LUBICOM CEO Menachem Lubinsky is the founder and co-producer of Kosherfest, the annual trade event for the kosher food & beverage industry and is the editor-in-chief of KosherToday.
Eye on Kosher shares Lubinsky’s personal reflections on kosher-related topics and is released on alternating weeks with My Sixth Sense, which can be found at http://www.koshertoday.com
The Popularity of Kosher Cruises - Jul 14, 2009
In my annual State of the Kosher Industry address at Kosherfest last November, I alluded to the success of kosher industries within industries as evidence of the continued growth and development of kosher. The kosher cruise business is a perfect example of an industry that has developed a life of its own and with great success. ...click here to read more
From Rubashkin to Friedman: Agriprocessor Set for New Lease on Life - Jul 05, 2009
Hershey Friedman, a Montreal entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the new owner of Agriprocessor, if a bankruptcy judge gives his approval and if there are no higher bidders till then. In an interview with Mishpacha Magazine, Friedman made some interesting points. He called the government actions against the Rubashkins a "witch hunt." He spoke of the need to break the monopoly of the current suppliers of glatt kosher meat. ...click here to read more
Greater Focus on Women - Jun 20, 2009
Kashrus agencies and even pulpit rabbis have been paying greater attention to women of late, and for good reason. Women remain the dominant consumers of kosher products. It was about a year ago that Rabbi Yosef Grossman, Director of OU Kosher Education, began to hear from women that they wanted an advanced program on the technicalities and practices of kosher law. In the following months, more than 80 women were in touch with Rabbi Grossman, seeking such a course. The OU is responding by offering a special kashrus course August 24-28. ...click here to read more
The “Powerful” Vaadim - Jun 07, 2009
I continue to receive e-mails on what has become known as the “Streit’s controversy.” There is still considerable anger over the action taken by the Vaad Harabbonim of Queens and the Five Towns Rabbinical Board to keep Streit’s matzohs off the shelves with just a few weeks remaining before Passover, causing Streit’s an estimated $200,000 loss. ...click here to read more
Kosher, But in Bad Taste - May 25, 2009
It seems that every couple of years someone misuses creativity for an ad campaign that is simply culturally insulting. In the 80’s a manufacturer of surimi fish called the product “It’s Not Shrimp!” to the chagrin of many kosher consumers. ...click here to read more
A Central Clearing House for Kashrus? - May 11, 2009
A small kosher food manufacturer who I often do marketing consulting for was thinking of switching to another kosher certification agency. It seems that he had met with a rabbi of a competing agency who offered to certify the company at less than half of the cost. He calculated the cost of printing new labels but was afraid to go forward because of possible rumors that he was no longer kosher, even if it was for a short time. ...click here to read more
How Kosher is Coke? - Apr 27, 2009
Walking the aisles of a kosher supermarket on the eve of the just concluded Pesach (Passover) holiday, I couldn't help but notice just how much has changed since I was growing up. Whereas our menu was limited in those days (everything was somehow made with eggs and potatoes), today there were thousands of products that are made kosher for Passover. The plethora of snacks, sauces, dairy, packaged goods, gourmet and frozen items is only topped off by the Passover Coke with its distinctive yellow cap. While I have always admired the Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola companies for catering to the needs of Jews who observe Passover, this year a story I heard from none other than the noted Washington attorney Nathan Lewin shook my confidence in Coke. ...click here to read more
Should We Be Concerned About the Quality of the Kosher Food We Eat - Mar 23, 2009
Ever so often a new safety concern emerges in the kosher market that sets off the food safety people about kosher in general. In the last few months, I have read a number of articles that seemed to point in the direction of posing the question of whether kosher is indeed safe without any specific reference to any incident. They take on the notion that while kosher may “answer to a higher authority,” it may still not be enough to assure the safety of the products. ...click here to read more
The New Kosher Foods - Feb 23, 2009
A veteran kosher food distributor reminisced of the days when his full list of kosher items that he had to offer stores was in the vicinity of 800 – 1000. Today, he says that list is more than 10 times that and growing. He was probably speaking of an era when most people thought of kosher as being limited to gefilte fish, chopped liver, and stuffed cabbage. The kosher take-out store of yesteryear was also limited to a few salads, meats, kishke, cholent and kugel. ...click here to read more
An Event of Mixed Emotions - Feb 09, 2009
You may have read the story of a large contribution of 50,000 pounds of kosher poultry by Empire Kosher Poultry to Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to help feed New York’s needy. Met Council annually provides more than 4.5 million pounds of kosher food to needy households in New York City, making it the largest kosher food pantry in America. The photo opp at Met Council’s Brooklyn food pantry included Mayor Michael Bloomberg. So why was I so torn? ...click here to read more
Introducing “Eye on Kosher” - Feb 09, 2009
As you know, I have been the editor of Kosher Today (www.koshertoday.com) since its founding in 1996 when it first appeared as a printed newsletter. It subsequently developed into a tabloid style monthly and in 2004 as a weekly on-line newsletter. In 2009, “Kosher Today” will appear every second week. In the alternate weeks, I will be writing a weekly column on this site that will be a potpourri of behind the scenes stories on the kosher industry, profiles of people who have made an impact on the kosher food industry, my own candid evaluation of many developments in the industry. I very much look forward to your feedback and suggestions for topics. So, without any further introduction, here’s my first column. ...click here to read more