05-29-2013 STAR-K Discusses Summer Kosher Prep Slurpees, Ices, Ice Cream, Sodas

hello and welcome to star's monthly webinar we're here in the star offices in Baltimore Maryland Yep this is Rabbi bar Bayer to my right I'm Rabbi Goldberg we're glad that you could join us once again for the uh for the webinar if you'd like to call in our phone numbers are 218 89512 Z3 again 218 89512 Z3 passcode 2020 uh we're here the last Wednesday of every month God willing and we have many of our previous webinars archived at kosher classes. org click on I think podcast and you can see some of our uh our previous ones um and I was just looking at that list yesterday R buyer yes and what it has over there we did last year a very nice series on on travel before the summer on on air travel as is our one right and then on on General kosher travel uh we had Steve SEL on from a food perspective you're talking about from a food no no not only from a food perspective from a perspective of uh what does travel is you know culture travel is most a lot about flu but it's also about chab you and I would go no traveling kosher traveling kosher traveling as a kosher consumer right that's what we discussed and you know he's been around the world and he has many experiences with what Steve has with what uh with what uh you you uh with what you encounter I remember I was I was listening yesterday and his his main point was preparation that you got to prepare for your trip before you go he was he was mostly uh geared towards the uh towards let's see how you can prepare like they call the hotel find out about the rooms find out about the locks find out about um and on the airplane what you can do and so on so I think it's I I just wanted to mention that give a plug for it it's it's was a good session if you're planning a trip and I think that people would be uh would be interested yeah it's an interesting was an interesting webinar um okay so but that was last year this year is uh our almost annual Summer koser Prep discussion Slurpees IES ice cream and sodas and also open Line questions so if anybody has any questions at all on any topic that we open Line Wednesday open Line Wednesday we'll be able to if we can help if we can help with it we'll be more than happy to uh to assist with that or if we can't get to the question now get to the answer now the questions we can get you now the answer is we may not be able to uh if we can't we we we could uh direct you to the right place one of those places is our is our email which which is info@ stark. org or our website stark. org um or our phone number uh for those people who are still calling and using the uh the oldfashioned telephones which there are a lot of people because we got a lot of calls 410 484 4110 or busy phones uh we have people waiting really seriously waiting to answer the calls that's what they do they don't do like another job and they also answer people's questions they're hired to answer and they're here they're not like in Bangladesh or something right well they're not in India they're not in India we have offices in India also we do have offices around the world but those those offices are uh we don't direct call live South African answering your calls that's right right here in in Baltimore right here in Baltimore the ladies do a wonderful job that we provide them with the uh with the information that they need highly paid highly trained we train them we give them the documents that they need they can look everything up if they don't know they ask one of the rabbis and you can get your your authoritative answer from them so let's uh talk about the the uh how we should start with Slurpees I guess that's that's your that's one of your fores a buyer yeah uh how many we talked about how many Slurpees they sell how many swimming pools Olympic size yeah swimming pool 15 something like that do they sell every summer a lot a lot of swimming pools worth of Slurpees Slurpees is one of the most popular uh frozen drinks is it only in America or it's all over the world I think you can get them anywhere I think so I mean okay everybody here's a question I want to throw at you these kosher flavors that you have will talk about yeah if I go to India and I go into a 7-Eleven assuming that they exist over there I think they do then can I buy slurpie in India I would have to refer you to the to our Indian office that one but something that's a good question isn't it other words is the yes that's a good question I the the the the flavor box that's coming here in America so we know it's under whatever certification to this and we have that information on our website right um and the question is whether or not that would be true in India all over the world same question with soda but we still a little bit know theand or whatever right we know the answer with sod the same difference I I think it's the same answer right I want to mention uh Abe is chatting in good afternoon rabbis if we think it's the Abe that we know oh yeah maybe Abe knows also ab's also a slurpie RAB by Abe sharp from CRC probably from Chicago a good friend and um uh we share information or we get information from them or we steal information from them we get yeah we we we we we uh we're able to we grateful to them to provide us with some of the slippery information um if you want to chat with us please go ahead and and do so at the bottom of your screen you see a chat screen just type it in we'll