrees it’ll spoil in 3 days.”
Regarding the higher price of Cholov Yisroel, Rabbi Gordimer explained that the extra cost of the milk comes from having to keep a mashgiach on premise.
“I’m surprised it doesn’t cost more,” he said, adding that the cost factors in salaries, living and utilities into the cost of the milk. Yet, Cholov Yisroel production in the United States is on the rise, Rabbi Gordimer said.
“Number one there’s more interest in it,” Rabbi Gordimer explained. “With the economy fluctuating, a lot of foreign companies that made Cholov Yisroel products in Europe and New Zealand have it done in America.”
Golden Flow, located in Brooklyn, is one of the oldest Cholov Yisroel dairies. It was formed in 1948 by Bessie Gertner, according to the current owner, Shlomo Weinberger. Weinberger, 59, began as a driver for Golden Flow before buying the company with his partner from Gertner when she retired.
“Baruch Hashem, let me explain something,” Weinberger said with a heavy Yiddish accent. “Milk is not an easy business.”
He has 4,000 cows in a farm in Syracuse and sales are increasing, he said.
“More and more people are going over,” Weinberger said about the Cholov Yisroel business. “The population got bigger.”
Regarding Golden Flow’s unusual name, he said he wasn’t sure where the original owner came up with it.
Like every industry, the Cholov Yisroel market has had its troubles. The farm of Jacob Balsam, owner of the first Cholov Yisroel dairy in the United States, was hit by hoof and mouth disease in 1914, according to a New York Times article from that year. Out of two herds totaling 124 cows, 56 cows were infected. Just last February New York State agriculture officials suspended the operation of the Ahava dairy plant, producer of New Square milk and Morning Select products.
“Recent inspections found its products to have excessive levels of bacteria and coliform, as well as containing non-food grade oil. In addition, Ahava’s facility and equipment are in extreme disrepair, posing further potential contamination, “ declared a statement from New York’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets Patrick Hooker.
The Ahava plant, as it was, “couldn’t get much worse,” according to a kashruth consultant who asked not to be named. “They have the worst rap sheet out there.”
The facility has since been bought by Toobro LLC, headed by brothers Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars redoing the plant.
Schneur said they purchased the plant since they’ve always been involved in the kosher dairy business; their father was Leibel of Leibel Bistritzky’s Kosher Gourmet Food of the Lower East Side, one of the earliest kosher supermarkets. The store used to close every day at four o’clock for mincha, earning a mention in an economics textbook. The newly reopened Ahava plant is the only completely Cholov Yisroel dairy farm and processing plant in the US, he said.
Since they’ve redone the plant, Schneur said he’s received phone calls from customers telling him that this was the first time they actually managed to finish an entire half-gallon of cholov yisroel milk before it spoiled.
The Bistritzky’s are undecided about whether they’ll continue to use the New Square brand name.
Ahava’s former owner, Moshe Banayan, is back in the Cholov Yisroel business, now using the name Best Square Milk. The Jewish Star made several attempts but was unable to get in touch with him before deadline.
As for the freshest Cholov Yisroel milk out there, all three kashruth experts The Jewish Star spoke to praised Baltimore’s Pride of the Farm milk.
Dave Andrews, VP of sales and marketing at Kreider Farms, which produces Pride of the Farm, said the freshness is the result of a proprietary process that cools the milk down to 33 degrees in just eight minutes.
“Now your typical dairy farm will use geothermal to prechill it down to 67-68 degrees in 15 minutes, then a refrigerated storage tank which will then slowly chill it down to 37 degrees in about an hour and a half. Not only do we chill it faster, we chill it down colder. If milk is handled properly it should last for another seven days [past the sales date],” explained Andrews.
Pride of the Farm was the brainchild of Rabbi Yosef Tendler, who heads the Yeshiva Ner Yisroel high school. He began the company in 1973 and credited Kreider Farms for its success.
“Kreider Farms does a good job. It’s not my doing, it’s the farmer’s doing. They are wonderful people. They’re extremely honest people. We enjoy dealing with them.”
Rabbi Tendler maintains that he sells his milk for less since no one is making a profit on the sale. The milk is sold mainly to yeshivas around the country; he deducts shipping costs from the price of the milk to maintain level pricing.
