Articles

Rabbi Sholem Fishbane

cRc Kashrus Administrator

Do the terms “Daily Dumping Sheets”, “Certificate of Analysis”, “Tanker Washout Tickets” or “Boiler Return Layouts” mean anything to you? Well, to a Rabbi making his scheduled (and unannounced) Kashrus visits to his plants these are some of the terms he must be familiar with in order to ensure a “Kosher” Kosher inspection.

Weekly Traffic Report: This is one of the most useful reports. This relates the “traffic” of ingredients of that particular week. Any raw ingredient that comes into the plant is listed on this report. Every plant has a different way of formatting it. Some have the source and broker name of the ingredient, some include which product it will be used in, some state the amount that came in and the expiration date. If there is a good relationship between the Rabbi and the computer person, the kosher status may also be added.

Bill of Lading: Usually refers to items brought in by large tankers. It states what the product is, where it came from and who hauled the product. This is very important because most haulers are rented out per diem and carry many different products.

Daily Dumping Sheets: Companies are obligated by law to report what they are sending to the city sewers. As you can well imagine, they are limited to what and how much they are allowed to dump. It is an indication that certain non-kosher items which cannot be reworked are actually being dumped as the company says they are.

Certificate of Analysis: Almost every company has a lab that tests products coming in and going out. They write up their analysis on the product and give it their approval. They can be producing their own certificate of analysis, or they can have one come in from another company that tested their product. This helps us to be aware of any ingredients we might have missed, as well as their origin.

Recipe Card: As the name indicates it tells exactly what is in the product as well as percentages.

Batch Card: They are usually hung where the product is actually made for the batchers to follow. This not only indicates ingredients, but tells when to add what, when to add heat, and at what degree. This tells us if and to what degree certain dairy/treif ingredients are heated, which is important for shared lines. This differs from the recipe card in that it is made for the batcher – it can list “dry mix” without stating what is in the mix. The recipe card indicates every individual ingredient in the product.

Production Records: Tells what was made and the order it was made in. This helps to keep track of new items and new private labels. It also shows that the order of first pareve, then dairy and ending with treif is being followed (when allowed).

Clean-Up Records: Almost every Kashrus representative relies on these records for kashering purposes. By law, companies must clean their machines at a certain temperature (dairies being higher than other plants, etc). Since they are reaching these high temperatures nightly, we check to make sure it is kashering temperature as well. We thus do not require visits from the Rabbi for kashering at wee hours in the morning.

Tank Storage: It is important to keep track of what was stored in a tank and for how long. This is because 24 hours liquid storage would render that tank the status of that liquid (dairy or treif), and would then require kashering.

Tanker Washout Tickets: Every tanker that hauls liquids needs to be washed between loads. Being that many tankers carry non-kosher, it is important to check the temperature it was washed at, as well as the particular wash-out facility. This is because some facilities re-use the water from the previous truck. Therefore, there are special wash stations that are problem-free for the kosher wash.

Boiler Return Layouts: Companies do amazing things to save money on water. One of them is to re-route any condensate coming from steam back to the boilers to be reused. This has obvious complications in a plant that is not all kosher-pareve.

Seals: Sometimes when kosher ingredients are shipped the mashgiach closes the totes/tanker with a special seal. Therefore the seals must be checked that the number matches the kosher letter of the product.