be happy to take your questions or comments so what is the what do you think a person who wants to buy slurpie needs to know where they buy oh boy um what do I need to know do we certify slurpie first of all we um when the star k makes a list of of acceptable Slurpees uh we're not saying that we're certifying them there's a difference between certifying them and making a list and and saying these are approved um basically all we do is check with the various uh manufacturers of the um concentrates that are used to make the slurpie and if that concentrate comes in kosher so then we recommend it as a as a kosher product and the reason for that is because we're conf ENT that the slurpie that you're getting um in the in the individual 7-Eleven stores is actually being made from that from those components that are coming in that are we are confident how do we know and uh and we're also uh we know the only thing that's being added at the store level is really the water mhm um we don't know with with absolute certainty that that that that's what it is but the overwhelming majority well there's a few things the overwhelming maj majority of Slurpees first of all are Kosher certified okay um number two the um the U it's a cold product and it's made cold so even if you would run into a situation where the 7-Eleven that you're at had been carrying uh a noncertified or non- koser Slurpee um that would not have affected the uh Machinery the slurpie machine where the kosher product is now being dispensed from so that's not a problem and we also are fairly confident that the flavor that they're claiming on the front of the um machine is actually the flavor that's that's being uh uh attached I want had a story my my wife once went to a store and saw that uh there was um I don't know uh raspberry something flavor and um it was blue and she went to another store because they didn't have whatever flavor she wanted the first one and it was red the same sign your wife doesn't know that raspberries are blue so so she said to the people person behind the counter something's not right here it can't be the same flavor can't be both blue well there's a there's actually a blue raspberry flavor there's one of the flavors blue raspberry and one is regular raspberry I think so oh really so you mean it was so there was actually two flavors that one was blue one was red right oh okay that's the good answer okay so uh so fine so there was no problem but uh okay so we so we we can't say 100% that the flavor that's there though is the one that's really being sered you have understand it's you know slurp is is for the most part most Slurpees are are either a company owned there's a few that are company owned most of them are franchised are rules and regulations that each franchisee is is supposed to keep to um my understanding and we've spoken to the people at 7-Eleven is that there are recommended there's a recommended list of flavors that they're supposed to be offering and that they're not necessarily held to that list but for the most part they they are and they and they should be and legally they're not supposed to use off flavors uh off branded flavors and and then claim that it's like you know if it's a Coca-Cola flavor or a Fanta flavor and they're using you know um acne flavor that that can get them into legal into legal hot water right so you know all of those reasons um for all of those reasons we we feel fairly comfortable um very comfortable to tell people that what's on our list is what is is what you're going to get now if you want to be careful and uh you don't have any problem asking them then you know by all means you can ask them and you just just have to go in the back and and you can see the actual box that the what's this list you have in front of your bu what is new about this this list in my never stained um hands that's a Russ okay sorry anyway I people here in the studio listen to Russ Li so um the um this is the slurpie list the later slurpie list um if you notice if you go on to our website you'll see our slurpie list it's greatly reduced from what it was or has been in the past um we usually had many many more flavors here this year we decided to cut it down um based on information coming from uh the 7-Eleven headquarters office where we have um which we're in contact with with the people there um the person there told us that they didn't recognize many of the flavors we had as Slurpee flavors and um they told us that these were the only flavors that were currently available uh during the summer season um and how many you have can I take a look okay so let's see we have uh there's only like 10 here okay so and we also have a little section there for new flavors which have come out recently ah so there Coca-Cola obviously Dr Pepper haai punch Mountain Dew uh blue shock then a couple of fanta flavors banana blue raspberry Cherry grape kiwi strawberry sugar-free cherry limeade and Pepsi Orange and there's a couple new flavors okay so that's not very that's uh really uh I hope the American public will be happy with this limited availability truth is I think I think I I think that's really the case most of the time when you walk into a slurpie they banana okay welcome to 7-Eleven store there aren't going to be a 100 different varieties of of slurpie that you can purchase it's usually only about 10 flavors mhm okay RJ is asking a question here uh what's the difference between getting a slurp