Mars Bars - Kosher in London, Not Kosher in Manchester

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London BD and Manchester BD disagree about trace amounts

Rabbi J Conway  London Beis Din



trace amounts of non-Kosher does not present a problem

to isolate us from the society around usRabbi H Royde   Manchester BD

why should we resort to looking for leniencies?
​


Our Sages decreed many regulations in order to isolate us from the society around us




Rennet from a non-Kosher animal may be used to make Kosher cheese


Our Sages forbade the cheese made by our non-Jewish neighbours [which is Kosher] in order to preserve our national identity



our Sages did not prohibit
animal rennet, it is not a food.
They forbade the flesh
of the stomach
which contained the rennet
Poskim permit animal rennet
for making cheese
since it is
not a food

see this OU article
There is no Kashrus issue to make cheese with animal enzymes since 
they are tasteless i.e. not a food

the amounts used are minuscule. The Davar HaMaAmid principle only applies to non-kosher substances, and the animal enzymes are actually kosher.

see this OU article
cheese with animal enzymes are Kosher .... the animal enzymes are actually Kosher.

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The London Jewish Chronicle reports:

Rabbi Jeremy Conway, director of the London Beth Din’s Kashrut Division, declared Mars Bars are “100% kosher”.

Animal Rennet, LBD is Aware
Rabbi Conway said the authority had been “aware for many years that whey can be a by-product of cheese-making and that, even today, animal rennet can be used in cheese manufacture. Since whey derived from this source contains only trace amounts of rennet, it is permitted according to Halachah [Jewish law].”

“Regardless of the source of the rennet used in the cheese, however, Halacha allows the whey and its derivatives [such as lactose], as the amount of rennet left in the whey is negligible, probably parts per million.”

The Manchester Beis Din…Rabbi Hillel Royde, of the Manchester Beth Din… told the London Jewish Chronicle, “We don’t allow any dairy products without a Hechsher [supervising authority licence] and all snacks have to have a Hechsher. There is so much available with a Hechsher, why should we resort to looking for leniencies?”

What is the Halacha? 
The Manchester Beis Din has not stated a Halachic reason for their decision. In fact there does not appear to be a Halachic reason to support their position. 
Whey derived from milk even if processed with non-K animal rennet, is absolutely Kosher. This is not a leniency. To understand this let us examine the background and reason that ordinary cheese is not Kosher.
Our Sages, banned many foods manufactured by non-Jews in order to isolate us from the society around us. They forbade wines, bread, cooked foods, milk and cheese. Milk and cheese are two separate and distinct decrees; even after milk was banned cheese was still permitted.


Cheese was Kosher (and remains Kosher by Torah Law) even when acquired from a non-Jew. Such cheese was made with rennet from non-K beasts, meaning the contents of a calf's stomach which is rich with rennet enzymes. This was added to vats of milk in order to make cheese. Since the contents of the stomach is not a food it can not be deemed a non-K product. 

In time though, cheese production no longer used the contents of the stomach but the stomach itself. The stomach itself is a food and is not-K if it is from a non-K beast. Our Sages used this as a pretext to ban all cheese manufactured without Jewish participation, even that which is made without animal rennet.

Those cheeses that are manufactured with animal rennet from the stomach itself are prohibited since the rennet is a DaVar HaMaAmid, it creates the end product. That means that even though the rennet is used in proportions that are far too small to be relevant to the Laws of Kosher the cheese is Assur because the effects of the rennet are critical to the end product and are not deemed null, Battel. 

Whey is derived from the cheese making process but the rennet is not a DaVar HaMaAmid for the whey. The whey is not included in the ban and is Kosher. The microscopic amount of rennet that may be found in the whey is certainly Battel, insignificant.

Rabbi Royde of the Manchester Beis Din says, "There is so much available with a Hechsher, why should we resort to looking for leniencies?” But this is not correct, there is no leniency employed to permit whey or whey derivatives.

Two further considerations: 

• whey is not a food and can therefore not be classified or deemed non-Kosher.
• the animal rennet prohibited by our Sages was not the rennet itself, which is not a food, but the flesh of the stomach, which contained the rennet. Accordingly, in our times, some Poskim permit animal rennet since it is:

1. extracted from flesh which is rendered utterly inedible
2. isolated from the flesh of the stomach
3. is itself utterly inedible