For Rabbi Tendler, it’s a mission.
“We’re not in it for business, we’re in it for spreading Cholov Yisroel,” he said. “If people are interested [in Cholov Yisroel] we’ll assist them.”
At at time when yidden are having such difficulty meeting basic needs for housing, schooling at yeshivot, and purchasing foods such as meat and chicken where there is a legitimate need for chasideshe hashgacha (the gold standard of kashruth), it is a real chilul hashem that the gadolim allow the perpetuation of this cholov yisroel scam. It is most offensive because those poor frumme families with the largest number of children who drink the most milk must pay this ransom for no legitimate reason. One of the biggest gifts to klal yisroel this month of elul would be a joint declaration from all the chassidus accepting rav moshe’s psak and forbidding the marketing of cholov yisroel.
Wheres the inside look? besides someone looking at cows all day where’s the justification for the ridiculous higher price, I can buy a half gallon of Golden Flow for about $2.69 or so, I can go to Costco and buy a gallon for 2.99 how much are they paying this guy to watch them milk some cows? why don’t they have him milk the cows instead of paying someone else, this way they have a worker and mashgiach all in one.
1 – According to what I know there is no need for 2 witnesses, one Masgiach is adequate to make it Cholov Yisroel.
2 – Why is it that “Pride of the Farm” milk which comes from a Baltimore dairy, costs $2.29 per 1/2 gallon at NPGS in Lakewood, while at Seven Mile Market in Baltimore it costs $2.59 per 1/2 gallon?
3 – Why don’t the Cholov Yisroel companies offer gallon bottles to save the consumer money?
A landmark opinion issued by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l during the summer of 1954 allowed religious Jews in the United States to use regular milk since US laws governing dairy production impose penalties on farmers caught passing off as cow’s milk the milk of other animals. Those regulations, Rav Moshe felt, were equivalent to Jews actually watching the milking.
Since 1954 things have changed. For those who dont remember back about 15-20 years ago there was a problem when the farmers made holes in the stomachs of the cows so the milk becomes “treif” not cholov stam . Each cow has a file about itself so you cannot use a botil bshishim or what ever. So if you want to drink milk these days “it needs a hechsher”
I think the author of the article and previous comment along with all other makilim who nebech for reb moshe abuse his psak should both read reb moshes tsuva cited in the article as well as his other tshuva on the subject
R” Moshe was never matir non-cholov yisroel l’chatchila. Anyone who actually reads the tshuva will see that he had strong preference for cholov yisroel. He allowed the “cholov stam” only because of difficulties at that time in obtaining cholov yisroel and the high price differential at that time.
R’ Moshe never equated cholov yisroel to non-cholov yisroel!
READ THE TSHUVA!
does anyone know where i can get up to date information about what should be stringent on keeping cholov yisroel and what is not to be say for example powdered milk many are not stringent upon?
Got Milk? 🙂
Regarding the ‘unusual’ name of ‘Golden Flow,’ this is really a no brainer. Ever hear of ‘eretz zavas chalav udvash’?
The spiritual reasons for drinking cholov yisroel make it an important priority. It affects emunah. Rav moshe himself would never drink non cholov yisroel milk. He perhaps made that psak because of circumstances in some areas where it was too difficult to get cholov yisroel, but nowadays it is much easier in most places and there is no need for leniency. We only have to pray that the prices go down and are more affordable.
The Best milke by far is Tevye’s Farm Milk – The Cholov Yisroel Milk of Florida. It doesn’t spoil and its great!
There are spiritual ramifications on the issue of Cholov Yisroel, and price is not an issue in this case. However, milk producers shouldn’t take advantage, and try to cut costs so that maore and more yidden can derive the spiritual benefits.
Why don’t we find farms owned by Yiddin etc.
if it can be watched by video the cost should be minimal.
if they pay people 400 a day to watch at .50 extra they only need to sell 800 gallons per day.
So why does it cost so much? It really should only be pennies.
I visited Kreider Farms this week on a tour that they give. The tour guide showed us the trailer where the one Mashgiach on premise stays. I can’t imagine that one Mashgiach translates to 50 more cents a gallon. If so, he is one really wealthy Mashgiach….