and an ice cream from a store such as 7-Eleven versus carll or TCBY Etc okay so um I guess I guess we could frame the question if if it's okay they get a Slurpee so is it okay to go into a a store I'm not sure I understand the question what he's saying getting a slurpie or an ice cream first of all we're not recommending any ice cream from 7-Eleven unless it's a prepackaged with a certification I think it means a slurpie at 7-Eleven or an ice cream from carel well I mean if you know that there's if you know that the ice cream from carel is kosher then feel free if you know that slippy mix is kosher why not a soft ice cream he's asking he or she well they didn't ask that but um is yes if you know the slippy mix is kosher why why why not a soft ice cream what's the what's the difference if you know it's a kosher mix so so if you know if you if you if you so let's take that it really wouldn't be wrong it wouldn't be any if you knew if you knew we don't have a Carell list um is Carell certified I don't remember believe that it is at least when it was here it was unless it lost the be a long time ago was I remember KK but I don't I haven't been following it since uh I mean there were no more carelles in Baltimore as far as I know at least our area all right um so so so if you knew that the these mix was kosher it would be the same thing right but see see I mean people have asked us about the TCBY question we've had that question many times who certifies T I think it's OU isn't it the Frozen yogur but I think so okay so if you could be certain that that was there there is a little bit of a difference a little more complicated that is right the slurpie product is a more simple simp doesn't have cous such cous issues the flavors are not really issues while the ice cream could have diglycerides right uh and and it could really be a real kosher issue but if you went into the back of the store I'm not even sure what do they add to the to the uh in the mix for ice cream is it just milk I think so milk and sugar maybe uh so so if you were if you checked it out and I think that you should check out the ice cream because I I know of at least I know a few cases where they were serving ice cream not what the uh what the store was supposed to be selling okay I mean you have the same thing with slurping I mean there are situations where that does happen the RIS the risk by slurpers is much less okay but obviously it's better to be in your own m own checking the carel on Van hton in Clifton New Jersey is certified koser by the local V okay well that's a different situation so they're they're certifying the whole store and they're going in and they there certification we're talking about you kind of self-certifying bring out read such think is a good point a good thing to talk about also okay we can readers we we certify some readers in in in we certify some local readers so our understanding always has been that the readers well the ises and the bases I believe for the soft uh whatever they serve their ice cream or custards or whatever I believe it's all it's all it's all under certification right I think it's so you I think we've always said that and then we've always been a little bit um standoffish when it came to toppings and things like that I think well the toppings in our stores are the thi stor not but not necessarily the other stores no that's that's true with carll or whatever that even if you go check the the ice cream mix or the yogurt mix you're not going to know that's not going to help you with the toppings the toppings are often they have uh they buy what they want the truth is what happens here is you know I think is is a bit problematic because people now you know people get into the habit of you know it's almost harking back to what Kus was like in the when we were little kids you know you just look at the label read the ingredients and people are like okay you know as long as we know that That's the basis kosher we can just go into this nonculture establishment and order you know what we want which is really um I think it's just it's it's not it's not a good attitude to have it's not ideal for sure it's a risky kind of behavior from a conscious perspective you have to be very well informed to be able to do that right um one issue with some of these ice cream stores is that some of the flavors come in kosher like and and some some are not right some of the flavors are certified and some are marshmallow so they're not Kosher they don't come in with with the and you're going to order only the kosher ice cream and The $64,000 Question is do I have to worry that the scooper that was used for the it's the same question for the Slurpees because there are some non-closure slurp out there right do I have to worry that the dispenser right was used for the non- kosher flavor right so we have an answer to that so we do have an answer for that we have an answer for that it's not so bad you want to well we we've the answer that we've given as we said before the the actual machine that produces the slurpie there in the store it's Al an all cold process so there's no uh issue as far as the non koser flavor with being um absorbed by absorbed by the equipment and it doesn't sit for 24 hours fit for 24 hours and the amount of of non-closure slurpy that might be left in the bottom of the can you know the dispenser is enough maybe for one cup possibly um by then it's out and uh you know it really