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02-06-2019 Kosher Challenges In China and India
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STAR-K Kashrus Administrators Rabbi Zvi Goldberg, Rabbi Avrohom Mushell and Rabbi Dovid Heber discuss the potential issues involved in kosher certifying companies located in China, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
hello and welcome to Stark's monthly
webinar held uh usually the last
Wednesday of the month this month it's
uh been uh pushed off a little bit it's
a special
edition uh we're going to speak about
Kosher for star in the Far East and we
have two special guests today let me
bring them in here so we can widen the
view that we can join them
in on my right is Rabbi Michelle and on
my left is Rabbi DAV Heber uh who are
involved in the Far East that we have as
a matter of fact they just visited there
for a shabbaton we're going to speak
about that um if you have any questions
about this topic or any other topic feel
free to call us at
4110 or email us at info at
stark. org I want to mention that all of
our uh webinars are recorded and they
are uh on our on our um website stark.
org or on our Vimeo Channel you search
for Vimeo Stark kosher and you'll find
it the last webinar we had with RAB
Heber actually about uh some uh Cal
calendar issues and one of the questions
we had was which month will'll never
have a B Smith that was a little Truvia
that we had and if you watch the webinar
you'll be able to see the answer to that
and many other calendar issues um We
join you to chat with us at the bottom
of your screen you'll see a chat box um
it's a moderator chat so if you type
something in in a in a in a minute or so
you'll see it appear on the
screen uh we want to hear from you if
you have any questions you have you want
to ask something about what we're
discussing please feel
free okay so um this is our state of the
star address I guess what's going on
with star k in in the Far East in China
and India and all those far away places
and really R Michelle you are overall
overseeing this this project um and we
do have many plans there right we have
many facilities that uh we are
constantly visiting and reviewing and
making sure that they are uh compliant
with kosher right so star k we used to
be more uh local right years ago was a
Baltimore kind of uh certification you
know the the unfortunate fact is there
is such a thing as
globalization and uh over the years
products are not manufactured next door
like they used to be uh so many of the
products are are manufactured overseas
and uh it's come to a point that uh many
food products are needed you have to go
there in the first place there are some
things which are unique to their
locations like spices and oo resins
which are things that are manufactured
very much in in India some in China as
well those things are unique to their
location and you have to go there for
the actual manufacturing products cuz
that's home base for these things that's
where they're growing that's where the
early processing is and that's why we
have to go there but there are other
things that uh because of costs and
considerations um we have to go to where
the product is made it's not that we
want to necessarily go to China or India
or the Philippines to manufacture
something but that is where the market
is for many of these things and that's
where globalization has played a role in
you know that's where a businessman if
always trying to get the best product at
the best price so he's going to go for
where he can get it at the best price we
have to follow suit in order to protect
the kosher consumer right so one of the
things that we're going discuss at the
end uh is updates about the norish
sheets people who E Sushi which I
imagine is many of our uh listeners and
uh you know it's it's it's a common food
so the sheets the green seaweed sheets
are made uh overseas right in in those
those areas of world primarily but yeah
I don't want to discuss I'm just saying
we're going to discuss it at the end and
we have a special report that was done
by the Stark and presented to kous
professionals that we we're going to
make available to uh to our viewers to
download or to to read um and so that's
that's we'll discuss that at the end so
would you say let's say I'm an average
consumer right I just um I don't buy
things from China on purpose right I
just go to restaurants I buy my products
is there any way that I'm not eating
food or ingredients from China or it's
well I don't know why you're picking on
China specifically but where you live in
a global world you have ingredients you
have spices from different parts of the
world you'll have food additives from
different parts of the world uh food
additives could include something like
ascorbic acid citric acid lactic acid um
amino acids um all kinds of different
flavors and chemical that are used in
the manufacturer of flavors and in a
global world that we live many of these
things are manufactured over seas and
there's no way to guarantee that the