Based on today’s protocols in large dairy farming operations with a high level of electronic monitoring and automation, its a total sham that we are paying some “yidel mit a beardl” who has no special expertise to sit and watch a bunch of cows all day and then add 30 percent or more to the price of their milk by calling it “cholov yisroel”. Take the money and invest in much more important kashruth issues where the complexity of the halaachic issues are much more profound. There is great importance that many of us place on kashrus but taking a more expansive view of Rabbi Feinstein’s views (call it a heter or psak or whatever) is appropriate.
The best milk by far is Shoprite. Pay $2.00-$2.50 a gallon and it lasts for two weeks. The yogurts are 50c or less and they are NOT spoiled. I started saving a lot of money since switching to Shoprite/Pathmark. Finally, we buy yogurts that are not spoiled.
Cholov Yisroel is a halach in Shulchan Aruch and not chumra. Anyone who wants to follow the Torah will only drink Cholov Yisroel.
Rav Moshe z”l was mechadesh that government inspection is tantamount to a single witness (which is all that is needed). This makes plain milk where there is government regulation have the status of cholov yisroel.
Rav Moshe himself never depended on this heter for himself. He advise others, including me, that if the expense was not that much greater, cholov yisroel with a kosher aid echud should be used and one shouldn’t then depend on the heter.
Back some 20 years ago when I was in Yeshiva in Rochester, NY, some of the bochurim would go out at night to the nearby farms and sit in an office so the milk would be cholov yisroel. It was for a “major” cholov yisroel company. Please don’t tell me about extra costs for mashgichim, we were paid peanuts. I could be wrong but cholov yisroel production is not a 24/7 process. I myself buy cholov stam with the reasoning that I can use every penny with all my other high expenses.
I’d quit my job to get 50 cents pergallon of C.Y. sold. Then in a couple of years I could retire – before 50.
Please why are people just taking the spoilage of CY milk?? They are swindling the Jewish consumer out of Millions of dollars. Would someone please do a real indepth analysis of where the problem with CY milk spoiling soon comes from?
It is not only rav moshe zatzals pasak that allows to use milk in america that was not supervised during the milking the pri chadash who lived 300 years ago paskind that if there is no basis to worry about chalov tamei then you are not required to have a jew at the milking the chasam sofer argues with the pri chadash but in amsterdam they always were leanient like the pri chadash rav moshe paskend in america even according top the chasam sofer you do not need jewish supervision during the milking
If cholov stam is ossur, why do so many cholov stam products have a hechsher?
Here is my two cents. I have noticed some stores hiding its new shipment of milk so that its customers won’t grab the newest shipment and leave the old to spoil. Sometimes such a new shipment is hidden in a side room without air conditioning and sometimes for a prolonged time. I’m pointing it out so that when you see it, you should complain.
While the commodity “milk” has fallen drastically lately, the kosher milk prices aren’t falling in tandem with the non Kosher milk prices, and people should complain about this too.
My father in law of blessed memory started the first chalav yisroel production in our community. When he became terminally ill and was hospitalized, his mashgichim stole the business from him and my mother in law of blessed memory had to work in sweatshops to make ends meet (and she had Parkiknson’s Disease). When the family went to the mashgiachim’s rebbe to complain, the rebbe remarked “If they do such things, they’re not my chasidim!” Unfortunately, they kept the business.
The reason that CY milk is not available in gallon size, at least in the New York area, is that NYC regulates the price of milk, but only for gallons containers. The milk companies want to charge more than allowed under NYC rules. Post #32 — this is NOT true. Ask Reb Dovid or Reb Reuven. Even today, they have Cholov Stam in their homes.
#11 : You wrote “The term Cholov Stam is not found in legimate halachic literature but is a fabricated term to make Cholov Akum seem more acceptable”.