isn't uh anything to talk about at that point um but it's a similar kind of a question because it's a if you take the leftover The Leftovers the actual food the actual marshmallow that's stuck to the uh right you know to the scooper so we tell people by the ice cream they should tell them to wash the scooper rinse off the scooper before they scoop out your kosher ice cream but that will help but it won I people slurp they can because I know my I know when kids go in there they they kind of you you know you can take a little bit of slurpy out without I I'm not condoning stealing from 7-Eleven you take a little SLI to see what color it is to clear it yeah okay uh so by the by the ice cream that would help if you tell them to to to clean the scooper if the last if the problem is the last person ordered marshmallow it would help if you wash the scooper wash it off in cold in cold water but but if let's say there's a case where you could come up with that that wouldn't help if if let's say somebody came in they ordered vanilla and then they then they order no not opposite they ordered first marshmallow or two scoops a scoop of marsh marow and then they also want a scoop of vanilla so they don't wash the scooper necessarily in between because he's busy he takes the the marshmallow and he takes the I mean there are some stores that have scoopers in each one but anyway that would be ideal okay so so then so then if you if the scooper that would had some marshmallow went into the vanilla and having him wash the scooper before he gives you won't help the the marshmallow that's in the vanilla already it's a it's it's something a person has to decide if it's a problem it's not a great big problem because why do I have to assume that the last person did that I mean the other people the people come to the store all day and most people most of the flavors are Kosher most of the Scoops are Kosher most of the time you do that it's not a giant problem but it's uh it's something to be aware of basin Robins always washes it in a basin of water between Scoops okay if they do that that would that would be good I'm not uh I'm not sure that that that's again these are all not is by the way these are all right anything that we all these dairy products these are not they're only for people who don't eat don't require um Jonathan is saying that remember reita sells both Dairy and Par right okay so reita getting back to the Reas yeah but I so some some are dairy and some are parv things are really just the ises the and the dairies all everything else so it's not that no no there is ises that's Dairy oh there are dairy I da da so again the same problem is does the scooper does any of the dairy IES get into the par of IES uh it's a similar I don't I have to really worry about that it's a minor really sort of a minor issue because the most of the flavors I think are P of and we can sort of assume that the dairy would be scooped out um so so so RJ is asking so any readers is fine by this Logic for ises or soft ice cream only oh I didn't know readers have soft ice cream at all did they have oh yeah oh really yeah absolutely well that's so I'm saying it's the same soft ice cream it's the same thing as the Carell it's the same thing TCB it's so you'd have to check the the the Box on the you would need to check and make sure that it's that that's what they're serving you if it's on you I'm not sure what it is but the read is Isis it's right in front of you you can see the you should be able to see be able if it's there yeah if it's on there should be able to see the label so we're going to make a blanket statement that any readers is fine for the Isis I'm not comfortable doing that one second that's not how Reas works I'm remembering now Reas makes the IES in the store and that you can't it's not like a a Baskin Robin where you can check the the container and see the uh the ice cream but the ice cream is made with with a mix it's made with a mix but they make it in the store the difference between bass and Robins bass and robins comes in with a tub and you can look at the tub you can see the hard ice cream but but the is making it per in the store per per order it's the same it's the same but the same logic that we were saying by Carell at TCBY if you're working off out of a mix then that's you know then as long as the mix as long as you know the mix is f so that's the question can we be comfortable saying that right do you have to check the mix or don't you have to check the mix that's that's the that's the real question and do we want to do we want to come out and tell everyone go B read us probably not especially since it's not star k so uh if it was a star k product maybe we would it I I don't know if we want to make a defin bottom line we don't make a definitive statement about it Goldberg will do that about what you want you want to make a defin no we don't I don't think we do to say that they're all okay and we guaranteeing you that what they say is what they're giving you I don't think we want make such a definite statement um about that star doesn't have such a policy like that to say it's a minor issue yes yes to say it's definitively that we we're not giving a certification to it we can't say 100% uh okay so David Schwarz is asking what do they need to do with the mixing table at Maggie Mo which is a cold piece of marble so if I remember I once I once went to a Maggi moose to uh we were going to give