product is kosher without going to those
locations to see what's what's taking
place over there I'm what I'm saying is
basically if I'm eating kosher I'm most
likely eating things that produce some
something have some compon some
component unless unless you make it you
have your wife make everything at home
you're not guarante I think consumers
realize this but perhaps not the extent
of it is that many probably if you go
through a supermarket most consumer
products on a shelf if you take a poll
you probably see I would guess most of
them are made domestically the finished
product the cookie and the the ketchup
and so on and there's a factory in the
United States somewhere in the 50 states
that's making this finished product but
as Melle indicated those raw materials
that ketchup company or cookie company
or cereal company are those products are
made from sometimes dozens of
ingredients and and even if you see
maybe seven eight ingredients on the
label but those ingredients were made
from further components I always wanted
the ability to make a tree and take a
finished product and map go all the way
back as far as I can each ra material
and you'll see a simple lollipop may
have a 100 sources of raw materials that
made up the lollipop and many of those
sources many of our companies in in the
Far East and and India and those far off
regions are raw materials that
manufacturers in America are purchasing
from on an ongoing basis and that's why
they want to be kosher because they want
to sell to the kosher certified
companies in America that are making
that finished product that end up on on
your on your supper table interesting so
uh Hersh is asking was it Stark the
first heure to certify companies in the
Far East of a h I'm not sure it's hard
to say who exactly was the
first you know it's hard to make a claim
because who knows there were there were
other C agencies how about hundred of
years ago were certainly but we were
certainly I I would say in 1994 there
was a minimal number of companies in in
China um when I believe we had started
on an ongoing basis we may even had a
company or two before that but uh the
original trip with Dr P we we we went to
a um there were a few Distributors who
we met with um they came we met New
Jersey and came to harvest Dr P made a
Pioneer trip to China check out those
facilities that we were talking about 25
years ago and then you know as the
says their the friends have a friend who
have a friend they they liked they they
they heard more about certification
Distributors saw the need and the
interest to it star k had you know work
with them in the early stages and
therefore it began to expand because
each company said you want kosher call
Star I remember Dr P tells the story
when he went I don't know if it was that
trip but one of his trips that they all
came to look at him when he came cuz
they they said the uh they heard the
rabbit from America is coming they
wanted to see what the rabbit looks like
there was a little language confusion
RAB a rabbit Rabbi and a rabbit which um
which leads us back to the question I
mean there is this language issue right
r r Michelle so when they go into a
factory so how do they know what what
they're looking at or what there's you
know the ing what the ingredients are
are they fluent well I I cannot say that
they're all fluent uent in Chinese um we
always do get uh translators to
accompany
the um when we have questions on
ingredients or
materials there are things like Google
Google uh translate and we have a staff
in China I know you wanted to get to to
uh you know how our staff is say how how
we are um built up in the different
countries that we have but we have a
full-time office in China we have a sec
secetaries that do work for us and um we
have uh you know they've been working
for us already for 20 years and we've
had a good experience with them and
their ability to read Chinese which is
their native and speak with the
companies to uh get out information as
to you know what what what the
ingredients are and so on and so forth
what the what's going on um the Mas that
we have many of them have over 20 years
experience of being in these different
facilities and uh you know when you go
through a facility and you get familiar
with it when you do your homework and
you read up as to what the manufacturing
process universally is on this type of
product and there are always new
Innovations and uh you look around what
else is going on you take pictures you
uh you know you do your you do your
homework then you become pretty much uh
uh acquainted with what the system
should be and how things should look and
what it is that you're looking at um but
they know what they're supposed to find
there and if they find anything
different but they have an idea before
they walk in there what they're going to
be looking at most of these factors we
try to concentrate on on more simple
ingredients not we don't go out of our
way to get anything complicated the
simpler the better we're we're we're
safer with simpler things and we don't
sometimes you reject complicated
