Purim Kashrus Alert: Cholov Akum Chocolate

Rabbi Mordechai Bistritzky, Chabad Rov of Tzfas, has issued a notice that a particular brand of Klik chocolate is made with Cholov Akum milk powder. The chocolate is not labeled Cholov Yisroel, however its packaging is very similar to the Cholov Yisroel brands of Klik that are popular among Orthodox-Jews worldwide, which may lead to error among Kosher consumers.

This particular brand of Klik is produced in the United States, unlike the Cholov Yisroel ones which are produced in Tzfas and bear Rabbi Bistritzky’s certification.

Rabbi Bistritzky urged caution when purchasing or eating Klik chocolate, that the packaging be checked to ensure that it is indeed Cholov Yisroel.

Photo courtesy of Shturem.net

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22 Comments

  • K

    This is very important for those that are makpid not to use cholov stam.

    I think the achrayis is on the frum store owners not to carry this product or at least place a big sign warning consumers that it is cholov stam. Selling food to the frum consumer carries a certain achrayis.

    The store owner cannot hide behind the dictum of “buyer beware”.

    Warning the consumer will avoid a mekach tous and a question on the mechirah.

    Even someone who is not makpid on cholov akum cannot be “fooled” or tricked about this product. Store keepers need to stand up to the plate and do what needs to be done!!

    • M

      Stores definitely need to take achrayus, or Customers will lose trust.
      You know how many times I buy items that are expired?!!! Do I really need to check the 100+ items I put in my cart. I expect the store to be on top of their game!

    • Milhouse

      There is no such term as “cholov stam”. There is only cholov yisroel and cholov akum.

      Reb Moshe Feinstein holds that commercial packaged milk has the din of cholov yisroel, because the gezeira against cholov akum only applies to the last akum who owned it. He wrote a long teshuvah to prove that we are not concerned about all the nochrim who owned it from the time of milking, but only about the last one, from whose hands it came into Jewish ownership. If we watched the milk the whole time it was in his possession, or we have some other way to be 100% certain that he didn’t tamper with it, then that is cholov yisroel.

      For instance, when a goyishe store buys both normal milk and “cholov yisroel” in sealed cartons and sells them to us, we have the same certainty in both cases that they didn’t mess with it. If we worried that they messed with it then we couldn’t buy the “cholov yisroel” from them either! Therefore according to Reb Moshe both cartons are equally cholov yisroel.

      This heter is accepted by the non-chassidim of the USA, but not by the Israeli rabbanut. The rabbanut does not allow liquid milk, or anything containing it, to be sold as kosher unless it was under direct supervision from milking to packaging. If the product we are discussing contained liquid milk the OU would allow it but the Rabbanut would not.

      However, the Rabbanut accepts a different heter. Reb Hirsh-Pesach Frank holds that the gezeira against cholov akum only applies to liquid milk, not to powder. Once cholov akum is turned into powder it’s no longer called cholov, and thus becomes kosher. Therefore the Rabbanut allows products such as this one, which is made with milk powder rather than liquid milk, to be sold as kosher, but not as mehadrin. The OU does not accept Reb Hersh-Pesach’s heter, but of course Reb Moshe’s heter includes commercial powdered milk as well.

    • Milhouse

      Yes, he calls it cholov hacompanies, and says that al pi din it is cholov yisroel, but a mehader bemitzvos should not rely on this heter. Orally he is reported to have said that one should spend up to $100 a year extra on this hiddur. Unfortunately I was unable to find out in what year he said this, which is necessary in order to know how much that $100 was worth in today’s money. If he said it in 1970, that would be a lot. If he said it in 1980, not so much.

      Also he wrote that schools whose mission is to raise children to be mehadrin bemitzvos may not rely on this heter, since it would teach the children that this is not really important after all.

    • Milhouse

      By the way, if anyone should wonder how non-kosher milk can be turned into kosher powder, remember that according to many rishonim goyishe butter is kosher, and the halocho is that this depends entirely on minhag hamokom. There are many places where even those who are very strict on cholov yisroel eat normal butter, made from non-cholov-yisroel milk. Also remember that there are rishonim who hold that cheese made by a Jew from cholov akum is kosher.

  • Cholov "Stam" = Cholov AKUM

    חלב שחלבו ע-כ-ו-ם ואין ישראל רואהו

  • Concerned

    I just checked three packs all have bedatz yerushalayim, only two say cholov Yisroel- in English not hebrew

  • surprised...

    I am surprised that Bistritzky is making a big deal of this now. In Tzfas he himself gives hashgacha on two hechsherim…that one who doesn’t know the difference only sees his name, not knowing which is acceptable and which is not…blue paper or pink paper?