a certification to one here so I went to review them um if I'm not mistaken so they take the ice cream they put it down on the table and they mix uh whatever they add the the the different uh addin right so you'd have to know that those addin are areer Kosher first so he's asking is there any problem with the piece of marble I mean if they wash it off if it's washed and clean if it's clean then it should be okay you can have them wash it that shouldn't be that shouldn't pause any problem RJ saying I can take you take you for a scoop of custard after this webinar okay it have to be uh would have to be custard um okay so let's let's talk a little bit about the uh about the sodas that's also part of this part of this discussion yeah so you know as time goes on when we first made this uh the idea of the soda list um the idea of having a soda with a certification on and the label was not as widespread as it is today um nowadays you'll find at least in the United States you'll find many of the uh soda companies have a certification even out out of the major Metropolitan again if you go out west you're going somewhere where the where the Jewish population is minimal so you may not see that mhm but and certainly on the east coast and on the west coast and in large communities like Chicago and places like that you very well might find the certification on the label um which is great now um that's as far as as a as a packaged soda is concerned okay um when you talk about uh a fountain soda or a fountain drink so then you're getting into the same questions that you have with the um with the slurp P how do you know really know this is what they're how do you really know so the first question is do you can you assume that the Coca-Cola if you have Coca-Cola in a bottle being kosher is Coca-Cola in a fountain being kosher and the answer to that is is yes um they don't change from the fountain to the to the bottle it's the same drink that you're getting there might be more water in it something like that but the actual base is the same um now so could you if if there if the store is advertising you're in a you're in a a rest stop and then you you wanted to get instead of again for some reason you want to get a fountain soda if they don't have bottled package products available with a certification and you wanted to either buy a bottled product without a certification or you wanted to buy a fountain the um if you use our list our soda list then you can rely on those on that the if it's on our list then you can rely that it's a kosher product in other words we we're comfortable saying that what is on the label is the soda yes we haven't heard a lot of switching by soda no although I'm sure it happens but also again the risk is very small right the same reasons even if it were same Saron same slur is just a different a different a different form of the same product form of the same product so Sur is basically soda also right um if you add if you added carbonation to the slurpie uh the slurpie mix wouldn't you get soda well yeah a little other another little ingredient that makes it kind of uh foam up so the other the only thing I would caution people is that um you know there's a lot of um first of all there's a gazillion sodas out there and every time you turn around there's a new one so you know if you've never heard of it then don't drink it unless you know for sure second of all there are is there anything that Coca-Cola makes that's not not I say we can't say for sure okay you haven't come across right well I will what I would caution people though there are many drinks that are coming on the market now like Juice drinks or iced tea type drinks which are made in an environment where they're produced hot uhhuh um the sodas by almost as a rule are are made cold um which is why even if the bottler where they're being bottled and manufactured is not Kosher certified we don't have that much of an issue saying that it's a kosher product because we assume that the bottler is going to be using the flavor that he was sent by the company that contracted with them but if you're using a making a product that's made Hot For example Hawaiian Punch um could be made hot and that's why if you look on our list there'll only be certain sizes that we're recommending because we know from the from the agencies that certify that product that they know that these sizes are made in in facilities that are okay and that they're not making a product which is which is non po so you have to look for the certification on those on those kinds of things it's it's you'd be better served to look for the certification iced tea and again I I I kind of say this as a rule um the more expensive the IC tea is the more likely is it was it was made hot the cheaper the iced tea and especially if it has like a preservative in it um sodium benzoate or something like that that's usually an indication indication that it's basically a soda um with a tea flavor so then if you knew that the base was kosher it would be like cor like a soda but if you have a fancier more expensive you know premium tea like an honest tea or Arizona Tea those tees Are Made hot so that's something where you that's a good point but basically even if you're on even if you don't see the label on the machine let's say you're on an airplane and you ask for a soda right so the airplane is people people generally I think that I think generally people are lenient is to