facilities we'll we'll either read a
report and say we can't do it or M will
go in and say too complicated especially
the fact it's it's it's there will make
it the language barrier perhaps in
America we would take such a facility
cuz we have you know it's easier to
follow and there we would say we just
can't do it or just it's too difficult
you were telling me before that some
sitations of facilities that you know
started off simple and became complex
sometimes it's something that we're able
to uh grow into and sometimes in
situations that we have to walk away
from can you give me an example um not
to put you on the spot but I'll put you
on the spot you think about that what
some of the masim were are are fluent in
in the local languages right who's well
we have we for instance in India some of
our are Native Indians they learned in
in is
and they've G gained some you know
terod knowledge and they've learned inas
and um they speak they're fluent in the
native tongues in the Philippines we we
have a young man who accompanies our and
he does some of the simpler inspections
for us and he is a native IND native
Filipino he's a gedc and um so he's able
to converse he's he's been quite devious
I must say in some of his conversations
with some of the people and he's
extracted a lot of information that
probably your average Mash would not uh
may have missed uh because of a language
barrier so if we had a been Tor wanted
to apply for to the star k for position
he speaks of fluent Chinese fluent we
actually years ago when we started our
our office in China we had a a younger
man who was a balua an fellow that was
fluent in Chinese and um he was actually
so good that some other companies larger
corporations stole him from us because
they were able to pay him a lot more
than we can consider because he cover of
fluency but wasn't he wasn't he so
fluent that he was translating between
yes there are there are in there are
different dialects in China actually
there's hundreds of different dialects
in China and he was so fluent that he
was able
to work a conversation between two
different Chinese people who had
different dialects Ron asked the
question he attended in New Delhi a uh
five-star hotel with part of the kitchen
dedicated for mahadin religious
vegetarians with separate utensils so
religious vegetarians I don't think he
means
uh kosher just vegetarian vegetarian
hotel is not he means just keeping
keeping it religiously the major M knew
I kept kosher and show showed me three
out of the 20 Buffet containers I could
eat from I was in in the buffet line
ahead of three nervous Indians from
Madras the from Silver Spring told The
Devout Hindus what they could eat okay
um another question did star only visit
star companies or they also work for
other
ASAS
otherwise do we share M I guess well
there are there have been many
situations uh in the Far East that we
have done shall I say contract work for
other we've gone into facilities on
their behalf you could have another that
doesn't have a you know they don't if
they want a mashia they know we have a
strong presence there they we're going
to any place how
many how
many this at this seminar we had the 12
of us there and I had a few Mas who were
not able to attend so we have on regular
salary they were talking about the you
know 125 who are always or fulltime or a
fulltime they're pretty much busy mostly
with starcade there's not a lot of time
for them to work for somebody else but
if they're somewhere what we'll do is if
they if if another agency calls us it
says we need a guy going into a chang
chung let's say and you go there we do
have a plant there so we'll say okay
we'll when it goes there instead of
going to our one plant we'll go into
yours also and then you know we we'll
help a little bit how cost effective for
some of the hashas to um ask us to go in
because they're saving right away on
airfare because we have somebody there
on the spot and uh if we're going into
that local as RAB Heber said then uh we
can kill we can hop r two places at one
time so M they go they look they fill
out their reports and then you they send
them all to you reports are all sent to
me and I review them together with
Danielle Feldman my assistant and um if
we have it orus then we you know we work
it through with the company we have
follow up with our offices we mentioned
before we have an office in Shanghai in
China which RAB alas benam is the office
manager so go through where do we have
offices Shanghai we have an office in
Shanghai we have an office in coin India
which we've had for now around 10 years
um and we have also satellite offices in
Columbo in Sri Lanka and we have another
satellite office in um in Manila in the
Philippines um which R AR Mendoza and
his wife uh are Manning and we have also
a uh a couple of semi offices that are
working with us in some other places so
Representatives so all these places so
let's talk about the food right the Mas
have to eat they eat kosher the Mas I
sure hope otherwise they won't be
employed by us right so where do they