Actually, it is found in the most authoratative literature, The IGROS MOSHE. Rav Moshe ZATZAL himself in his famous TSHUVA coined that phrase as it dealt with the unique situation in the USA, a law that stated that to be called milk it had to be cows milk and that a government agency is in charge of its enforcement and that they can levy fines or shut down the farm for its violation. The issur of Chalav Akum is that cows milk might be mixed with milk from a non-kosher source. Rav Moshe’s psak did not make Chalav Akum more acceptable; he said that based on the US law it is no longer Chalav Akum. However, if the milking was not observed by a jew, then it cannot be called Chalav Yisroel; hence, a new category called Chalav Stam.
Lets be honest . There is a law of supply and demand . If it was that easy to be have a proper hashgocho and only cost an extra penny ,there would be people doing it and making money . Hashgocha is not only on the milking ,it is also on making sure the herd is free from cows that have had the surgery that makes them treifo
Isn’t it interesting that we or many of us who consider ourselves frum and orthodox want to become economical only when it comes to dairy products. When it comes to clothing or such as carriages many like to announce how much they paid, such as $900 a carriage when i can buy something that serves the same purpose and is good for even less than $100.00. If milk is spoiled, and yes it can happen (clothing could be damaged too and food products too as blown up bags of lettuce still on the store food shelf) too many people talk. Perhaps the storekeeper left the milk standing in even 70 degree weather for up to 3 hours. But if i buy a bag of chips and it ends up being empty because the machine failed it’s okay-swallow the cost of air. If i buy a container of pickles and it looks as if the packer bit into one, i have to keep quiet. But if the milk is spoiled, because it could have sat out on my counter for hours, it’s okay to complain and return, because that’s where i show how economical i am.
Under the milk category are crates which many of us help ourselves to and use for storage, moving, or hollow out the bottom and use as a basketball hoop. Your grocer may deliver your order in it and you may dump it. Perhaps you use it to store books/seforim or carried same home from country in them.
If you read the side of the crate(any company) you will see it’s stealing or gnaiva. You can buy the same crate for$2.50. Milk companies are charged up to $4.50 for a crate at each delivery and credited upon return. Due to many people “stealing” these crates, yes dairy companies sometimes add on the cost to the consumers.
because the rate of empties returned is far less than delivered.
One Cholov Yisroel company pays a full salary for somone to pickup crates only.
Look at the people who own some of the dairy companies and observe their livestyles and you will see that no they are not a pity case but they would be able to charge more but instead live like middle class people and have a Yiddishe heart not to make a huge profit as some of your other merchants do.
The mashgichim are paid very well, we have one in our family. If he ever oversleeps when he should be up, the milk is dumped or given to trief company.
If you want to pick start with clothing and nosh companies not with necessities as dairy products.
Rav Moshe never vomited out Chalav Stam.
His family members report bringing home regular ice cream and drinking regular milk.
The stories being told about Rav Moshe and Chalav Yisrael are not true. According to his son in law, Rav Tendler, Rav Moshe held that milk in America IS chalav yisrael.
I buy Golden Flow milk all the time, I pay the price, but I get a very good quality milk, and stays fresh very long. And I know the kashrus is on a high standard.
It’s amazing how many people want to peek into MY kitchen and wallet. Nobody forces anyone to buy Cholov Yisroel. Maybe some commentors should refrain from telling me which milk to buy, so I won’t suggest them the proper size of shrimp for their tables.
For some reason Its not the price of milk that bothers me, Its the price of Cheese that really gets me.
Anshei Knesses Hagedola instituted several things that we like to do today. One, is Chanukah. Yeah, we all celebrate that holiday. How about Brachos? Yup, generally accepted that you gotta say them before you eat. Cholov Yisrael? Noooooo… who needs to keep THAT anymore?
R’Moshe made a heter for people because at the time, milk was considered a health requirement and was impossible to get outside of heavily populated Jewish neighborhoods. We grew up in a very small town (Orthodox population: Just my family) and we went to the farm to get our milk. Steaming, straight from the cow.
He was probably talking about us – that we could reply on the gov’t in this case – but my parents chose not to use the heter, and set an example of misiras nefesh for a Mitzvah. YES. Chalav Yisroel is not a chumrah, people. It’s a halacha that existed for 1000s of years and was accepted and kept by everyone until the 50s. So don’t lump it together with Yoshon and Gebrokts. It’s normal Judaism.