order a Coke and hope and assume that they get C I like order ginger ale because rabman says that he never found a non- kosher ginger ale flavor anyway Ginger is supposed to be good for you uh for for you what's good to also mention if people are traveling out of the country um not not every flavor that is is kosher here is necessarily kosher somewhere in in a different country um it usually is in in North America that would include um Canada in Mexico but that's not the case necessarily there are flavors of Slurpees um which are not necessarily recommended in Canada which would be recommended here in the states really so they have to know so uh we don't have it broken down by country I think maybe some of them we do um Chicago the Chicago list if people want to look at the the CRC list a list um I think he does have a an extensive list for for Canada as a matter of fact the the co the Canadian fasher for Toronto has a slurpie list now okay so when you go so you got to know which country you're in and so if you're in India you want to look at the Mexico even Mexico there are there are certain things which are good and certain things are not okay that's good thing so you know I i' I've tried to get the information out of um the agencies that certify Coca-Cola whether they would vouch for Coca-Cola in other countries and they've always told me they wouldn't give me any information they would always say as long as it has no unit which is you know very difficult um off the Record they they were saying that if it's in a country where where they have a strong kosher presence uh like England or or you know some other Western European country so then they feel more comfortable or Israel obviously or Australia possibly Israel has its own right it has its own right certification you know if you're going into Asia places like that so then you know it becomes a little more ify so I want to tell you the story that I was on a plane once and I ordered um I ordered the ginger ale and the steart brought brings it out to me and I wasn't ready to Dr yet so I left it there um and uh she comes running back 5 minutes later she says to me sir yeah sir I don't think you want to drink that I said why she said it's champagne like she gave me she poured it for somebody else and she she she gave it to me and uh so probably what happened was that when the other fellow picked up his champagne he started this is notamp this a ginger ale so she realized that she made a mistake so uh somebody told me afterwards that you could tell the difference it it didn't have any ice in it they don't put ice in Champagne assuming that they poured it correctly originally that they they didn't have any ice the second one came when she brought it back with ice it's interesting cuz they used to be a Canada Dry used to have a sh it used to be called champagne ginger ale oh really because it looked a little bit like okay so so you got to uh you got to be careful okay let's take some of these questions AR buyer yes um the problem with Marsh is the gelatin used to make it or uh yeah that's mostly that's mostly what the problem is marshm are a big thing of gelon with sugar at right so that's uh that's that's the problem with the marshmallow it's not certified kosher you could have kosher marshmallows you can buy them but the companies don't usually want to spend the money uh mendal is asking what about the new Coca-Cola machine all all the flavors go through Coca-Cola Freestyle we just talked about this this is a fancy machine that you can get all sorts it has it has buttons and you pick out exactly what kind of flavor you want it mixes the soda right for you and you have how many 40 50 60 100 different varities varieties in in one little comp machine so we we spoke to the OU about this the OU is a certification Agency for Coca-Cola and they told us that the flavors that are available in those machines are indeed kosher and usable um all the flavors are all the flavor that machine is so high tech that you can only use you know particular Coca-Cola manufactured mhm flavor canisters that will fit that machine you can't just get an off brand right it's actually better than a regular uh fountain machine I see so um yeah so you can you could definitely have a you know whatever slurpie raspberry I mean the Sprite raspberry or whatever it is that they offer there right so that's actually a very kosher machine freestyle very good many bars in New Jerseys have asked were caught recently putting cheap alcohol into fancy bottles why should I assume the fountain soda isn't also commonly switched okay it is a possibility again the risk uh with soda is minimal because I think the kosher issues are are much less than I don't know this for a fact but I'm just wondering and just guessing here if the cost differential between cheap alcohol and the real deal is greater than you would have between an offbrand of soda and and the regular I I don't know I don't know if in other words I don't know if the profit motive is there by soda that you have by alcohol right I mean I could I could definitely hear a person saying that they're not comfortable with buying a fountain even though it says mean to be honest we did hear a situation where where uh someone I think someone asked a 7-Eleven guy owner and he said like in the summer when things were very very busy there are times when they run out MH of a particular flavor and they can't get a hold of the 7 