get all the where do they get the
uh I mean there's nothing local right
fruits fruits and vegetables you can get
local much that's what they do they live
on fruits and vegetables well so we have
so much who actually vegetarian but um
when talking about meats and stuff like
that that's all being imported fromel
from the United States from Europe
wherever the mash are coming in bring a
suitcase bring a su suitcase we have a
mash going this week to India and uh we
told him that he has to stop by the
office Friday morning because we got a
box for him and it's a suitcase just
loaded with food to take over we keep a
stocked kitchen in our office in uh in
in in kin uh that office also has a
couple bedrooms for the mash to sleep in
when they're coming through the coachin
area we have a lot of spice factories
and oo resin factories in that area so
uh we have them sleeping there as well
uh because it's like a large uh setup
over there it has a separate kosher
kitchen which is locked keep the key
they're going don't have the access to
that and and um we have some bedrooms
for there aside from the office space
that we have there and we have uh for
instance in in China we have a four
bedroom apartment that's always stocked
with kosher food the Mas are the ones
who have control over the kitchen there
totally so uh they have their home away
from home in those locations so they tra
they come let's say from some right how
long do they stay in in in in the Far
East to usually each tour is around 3
weeks you'll come in with shabas to
leave shabas okay and they'll stay till
for the next 2 and a half weeks and
leave the next Thursday so they'll be
home for jice Thursday night and then
they go back they both go back toel
United States they get to stay in that
depends on their contract how we work it
out they don't go the next following
Sunday we let them get some home time
too but uh I see okay it's I can I can
say it's not an easy job travel is not
an easy job and depending on which place
you're going the infrastructure in China
is much more developed than that in some
of the other countries like India and
it's much easier to travel in China than
it is in India it's a lot easier on the
Mas but um look it's it's it's a very it
takes a lot of dedication and these
masim are good dedicated people that
have been doing this for years and uh
it's really really heartwarming to see
the dedication that they have and the
Mysterious neish that they have for for
for you
for for Cas mhm I see so you were there
yourselves right let's talk a little bit
about that you were there for the
Shabbat this first ever Shabbat tone in
Mash conference conference in where was
it Shanghai in Shanghai uhuh okay and
what was it was a wonderful purpose of
it purpose was to um spend time with the
both formal discussions of of of
operations and going through some
technicalities of course they they met
with um by Skype on M shabas Baltimore
time Sunday morning uh in in Shanghai in
a conference room in a hotel we saw her
behind him by Skype they all spoke to
her behind him and asked questions that
was part of it they they G sh we shum we
gave spoke on on different topics that
relate both both the the even database
helping him a little bit with the
database basically we spent several days
there um we came on Thursday I came on
Thursday was there till
Sunday um we they had opportunity to
meet right behind him in via Skype on on
Sunday morning I gave Shum and both I
guess called sh and lectures meaning
shum on issues that relate to both
conscious issues relate to travel issues
we spoke some technical issues Visa the
star database um we we met you know
oneon-one on formly and in informally uh
issues came up regarding um companies
how to deal with certain you know
reports at the database uh just the
general day-to-day things that they that
they one one of the good things is that
when you have a group of masim that are
coming they were these were coming from
India from China from the Philippines um
all get that I mean they these are the
different locations that they visit and
frequent but they can cross reference
experience that they've had and how they
dealt with it and uh you know get get
our input and get each other's input as
to what's the best way to go forward and
how to to deal with different situations
if they come up with situations there's
a question whether or not that the they
can drink the regular milk in India and
China or they or they have to bring CL
soil other words in in in America we
were people that don't uh drink rely on
ra mosi's het that the regular milk is
okay they don't drink does that apply in
China and India or all these other
places that's a very good debatable
point probably we talk about that for a
long time whether or not much as heter
would be applicable in in these
countries as to whether or not um they
are like uh you know in United States
that the is primarily predicated on AAS
that may
creat because of government oversight I
mean we don't certify milk in India no
we do not we do not
Al I must tell you that the Gaz of of