Now, today, when you can get Chalav Yisroel anywhere, and you can SHIP it anywhere, there is no excuse not to keep it. And I think Rabbi Moshe Feinstein would say the same thing, today. I can’t think of another heter that has become so widespread that the people who keep the halacha feel like they have to explain why it’s important. It’s important because it’s from our holy Rabbis, on the level of Chanukah, BRachos and Tefilah and whatever else they instituted, and not just an indulgence on the part of overly-frum people.
ONE albeit holy and righteous Rabbi gives a heter for a controlled group, in a specific circumstance and era, and EVERYONE, outside of the Chassidic community, jumps on that bandwagon? There’s something wrong with the picture.
I have never drank non Cholov Yisrael in my life, nor have my kids, nor my grandchildren. That being said, I cannot fathom the pricing. A “good” dairy cow, produces 25 GALLONS of milk daily. The farm in Syracuse, has 4000 cows. Even if these aren’t good cows, and even if some of them aren’t producing mor ethan a fraction of what a good cow should produce, they should be getting 100,000 or more QUARTS per day. At 25 cents extra per quart, that’s $2,500 a day for a Mashgiach! Even if they need two, three or even five Mashgichim, does a Mashgiach earn $500.00 per day?
The frum community is getting the short end of the stick. As to why the “G’dolim” aren’t complaining…Go find a Gadol!
The truth is that Cholov Yisroel is significantly cheaper than any other brand, and here is why and how. The store and the company must give you a replacement bottle if the current one rots or smells before the date. Here is what to do. Buy double the amount you normally consum. Only drink 2/3rd of the bottle, but tape the expiration date more prominently. Don’t finish the bottle. As the date approaches, smell the milk, If it is on its way out the store must credit you and the company must credit the store.
There are some seasons where you can get a whole summers worth of free milk this way. Also, you are helping them get their act together. If enough of us do this, they will watch their refrigeration policies more carefully.
You were raised properly. Just one correction “EVERYONE, outside of the Chassidic and Frum community”. Most if not all frum Yiden feel the same about it.
We live in a farm area and get raw milk, delicious, from a dairy farm for $3/gallon. We make sure the tank is empty before the milking, watch the first cows get hooked up to the machine, and, voila! Cholov Yisrael.
In re Reb Moshe’s heter: My uncle, in the 60’s or 70’s, was waiting in Reb Moshe’s apartment to ask him a shailoh. He had the chutzpah to peek into Reb Moshe’s fridge and saw, of course, only cholov yisroel products — including butter (which I believe does not need to be cholov yisroel halachicly).
Amazing how many people can’t read Rav Moshe’s teshuva. He does not say “shaas hadachak”. He does not say “a yarei shamayim” should drink chalav yisrael. he says a BAAL NEFESH should try to drink CY. Now go look up what he has to say about being a Baal Nefesh. By the way, he didn’t call it chalav stam either, it’s called “chalav hakompanees” (companies). Good to know that 100 commenters on VIN are all amei haaretz
All I can say is that after reading 100 posts about cholov yisroel, about 2/3 of which attempt to explain what rav moshe, ztl, really meant when he issued his conditional heter for chalav akam (aka chalav stam), I decided it would have been better if the ebeshter would have made all of us lactose intolerant.
The one thing that most people fail to understand is that nowadays is a time od need. Look at the economy. The gedolim of the yester generation were concerned about “Your 50 Cents”. Noone should be telling another how to live or how to spend their $
There was a time when many people ate kosher meat that was not glatt. One thing is for sure “we have become very religious in america with chumras and less so with halacha”
What about the source of the vitamins in the milk?
Yilmedainu Rabeinu:
Why doesn’t the OU symbol make it Cholov Yisael. And if it doesn’t, then what’s the point of the OU???
i have been a Mashgiach for Cholov Yisroel for many years and all you have to do is make sure the COWS DON”T GO OOINK!!!!
I’ve read the tshuva, and learned the sources.
Reb Moshe does not say it’s muttar because Cholov Yisrael is hard to get, nowhere is that mentioned in any of his teshuvos on the subject, nor does he say that a Yirei Shamayim should be machmir.
He says that there’s makom for a Ba’al Nefesh to be machmir.
