Got Milk? Kashrut Implications of Government Shutdowns (Alternatively: Mah Inyan Chalav Yisrael Etzel Capitol Hill?) Shavuot 5779

Food inspections by the FDA have been sharply reduced, alarming critics

https://wapo.st/2FkQa84?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.006216283fd7

(excerpts)

The furloughing of hundreds of Food and Drug Administration inspectors has sharply reduced inspections of the nation’s food supply — one of the many repercussions of the partial government shutdown that are making Americans potentially less safe.

The agency, which oversees 80 percent of the food supply, has suspended all routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview. He is working on a plan to bring inspectors back as early as next week to inspect facilities considered high-risk because they handle sensitive items such as seafood, soft cheese and vegetables, or have a history of problems.

“We are doing what we can to mitigate any risk to consumers through the shutdown,” Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb said that legal guidance from the 2013 shutdown said the agency could not conduct regular food inspections during a funding shortfall. But after canceling more than 50 high-risk inspections, he said he has sought authority to call back about 150 furloughed inspectors to focus on high-risk facilities.

Chalav Yisrael-Rabbi Soloveitchik's View

by Rabbi Chaim Jachter

https://www.koltorah.org/halachah/chalav-yisrael-rabbi-soloveitchiks-view-by-rabbi-howard-jachter

It is well known among Rabbi Soloveitchik's students that the Rav drank packaged milk that did not have any special Rabbinic supervision. Rabbi [Menachem] Genack mentioned in a Shiur at Yeshiva University that the Rav told him that there exist three considerations to be lenient. Number one, if there are no non-Kosher animals found in the herd of animals that is being milked- אין בעדרו טמא -many opinions rule leniently. Second, we may rely on the government (USDA) supervision and inspections to insure that the milk we consume is from cows. Number three, technically the rabbinic edict forbidden drinking milk from an animal that was milked by a non-Jew does not apply since today the cows are milked by machines.It is interesting to note that a great Israeli authority, Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank, permitted drinking powdered milk imported from the United States based on virtually the same considerations (שו"ת הר צבי יורה דעה סימן קג).

Pri Chadash (Amsterdam, 17th c.)

Chazon Ish, Yoreh Deah 41:4

Grade "A" Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (2017 Revision), US Food and Drug Administration

(Available at https://www.fda.gov/media/114169/download)

The Grade “A” PMO is incorporated by reference in Federal specifications for procurement of milk and milk products; is used as the sanitary regulation for milk and milk products served on interstate carriers; and is recognized by the Public Health Agencies, the milk industry, and many others as the national standard for milk sanitation. The Grade “A” PMO adopted and uniformly applied will continue to provide effective public health protection without being unduly burdensome to either Regulatory Agencies or the dairy industry. It represents a “grass-roots” consensus of current knowledge and experiences and as such represents a practical and equitable milk sanitation standard for the nation. (p. iv)

All bottles, containers and packages containing milk or milk products, except milk tank trucks, storage tanks and cans of raw milk from individual dairy farms, shall be conspicuously marked with:

3.The common name of the hooved mammal producing the milk shall precede the name of the milk or milk product when the product is or is made from other than cattle’s milk. As an example, “Goat”, “Sheep”, “Water Buffalo”, “Camel”, or “Other Hooved Mammal” milk or milk products respectively. (p. 19)

ITEM 3r. MILKING BARN, STABLE OR PARLOR – CLEANLINESS

The interior shall be kept clean. Floors, walls, ceilings, windows, pipelines and equipment shall be free of filth and/or litter and shall be clean. Swine and fowl shall be kept out of the milking area. (p. 38)

PART 131 -- MILK AND CREAM

Subpart B--Requirements for Specific Standardized Milk and Cream

Rav Moshe Feinstein, Iggrot Moshe, Yoreh Deah 1:47

Rav Moshe zt”l’s Heter of Cholov Stam Revisited

https://oukosher.org/blog/consumer-kosher/rav-moshe-ztls-heter-of-cholov-stam-revisited/

...Rabbi Eli Gersten, based on diyukim in Igros Moshe (ibid. teshuva 49 and YD 3:17), understood and convincingly demonstrated that Reb Moshe held that since Chazal were gozair only upon the final point of possession of milk prior to its transfer to a Yisroel, the lack of meaningful verification at dairy plants is immaterial; so long as government inspectors visit the dairies and see that nothing is being added to the milk (and see no non-kosher species on-site!), the milk is permitted.

I arranged a conference call with Rav Belsky and Reb Zev Osdoba, RFR at Ahava Dairies, who has worked very extensively with state and federal inspectors over the course of many years, and who provided me with reams of documentation on the details of government inspection programs and requirements. Reb Zev revealed the following information (which I later corroborated independently by reviewing state and federal government websites and speaking with dairy companies):

• Currently, the government inspects all milk farms 2-6 times per year.
• Governmental (state) farm inspection protocol specifically includes a provision that only cows are in the farms’ milking parlors and/or cowyard. This provision (formulated in terms of swine) is part of the standard farm inspection form. (See sections of Dairy Farm Inspection Forms below.)
• Government inspectors track the intake and output of all milk at dairies. Thus, the source farms are identified by the inspectors, and they must correlate with farms approved by the government.

Reb Zev also related that state farm inspectors told him that they have never encountered horses, pigs or other livestock (besides cows) on dairy farms, and that were they to do so, they would immediately report it as part of their responsibilities.

In light of this current state of affairs, such that the farms are indeed uniformly inspected for non-kosher animals, and the dairy plants’ inspectors work with the farm inspectors’ data, Rav Belsky ruled that the heter of cholov stam applies for those who wish to rely on it, albeit based principally on farm inspections rather than on dairy inspections. The correlation of data between the farm and dairy inspections extends the farm inspections’ efficacy to the dairies, from which point the milk is “bo l’yad Yisroel” and retains its permissibility.

It should be noted that the above, newly-formulated position on cholov stam is actually the total reverse of Reb Moshe’s heter: Reb Moshe was mattir cholov stam based on dairy plants being inspected by the government, and government inspection of farms was a non-issue due to the concept of “bo l’yad Yisroel”. Now, in contradistinction, government inspection of farms plays the central role, and dairy plant inspection is no longer central for the heter. It is also important to note that the new position does not rely on “bo l’yad Yisroel” and may appeal to those who were not comfortable using this rationale in this case.

As evidenced by the above p’sak and research, the OU continues to pave the way in kashrus technical data and to service those in Klal Yisroel who wish to rely on Rav Moshe’s heter concerning cholov stam.