was not said on butter and we do certify
a product that is made from butter a ghe
product uh as stard D you can't make
that you can't make that
from it says that you know butter is is
is is is okay even and was never never
what about let's say the other countries
besides China and India Philippines the
milk is
okay I do not I'm not sure what what our
what our policy is I do not we do not
certify anything dairy in the
Philippines I see their fridge was stock
with milk yes definitely was they bring
that in from they bring it in a suitcase
where did they get that
freezes from from from in the United
States so R you telling us that there
was some travel issue that you
discovered with
they come from Marriage to the date line
something one of the one of the my gab
was on the International Date Line and
and you know where it is and what
happens when you cross it and you know
when I've given the share in America
Sometimes some businessmen will come
over and say I cross it you know and
these Childs come up but here we have
MIM who was very very relevant on an Ono
basis because according to some opinions
the dayline runs through the Philippines
and the first thing we came up with was
was if a mash goes on Sunday we want to
make sure that he's traveling he's not
traveling Too Far East on Sunday because
according to Kish which rman says we
have to um take into consideration and
not certainly not does on an area hold
shabas which would include Eastern
Philippines uh he would have a shabas
problem so they actually internally
re-reviewed his itineraries and came up
that you know when he travels he needs
to stay he can't go too far east I I
think they were they were seeing exactly
how relevant that would be does he need
to get East on Sundays he doesn't need
to they can always schedule in a way not
the other isue they came up was our M
from travels on chabas to Korea travels
on chabas say shabas I'm sorry thank you
he does not travel on chabas he travels
on shabas or they said called right
shabas the flight of uh the best flight
is a m shabas flight to Korea and then
he changes planes to go to Shanghai that
flight lands in South Korea in the so
South Korea so the first discussion
really act at the conference was there's
a little bit of area that you end up in
the in the bay outside of the airport
that according to Kish you're crossing
the dayline so maybe for for half hour
on the plane you're in an area where
which might be suff shabas and this got
into a whole discussion whether whether
is the bay considered as part of the GL
and you say grey Road grey is the
concept of following the area so we said
maybe don't do the last half hour of
your flight then we even further we
discovered that that it's on inia inan
Airport which is the airport major
airport International Airport in South
Korea it's actually on an island and
therefore if it's on an island Islands
we don't say gryo and the gryo South
Korea is connected to Mainland China and
therefore we consider like Australia as
part of the same day as there but if
it's an island like Japan or New Zealand
it's not considered so when he's Landing
there it might still be shabas change of
plans on Sunday According to some
opinions it might be shabas and
therefore we got to this issue which is
still ongoing and how he should act when
exactly when he's there and wanted to
say not to do diis in inan airport on
Sunday until sun down Sunday until until
it gets dark on Sunday you can't do you
know people have waited anytime you get
into a discussion there's been a lot of
I saw some of the emails going back and
forth the the they really they
understand the issue and they want to do
the right thing they want behind in Pas
made a list on his way home he wanted to
say okay on Sunday has a problem I want
to know what I can I can't do so on his
trip home which is following the
conference two weeks after the
conference he actually made a list of
everything he did walking to the airport
changing planes to go back there to do
that on Sunday see if when when he comes
back in a few weeks on Sunday what he
can do can he sign his can't sign his
name when he checks in this and all all
the different things Sean bear is asking
that uh butter could also be produced
from whe so you're saying that uh that
the butter in India we don't accept the
milk but the butter accept well the the
ghe that we are giving a to is made from
100% whole
milk okay so okay fine so that's not not
an isue um okay sign your signals just
colle so
um when you were traveling there you
went uh on you went around the world
right correctly so you so some one of
the other rabbis was commenting that you
passed all the possible dat lines that's
like a yeah that was very very special
event
we heard that you had binoculars looking
out the window to see the date almost
emotional it's actually the middle of
the night everyone El was either
sleeping or was busy with the what
happens when you go over the date line
like is there a Sonic Boom no AB what
happens is you're on you're you're we I
flew to Europe to Doak work um of some