And if you don’t know the difference between the two, that’s because you’re a “Buck Am Aretz”. Most people don’t come close to being Ba’alei nefesh.
In fact, Reb Moshe’s son, Reb Dovid eats Chalav Hacompanies (Chalav Stam) even when Cholov Yisrael is available (personal eyewitness).
And I think we can be pretty sure he’s closer to being a Ba’al Nefesh than most of us on this blog.
I don’t rant about people who want to be machmir, if they can afford it and it enhances their Avodas Hashem, they should go for it.
But the amount of chashivus given to this chumra is way out of proportion to its true importance.
Many other things should be given precedence, primarily Honesty, menschlichkeit, and increased study of Torah that is neglected, such as Nistar, Tanach, and Halacha. (Study a little Nistar and you’ll find out what a Ba’a’l Nefesh really is.)
# 107: You are correct and i was wrong. HAMON AM calls it CHALAV STAAM whereas R’ Moshe called it CHALAV HACOMPANIES. I am suprise though that you didn’t complain about people calling it CHALAV AKUM when throughout the 3 tshuvos R’ Moshe refers to it as CHALAV TAMAY. Additionally, i quoted in a previous post from Rabbi Heinemann of the STAR-K who explains R’ Moshe’s shita. Are you saying he is an am haaretz too?
To all those who say CHALAV AKUM=CHALAV STAAM:
It seems that you are misinformed. Rabbi Heinemann clearly states taht they are not the same.
there is a student publication (10/25/2003) from The Torah Academy of Bergen County that discusses Rabbi Soliveitchik’s shita (koltorah.org). Google Raabi Soliveitchik + chalav yisroel.
In addition on yutorah.org Rabbi Gordimer discusses R’ Moshe’s tshuva and again comes the conclusion that Chalav Staam is not the same as Chalav Akum.
I am amazed on most of the above comments in particular when most people have no clue what type of Kashrus issues are out there and people are using Kilus which were done at a time when this was a clear SHA’AS HADCHAK,
020I will list some of the issues so people try and get an idea what are the problems now which were not relevant going back when Reb Moshe gave that heter on Cholov AKIM (call it cholov Stam)
1. First and the most important having a mashgiach on site is a basic requirement in shilchun urich even when there were no technoligy available(which causes no problems).
2. Secondly with out realy going in to the exact process let me point out that machinery being used for the process of milk manufacturing or botteling and so on are not being Kosherd at a degree which you would do at home so why realy on things which you buy in that manor from the store, then you have inredients which are mixed in which come from factories which are either kasherd on a lower number and there can be real treif ingredients which leaves the other products in a real problem, and then there is there is quite alot of issues on how to kosher whether the boilers are emptied out before or its being addaed some things to make it Pugim.
3. Third and most important. There are farms or i would rather say all the farms which are not cholov yisroel have those cows which had those operations are REAL TREIF and the percentage in each farm could be quite high as 10% or sometimes even more so now that being said the so called cholov stam which is cholov AKIM are a real shalleh of treif like meat which has to be inspected the cos have to be inspected and this type of milk is not being restricted of using as a cholov stam product (and most likely even at the time when reb moshe gave that hetter it was a HETTER ONLY and not for anything else and he would not allow this in our current circumstances,and the people who know that OU almost had a few month ago on the entire process of cholov akim if its still possible to rely on this hetter and in that case the CHOLOV AKIM would have gone completely down and in the end they pushed it threw but this not meant for us to use it further.
BOTTOM LINE: Dont think for one minute that the shilchun urich has changed and what ever is being changed is because of some technical differences but not the actuall hachalic requirements, and people who go to shul everyday and keep other halaches should clearly hold off of cholov akim in all Circumstances and at all times.
While Balsam was probably the first commercially sold Cholov Yisroel milk in NY, it was not the first commercially sold Cholov Yisroel in America. This distinction most probably belongs to the Raskas Family Farm in St. Louis. The Raskeses came to America in 1882 and went into the dairy business shortly thereafter.
Also, this family was probably the first American family to send their sons to learn in the Slabodka Yeshiva. They sent two of their sons there in 1900.
See
http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/20576 for an article about them.
Dr. Yitzchok Levine