the distribution person for them and they they might get an offbrand it's possible PLS why aren't sodas labeled in the US labeled kosher I think he means in Canada we use only soda Mark kosher pretty much any brand here and it's confusing when we travel in the US okay that has to do with the bottling you want to explain do the bot bottling everybody the only time that the agency will will uh will put a certification on the bottle is if the agency has visited the bottler um in America there are a number of bottlers across the country and not all of them are visited by every agency or any agency so that's why you won't necessarily find the certification on the bottle for example star gives a certification to Jones Soda um which is a kind of a premium quckie brand of soda that you'll find in some stores we visit all of all of all the bottlers that that make uh Jones Soda and therefore we're comfortable putting the St okay we have no problem with that but most agencies will not not be comfortable allowing the H to go on to a product that they've never been to the factory they will however we and we still feel that based on our our experience over the year over many years that we can still tell we can still tell you that if it's a cold filled soda from a name branded product that we're comfortable telling you that it's a kosher product even though the certification is not there I think the answer but what's the difference between Canada and the US I think Canada fewer fewer Botts right so I think in Canada probably means if you're in Toronto you're Montreal if you're in saskat you're going to be Al in the west I don't think you're going to find soda that's marked may you will but I don't know if you will notely I doubt it it's going to be the same thing it's going to be the same thing uh as as as as as you would find in the US uh that's what I guess is a technical reason why you find kosher in Canada okay RJ is asking are minute made ice teas and lemonades kosher they have triangle K uh so we I think our answer for that is we don't have information about that that say one thingification you know minute ma is is owned partially by Coca-Cola there's part of minute Maids which are Coca-Cola branded products um but you should use caution because just because it's here's here's an example of a Coca-Cola product that is not certified by the OU I see um there are some grape juices that are used and some of the minute made juices uh and you need to use caution David is asking does stark have or are they working on a smartphone app that will help figure out what products are kosher while on the road s piece yes we are working on it so I guess no we don't have one yet but yes we are actively working on on an app and that should be available fairly soon about your for your liquor for your soda for all the lists if you go to Stark star- k.org and click on kosher consumer then click on latest starc lists you will see we have lists of what sodas you can buy liquor br um even a fish list I think fish all all different things uh and we are actively working on I'm bringing that to your iPhone and Android uh uh very soon so keep thanks for asking to keep in touch with us on that are IC IC and Royal Farm slurpie is the same as seven of them Slurpee in terms of K Royal Farms does have a very famous question we get all get this question all the time forms here in Maryland are Marland right that's um I don't know if there a ro FMS outside of Maryland but Royal Farms in Maryland uses exclusively Coca-Cola um slurpie um flavors so those are all fine um icy flavors is to the best of my knowledge is in some way related to 711 I don't know exactly how it's done but they're also uh using the major branded uh products um and I believe they're also all all under the OU is I see I see is what you get those little bows of of no no no something else IC slurp it's called an i and where do you get it target has them some other stores have them you're talking about those little ice cream balls the Dipping Dots oh Dipping Dots which is which was under the OV is not under OV anymore I I don't know I haven't checked recently but um if it's on the then I again I don't know the technology there they buy the little Frozen balls and to put them in the machine or or the little balls made in the machine I don't know how it works I don't know I think you can get it in in in in like a uh vending machine kind of thing you just uh so it's just little balls that are in there I think so um okay uh Mel is saying that many sing FS are maintained by representative of selling company they may notice that someone is switching the brands that is true if but probably if someone's switching the brands they wouldn't have the the representative coming and help them they'd say we don't need any of this money he's well he's saying well okay theoretically there's the s companies are supposed to go check on their machines you know there is a threat of of of a lawsuit there if you're selling something advertised as Coca-Cola and it's not Coke they would be pretty upset right uh Rick says minute made pink lemonade contains grape juice presumably as a colorant or at least it used to okay and so yeah that's that's that's an issue for sure just in general Juice drink juice drinks are more dangerous than sodas people need to be more more careful juice Blended BL the ju drinks that we're talking about right right okay if you have if anybody has any further