of the star facilities there and then I
flew from from Europe to China and I
landed in China Thursday morning and
actually went to visit a facility there
saw firsthand the the inspection um of
our M there it was it was fascinating
experience to to visit the plant and
this is a plant actually that has a
connection with American products that
I've dealt with so it was just
interested to see how they actually make
the raw materials I had seen reports
from but I was able to actually see it
firsthand um then so moving ahead was
skipping to Sunday I flew home and
flying home I took off Sunday afternoon
and then headed north and we ended up
over Siberia and then really North the
bearing the bearing straight and we we
nicked probably the northern tip of
Alaska barel Alaska at some point it's
hard to know exactly where at least
while you're sitting on the plane they
do have a I was watching the map
carefully it was in the middle of the
night they have a big picture of an
airplane that's showing you where you
are you don't really know exactly where
you are cuz the plane takes up an area
of probably 100 miles you know there you
can't know exactly when you're exactly
so really nothing happens in you could
go ask the captain to tell I wanted to
ask the captain please tell me exactly
when we crossed the line I could have
done that but realistically that line
according to many opinions I'm kidding
I'm not I'm
not that line is not according to all
opinions so really K's line there's the
there's the Civil line which go there's
the line of the E of Siberia which is
theas opinion there
the so there's a whole whole bunch of
opinions but by The End by the time I
landed in Newark
Airport them all mhm okay I want to go
to this issue that we mentioned before
um we have the uh the Nori Sushi Nori
sheets that became uh we did extensive
research which which was in Mas a
real who works in China so let me bring
let me see if I can bring that up for
for for viewers hold on one second let
me do this going to have to change the
screen a little
bit okay and
let's
see okay does that
show okay so you can see on your screen
a
um a uh this is a PowerPoint
presentation of the norish sheet
production process we're not going to go
through the whole
thing um and just let's you know this
the the the research that that was done
was really really extensive and this
this actually was presented to AKO at
the AKO meeting which is the
organization of kis professionals and
Rabbi tendler uh presented
this um and we can make this available
for you but you can see here they show
you how they how they start uh the uh
the
production um and you'll see from there
that the nor sheets are actually grown
in the in the ocean and you see
themselves or in pools off of the ocean
mhm and um he says here that that the
Japanese uh norish sheets are the
cleanest from a perspective of of kasas
of the bugs the recent issues we've been
finding uh we've been finding some uh
insects and we've been doing that's why
we did this all this research here so
you want to give us a nutshell what's in
the nutshell when we say insects it's
not like we call you know it's not a
flying bug usually that you're going to
find in there
you'll find little shrimp or or
seahorses or something like that that
that got stuck in there and really
depending on what time of the year and
the location how warm the water is how
cool the water is those are all factors
that will help determine as to whether
or not there's any likelihood of
shellfish or or or the like getting into
the where where these um where the where
the seaweed is growing U the seaweed is
then harvested and w washed but um you
know the best the best a the best
prevention is the best uh the best
medicine is is prevention and if it's
grown in a situation that's less likely
to have uh infestation then you're
you're always much safer we do have only
people the bottom line people should
only buy with with a reliable heire
that's for sure well there's a couple of
factors involved one is that some of
these facilities that process the nor
sheets they where you buy usually is
what's called a toasted norish sheet
that's gone through a a little oven and
uh often times you'll have uh companies
that do what they call Seasoned Nori
that all spray onto it some sort of
seasoning which may not be kosher
because for their markets for the
non-jewish markets they may be spraying
on something like C clam juice or
whatever that is not Kosher so uh to buy
from a non-certified
facility you're taking your chances that
maybe it was processed on the same
equipment that was used for seasoned or
non-season and then it could be could be
you know that are that are are are
tra so you know there it's it's wise to
buy specifically from a coacher
certified uh facility and again we have
this issue of infestation the facilities
that we are certifying um primarily
right now we are only doing by specific
Lots um where the Mas is there at the
production to verify that the uh
equipment is working properly a that the
incoming uh Nori sheets are clean and B
