The moment headlines revealed that the Food and Drug Administration would be halting federal testing of commercial milk, the Orthodox Union’s kosher hotline was flooded with concerned inquiries, JTA reports.
“The flood of inquiries was off the hook … crazy: emails, calls, WhatsApp, everything,” Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, who leads the dairy division at OU Kosher, told JTA.
People were reaching out to express fears that the change in federal policy might jeopardize the kosher status of standard supermarket milk. Since 1954, many frum Jews in America have relied on a ruling by Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l that federal monitoring of the dairy industry suffices to ensure its kashrus.
Halacha dictates that milk can only be considered kosher if it originates from a kosher species. One way to ensure this is through direct Jewish supervision over the milking process—something that was once feasible but is impractical in modern industrial settings.
Rav Moshe, the posek hador, ruled that stringent government oversight could substitute for some elements of Jewish supervision. Given that U.S. law mandates that only cow’s milk can be labeled as milk, and that federal inspectors regularly visit dairies to enforce regulations, he concluded that this system was sufficient for Jews to rely on.
But the question now arises: if the federal framework changes or is rolled back, does Rav Moshe’s psak still stand?
According to Rabbi Gordimer, the answer is yes. After carefully examining what has and hasn’t changed at the FDA, the OU determined that the situation does not impact the kosher status of milk.
“This development has no impact whatsoever on the kosher status of ‘chalav stam’ that Rabbi Feinstein permitted in the US, as the primary oversight of farms and dairy factories is performed by state governments; the FDA is a mere secondary body for this purpose,” he said by email.
Furthermore, Rabbi Gordimer clarified that the testing recently suspended by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pertains only to identifying certain banned substances or contaminants. The actual physical inspections of dairy plants—which are central to Rav Moshe’s ruling—are still taking place.
“There has been no change in inspections, which are ongoing,” Gordimer said.
Additionally, the regulation that prohibits labeling anything other than cow’s milk as “milk” remains firmly in effect.
Nevertheless, reports about the regulatory changes have triggered anxiety in the kosher community. One user on the Facebook group Great Kosher Restaurant Foodies posted: “Are we seeing the first step in the end of chalav stam…”
Some segments of the Jewish community have never relied on Rav Moshe’s ruling and consume only cholov Yisroel, milk that is supervised by Jews throughout the process. However, cholov Yisroel milk is less widely available outside the tri-state area.
While OU Kosher and health experts insist there’s no immediate risk, the decision to scale back milk testing could be a sign that kashrus agencies will need to stay vigilant as broader reforms take shape under the Trump administration. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who holds unconventional views on several issues, has signaled he intends to overhaul policies touching everything from vaccines and water fluoridation to food safety regulations.
{Matzav.com}