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Coca-Cola
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KRUPS Brewmaster Jr. 4 Cup Coffee Maker -
suggested retail $50
• • • Silver's Price $29.95 • ••
KRUPS Espresso Mini - suggested retail $125
• • • Silver's Price $79.95 •••
KRUPS Cafe Presso 8 Cup Coffee Maker
With Espresso Machine -
suggested retail $200
• • • Silver's Price $169.95 •••
Silvers 11°
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42
FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1991
tified the Coca-Cola concen-
trate, manufactured in
Atlanta. Regional bottling
plants take the pre-mixed
concentrate and blend it
with sweetener and water.
The independently-owned
bottling plants hire local
rabbis or city kashrut orga-
nizations to supervise and
certify the bottling phase of
Coke.
Coca-Cola's hechsher was
never questioned publicly by
the kashrut industry during
Rabbi Elberg's tenure.
Then, in December 1989, the
elderly rabbi stepped down
as Coke's kashrut inspector.
Supervision changed hands
to two New York rabbis,
Jehoseph Ralberg and his
son, Aryeh, whose certifica-
tion and company name is
known as the Triangle K.
The Ralbags' certification
failed to get the backing of
the highly influential Ortho-
dox Union, a non-profit a-
gency which has contracts
to supervise 300 food prod-
ucts made by leading manu-
facturers. The OU's circled
U symbol is the world's
most widely recognized ko-
sher seal of approval.
Lobbying Efforts
This was not the first time
Triangle K's supervision
was suspect. Rabbi Avrom
Pollak, president of Balti-
more's highly respected Star
K kashrut agency, noted
that while not endorsing all
of Triangle K's products, the
Star K was satisfied that
there was no problem with
Coke.
As the only kashrut agen-
cy questioning the Triangle
K's supervision of Coke, the
OU seemed to be acting out
of revenge that it had not re-
ceived the lucrative con-
tract. But spokesmen for
OU insist that their action
was motivated only by a de-
sire to inspect Coke's ingre-
dients to determine that
they were kosher.
Those familiar with the
bidding for Coca-Cola said
the OU lobbied heavily for
the supervision, valued for
its prestige and the dollars it
could bring into the OU's
kashrut division. It is esti-
mated that the supervision
contract would bring in well
over $100,000 a year to the
OU.
But Passover 1990 was
around the corner and Coca-
Cola felt pressured to sign
on quickly with a kashrut a-
gency to ensure holiday
sales of its special produc-
tion run, said Rabbi Holzer,
chairman of kashrut com-
mittee for the Rabbinical
Council of America, which is
the OU's rabbinical arm.
Rabbi Holzer believes, and
others concur, that the OU
lost its bid because the a-
gency didn't move fast
enough with a suitable su-
pervision plan that accom-
modated Coca-Cola's need
for secrecy. The beverage
corporation went instead
with the rabbinic father-son
team, the Ralbags, with
whom Coke had an existing
relationship for the supervi-
sion of Minute Maid Orange
Juice.
It was after the OU lost
its bid that doubts about
Coke's secret ingredients
It is not clear how much
impact the OU's ruling had
on Coke's sales or image.
Rabbi Chaim Bergstein, the
kashrut inspector for Coca-
Cola bottling in Detroit, said
he was offended by local ru-
mors that Coke was treife (not
kosher).
"It's been very harsh," he
said.
Although relatively few
kashrut bodies around the
country went along with the
OU, Coke sales in New
York's Orthodox communi-
ties reportedly were down.
The negative publicity alone
generated by the OU ban
may have been enough for
the image-conscious Coca-
Cola corporation to think
that maybe it chose the
wrong kashrut agency to
supervise its product.
The Aftermath
and the Triangle K's ability
to gain access to those in-
gredients, began to surface
in Orthodox quarters.
But what some say did the
most damage was a Rab-
binical Council decision on
Coke that was championed
by Rabbi Holzer. It asserted
that, without access to
Coke's production process,
the OU could not be certain
Coke was kosher.
In what amounted to a
sales ban on Coke, restau-
rants and kosher facilities
supervised by the OU were
told to stop serving the bev-
erage. Bulletins were sent to
rabbis, some of whom in turn
urged congregants to stop
drinking Coke.
In a move that raised eye-
brows among restaurant
proprietors and kashrut ex-
perts, the OU told facilities
under its supervision to con-
tinue serving their stored
cases of Coke. But after the
cases were used up, they
were told not to reorder.
"Look, either it's kosher or
it's not," said a restaurant
manager, who declined to give
his name. He opted not to
serve his surplus of Coke.
Not surprisingly there
was a good deal of confusion
among kosher consumers
regarding Coca-Cola's sta-
tus.
Some sought the guidance
of Rabbi Moshe Heinemann,
the rabbinic administrator
of Baltimore's Star K, whose
confidence in Coca-Cola per-
suaded many that the bev-
erage was indeed kosher,
said Avrom Pollak, presi-
dent of Star K.
In February, the OU se-
cured the Coke account for
this past Passover —and
year-round supervision for
the Coca-Cola Bottling
Company of New York. That
leaves Triangle K with the
contract to supervise the
concentrate for Coca-Cola
USA, for now. Many feel
that OU will soon take over
all kashrut dealings with
Coke.
After a long dry spell, and
much confusion, Coca-Cola
is now being poured at OU-
supervised eating estab-
lishments. In advance of
Passover, the news of the
OU supervision was trum-
peted in newspaper adver-
tisements, supermarket
flyers and kashrut newslet-
ters around the country. Ko-
sher communities every-
where welcomed the news of
the OU's regional hechsher
as being a sign that Coca-
Cola is allowed in their own
communities.
When asked why Coca-
Cola Bottling of New York
made the switch from Tri-
angle K to the OU, Harriet
Tolve, public affairs direc-
tor, said, "It was a good
business decision. We want-
ed to reach a larger commu-
nity through a more broadly
recognized authority."
But Nathan Lewin, a
Washington, D.C. attorney
who is a longtime member of
the Orthodox Union's board
of governors, said the way
the OU came to do business
with Coke may not be entire-
ly kosher.
"Kosher consumers have
to wonder about what's go-
ing on with the integrity of
supervisions if a product
that's questioned for a peri-
od of months is suddenly ac-
cepted as kosher when that
manufacturer is ready to
=-(