that if there are any impurities they
will be picked up by the machines
because they have these electronic eyes
and the like that the the facilities
that we do certify and and aside from
that the facilities that we are
certifying are only processing
non-flavored
ones we don't have problem with the with
the utensil we do have a facility in
Korea that does what's called a season
but it's just a seasoning of oil of
kosher oils those are the only type of
seasonings that they have there question
question is asking are the are the bugs
are they ground up or they still whole
they're pretty much the hold where I see
where I see well there's there's there
are sometimes pieces that sometimes
whole the problem
iset if you look at them you can often
see them and even if something is
there's
on something that's not obvious but if
you see it sitting on top of your nor
sheet then there's no D B on that which
is in front of you if you look through
the pictures you'll see if you look
through these pictures you can see what
you what if you buy without a he without
a reliable he what you might be getting
and at the end of this whole thing we
have some of our policies here um what
the Mas has to fill out and what he has
to look for to make sure that none of
these problems are um when we're doing a
noru
all right I think we're coming to the
end of our our discussion is there
anything else that would be interesting
to to wrap up the uh they had had a nice
time with with with your visit and they
felt the they felt that they were cared
for and they uh you know that we were
there for them I I think so very much so
and I I personally got a big because
seeing the dedication and the of the Mas
that they have and how dedicated they
are to their craft and how interested
they are to try to find any new angle or
whatever to to make the to make things
work better and and bring up the
standards of Kes I think that's a very
big for all of us um and uh it's really
it's really I think can can attest to
it's a really a a good diverse group of
people that are really interested in the
betterment of of kous worldwide they're
also very knowledgeable they know the
they know they know what they're going
for they have a wonderful relationship
with M who really deals with them on an
ongoing basis and is very responsive to
the issues any Mash is always going to
bring up issues the best ofas they're
going to be issues in the factory in
fact of says we never find any problems
factories they never they never find
that's a problem there are there are
issues that come up and factories are
looking for always bigger and better and
we have that not only in China we have
that in in any country in any plant
almost almost any plant we have there's
always going to be issues that come up
and and R Mich is responsive to those
needs is in touch with the r withman
when relates to issues some of them are
the technical issues maybe an ingredient
is missing a a symbol maybe which which
comes up all the time we're in midle of
that right now with with uh ingredients
unclear exactly we're in touch with that
other what the story is this this is all
the time um and that's those are more U
issues that we could handle speaking to
other agencies or if it's a stark
product speak to other Rabbi but when
it's issue you know the r is is a touch
with the Rob so really is very very nice
the whole the structure of the star k in
that sense obviously Dr P is dealing
with the business issues which certainly
come up with new companies as we expand
but again isues are going to the RO the
takes on all of that and and he's
passing many times at the meetings and
on the phone for should we do this is
this something we can get involved is
this the right do we have to Cas don't
we have to Cas here the list goes on and
on and on and that's really what what
makes a cous agency where you have I
think just the fact that we have say to
speak boots on the ground more so than
some others uh we have the we have the
infrastructure there and boots on the
ground uh to go into the facilities and
to communicate with the facilities so
that we're really on top of all of our
situations you know be it in India be it
in China be it in the Philippines right
if if like you mentioned before if
there's no never any questions or never
any challenges there something wrong if
you call up a raak and you say what you
know is everything what's going on in
this facility says well what could be
the problem there's no problem you know
there are other agencies in the region
that are also working very hard and and
again know the omness and know what
needs to be done I think I think all the
agencies uh all every agency but many of
the agencies um that are that are in the
region are are on top of ation again
star has many
fulltime there there some last many
questions sha is asking considering how
large China is how does star manage to
keep on top of all the factories I think
well that was answered basically by our
whole discussion here um you know we
again the the frequency of going in
having people going in and U experience