questions we have any question questions or any questions on kous at all that we can help you with we' be happy to uh to take the questions I see we have uh mostly people from North America I can see where they sort of where they're logging in from we have some in Europe uh mostly from from uh from North America uh sometimes we have from Australia sometimes we get from ER tol well sometimes it depends on the time difference uh a little bit ra Goldberg can discuss cruises so before before the uh here we uh before the uh the class I was playing around a little bit so I created I created a uh a poll here let's see if it's still available um let's see how do I run this edit open here we go pole NE here so here's a poll does it come up on your screen I I buy kosher flavors 30 I buy the koser FL slippers at 7-Eleven so you can take the poll and we'll see whether or not you okay we have we have some some nose we'll see at the end what uh what well what does that mean does that mean they don't buy Slurpees at all or does that mean that uh they don't buy by coer slurp or they buy them somewhere else they buy the non- coer slurp non coer slurp well I just made it up in the second R buyer it was just an idea to see whether or not the people listening are more or less buying uh I hardly ever buy slurp we'll just leave it open for another minute sometimes what I I don't remember the last time I drank slurpie the most we have over here we'll just leave it open for another minute uh it looks like it looks like uh like the are winning most most of the people do buy uh do buy kosher SLP there are few people that don't and I don't you know I can understand that again some of the reasons that we we uh we discussed that they're not comfortable cautious reasons okay unless unless they're just they don't buy the Slurpees because they don't they don't like slurpie that's possible too uh I really should have should have been more careful and wording I don't buy the Kos slur because I don't trust 7-Eleven right uh but uh it okay most of the people here are definitely uh Pro slurpie let's close that Pro slurpy Lobby yeah it's a very popular drink and it's uh now we want to find out do those people vote Obama for does Obama drink slurping okay RJ's let me see here uh RJ says so bottom line you don't condone buying a soft ice cream at a TC by place but if one checks and mix mixes kosher is presumably okay correct corre that's that is the bottom line that if you check and it comes with a certification the mix is certified it really isn't any other any any you're basically you're being your own own Mash like that and that that we certainly don't have a problem with the issue is whether or not you can rely on it just because they say that that's that's the mix um uh Gary says that uh that he buys okay he doesn't buy them he gets them for free get them for free on July 11th exactly they give him out fre oh if anybody has any further questions on any any kosher topic uh is Maggie mov in the quar okay I'll have to refer you to the the hotline the front desk um any other top any questions at all again you can reach us at 410 484 4110 Zev says at 7-eleven here was selling kosher hot dogs grilled on their TR for Grill correct it was a big issue that an incident right an incident that we had uh a few months maybe it was a while ago year a year ago that one of the seven was trying to bring in the kosher business so what they did was they bought with kosher hot dogs and they grilled them you know right next to their their non- kosher uh hot dogs and and nobody was really certifying that those were the kosher hot dogs anyway there was no them some people some people went in they said look it's kosher hot dogs and I spoke to the uh 7-Eleven rep over here I remember that I spoke to somebody up up in charge and um and he said it wasn't really that much that he could do about that because they were they you know they're allowed to buy whichever hot dogs that they want from a 7- perspective really yeah they're not they they weren't obligated to buy any particular ones they were allowed to buy the kosher ones they could adver if they were koshered it was it was more of a question whether or not we could insist from a kosher perspective state law thenan St La we had illegal we really could wouldn't do very much about it this the kosher laws in Maryland are very weak uh but I do remember that the the uh the representative 7-Eleven said he spoke to his superiors and they told him whatever you do don't get the star k upset at us because they they understand that uh that they do sell a lot of 7-Eleven slurp slurp to kosi Consumers and star is basically working with them uh to to help the kosher consumer and if we were to come out and say no Slurpees yeah Slurpees are are off limits uh that wouldn't work that wouldn't work very well so again thank you again for joining our our webinars we're here the last Wednesday of every month so it will be the last Wednesday of June will be the next one uh hopefully soon enough we'll have this webinar up on our site kosher classes. org kosher class.org if you have any questions you're more than welcome we invite you to email us info@ stark. org or call us 41044 4110 I want to thank Rabbi Ellie Ridler and Miss Debbie Rosenstein for helping us with the technical aspects here uh as they do every month it's much appreciated and re berer thanks for coming thank you have a great day take care e