  • Yiddene

    The Lubavitch cook book allows butter made from cholov stam. I wonder if same applies to milk powder? And if cheese made by a jew can be made from cholov stam, why not but cholov stam cheese (Kraft has a hechsher on some varieties)? Why pay so much more for Haolom when Miller is lots cheaper??

    • Milhouse

      Butter depends on minhag hamokom. Milk powder is Reb Hersh-Pesach’s heter; we don’t accept it. Cheese depends on Reb Moshe’s heter, and again we don’t accept it.

    • Milhouse

      The Lubavitch cook book allows butter made from cholov stam.

      This is not true.

      And if cheese made by a jew can be made from cholov stam

      Who told you such a thing?

      Once again, there is no such thing as “cholov stam”. There is only cholov yisroel and cholov akum. Reb Moshe says commercial milk is cholov yisroel; some accept this, but we don’t.

  • K

    There are more important chumrosand hidurim than cholov stam…such as tznius, chodosh, loshon hara, kovaya itim, etc. When will our priorities get straight?

    • bochur

      When you start using lubavitch shchita and use a yanavor esrog – those are THE most important mitzvos in Judaism. You are too caught up in zman tefilah and other foolishness.

  • dov

    We are all confused. Is he referring to the ones with badatz, which never say cholov yisrael, or a different product

  • K

    Surely all agree that cholov yisroel is a d’robonon. Yet when it comes to d’oraysa issurim, every heter is applied!

    Are people as mchmir on basser b’cholov when using one sink (with hot water on food particles) – or do they rely on various questionable heterim?

    Are people as mchmir on chodosh which is ossur min haTorah b’chol moshmosaychem (according to nearly EVERY possek – Rif, Rosh, Rambam, Tur, S.A.!), or do they rely on a da’as yochid (Bach)?

    This is where people go off the rails on a d’rabbonon, with strong heterim, while neglecting the real issurim (including food which is ossur min hatorah)!!

    That is where I call for the Silly Police to get involved.

  • K

    Seems that ONLY :”Cholov akum is metamtem halev vehamoach and leads to kefirah”, but eating shrotzim (bugs on vegetables and fruit) is no problem if you rely on a flimsy heter. Chodosh is also not a problem to eat because of a heter not accepted by all other poskim. Sorry, but I think such thinking comes from severe timtum halev vehamoach!

    • Milhouse

      What flimsy heter for shrotzim are you talking about? As for chodosh we follow the Baal Shem Tov and there is nothing more to talk about.

  • Levi

    I agree, k.

    The kosher consumer these days lag far behind the real issues taking place in kashrus. Neglect of critical halochos pertaining to an increasingly complex technological indusry, while our next generation are still being schooled in shtetle-era hidurim.

    I don’t mean to put down hidurim, as zehirus in kashrus has been with us from our beginings, but what once was yiras shamayim has today become yiras bosor vidum, what was then kiyum mitzvois bihidur has now become shpitz, once hiskashrus was about connecting to a tzadiks writings, today became connecting to his aproach to fashion.

    Eisav too hat world-class chumroys, he’d give maser even on salt. Im sure he too was first to proclaim timtum halev,Im sure he too obsessed about hygene before peisach.

    No offense to those who keep CY, I too wont touch non CY, chas visholom, but when I see how so called chassidisher guteh yidden carry out their materialistic understanding of our aideleh values to yehureig vyaavor, where entire issurim dioyraysa are dismissed in their authoritarian, church-era zeal to dominate… when entire populations flag their yarmulkehs but have no awarenes about shabbos…

    This leads responsible rabonim to step back and re-assess our values if this curruption was actually what the rama and michaber intended.

    So whenever I hear someone brag about their chumrah, my even haboichen seeks for the underlying cause of that chumrah. Yes the bochur davens baarichus, and biahava amitis, but will he pass an exam on hilchos amirah linochri?

    He proclaims cholov akum causes timtum halev, but is he familier with birchas hanehenin?

    He sends a letter to notify the public, about a classic labeling screw-up whose cover story doesnt fully add up, but does he posses an understanding of what falls within his responsabilities and what lies outside his commitments?

    Has he thought about the seroius implications of an inadequate shtar mechirah? Do his baker’s perform hafrashas chalah? Are his chefs made aware to difrenciate dishes colored red from blue? And since it’s the hechshers job to keep them seperate, is it the chef’s free reign to mix it up, by mistake?
    do chefs have any responsability at all??

    oh, um, um, kinda….. well, um., “by us, our place is tachlis hahidur….” “we ‘make sure’ ” “chalav akum is mitame leiv umoyach!!”

    When I hear such slogans, my gut tells me to watch out. I hope these folks can get around without a GPS, pray they possess the capacity to dicern between milk, fat, kilk, and kilk.