into knowing what to be looking for is
obviously a very very important tool
when you're walking into such facilities
M and being able to say no if it's too
complicated right or being able to say
no we can't start being able to say no
you've expanded too much we can't give
picture on this and being able to say no
we can't continue certification I mean
as nonprofits I mean we don't feel the
pressure of having to take correct every
company or if we drop a company oh no
there's a few thousand paycheck out of
my pocket your paycheck is not going to
be less this week cuz we dro the company
right that's the advantage of being a
nonprofit we don't have that right we
don't have that Prof that that that that
pressure
um is asking do have to set aside their
own personal when working for the oras
when working for the star k not sure
what it means I know people setting
aside their own personal Kus but but
humus I think we try to be uh respectful
for let's say let's say Mash has a Capa
that he's only GNA he's going to wait
his Market to wait 72 minutes or 90
minutes after after it say to travel you
mean does
work so those are things that we work
with you know nobody if I have
a I I I think that's something that I
should appreciate in the person as an a
a person and um we try to work with him
as might mean as far as the company
let's say hold something M like I hold
you caser the doesn't Cas plastic for
instance
um right right if he doesn't if he
drinks
is
can he be can he be a in a place that's
doing something I think commonly that's
done right is not the kaser plastic if
if a if a individual who has his own R
and his own home he'll Cas a plastic
is's doing work for Star K on star k
work he's not going to Cas a plastic
right basically we expect him to do what
whatever the r what the from the
guidelines that we have are are set by
the RO as far as k is concern if a
person has his own personal so that's
something that I think we we generally
appreciate Factory
though factory setting then we he'll
he'll Follow by that right I think that
that that would answer that question are
there any last minute questions we can
try to take them otherwise we want to
thank everybody for uh for joining us
again this webinar is usually held the
last Wednesday of the month at 12:00
noon uh we're here in our offices in
Baltimore more uh Maryland maybe next
month we'll go to China and do it from
there in February the last Wednesday
it's coming up pretty soon it's coming
up pretty soon right right um sometimes
when I've been in in Nell the last
Wednesday of the month I wonder if we
should just you know have a satellite
onsite yeah in there to sell the last
part of the trip which was very nice was
was you know we took a tour together
which brought certainly camaraderie tour
of the Jewish Jewish Shanghai did you
see the mirror we saw where the place
where the mirror was it was a it was a
base iron shol which is which was torn
down in 1985 actually doing more
Construction in that area now there now
it's it's a business district building
it's it's a it's a business district so
we did see the site or the lot where the
mirror was but we went to the
neighborhood where they lived which was
old Jewish ghetto which was a
fascinating uh experience to see we saw
a building which the tour guide said was
you know certainly mirror and another
people dormed in this building and uh it
may may even been an auxiliary Bas
medish did did you did you wear your
Yuka there yeah regular regular hat I
mean sorry I mean your hat hat no
problem no problem there's no
anti-Semitism right well one of the
things the tour guy mentioned was the
Chinese and the Japanese um to their you
know to their credit was you know you
had refugees there during the war and um
they were allies the Japanese were
allies with the Germans and yet even
though the Germans were putting pressure
they really had no internal antisemitism
because they hadn't experienced you know
Jews were something totally new to them
and and there was some was a foreigner
they're a foreigner in fact the ghetto
was was I think known as the area for
stateless refugees it wasn't even called
a Jew maybe nickname the Jewish GH but
they refer to it as area of stateless
refugees it was just everybody stateless
in other words whoever stateless the Jew
or not Jew so it was very interesting
and really at the end at the end they
did not
carry through with loyal
potential um evil ideas of the Germans
that that had asked the Japanese to do
certain
things The Story Goes that the one of
the Japanese called in the over and he
asked them why did the Germans hate you
so much and he cleverly said because
we're
Oriental I see okay well thank you for
joining us thank you RAB Michelle thank
you RAB Heber for being spending time
here and I want to invite everybody to
come again next month uh if you want to
see the replay of this you can look on
our website star.org or on our Vimeo
Channel I want to thank Rabbi Chapman
and Miss Rosenstein for technical
support today and we look forward to
seeing you again take care be well