Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. Do hashgachos rely on bitul when they certify a food as kosher?

A. Generally, reputable hashgachos will not certify a product which contains even the smallest amount of a non-kosher ingredient (and will not allow any dairy in a pareve product).  Nonetheless, the halachos of bitul are relevant to certifying agencies in three scenarios:

1. B’dieved – Determining the status of food when a mistake occurred, and a non-kosher (or dairy or chametz) ingredient was used where it was not supposed to be.  A variation of this occurs when a company inappropriately puts a kosher symbol on a product which is not certified, and the kashrus professionals must determine its status ex post facto.

For example: there are many brands of margarine which are certified as “dairy” (not chalav Yisroel), and invariably there will be consumers who don’t realize that and end up using it with meat or in a fleishig oven.  What now?  Part of the resolution is to determine how much dairy is actually in the margarine, and the certifying agency is the one responsible to obtain/have that information.  Similarly, when a product is mistakenly labeled as kosher (or pareve, or kosher for Pesach), one important issue the agency will investigate is whether any non-kosher ingredients in the food are batel.

2. Kashering – Equipment used for non-kosher products must be kashered before it can be used for kosher food.  But if the only non-kosher ingredient in a product is batel, then the letter of the law is that that product is “kosher”, and after its use there is no need to kasher the equipment.

For example: there are many “energy” drinks and “health” drinks which contain trace amounts of non-kosher components (e.g., collagen).  Those drinks would never be certified as kosher, but if the non-kosher ingredient is batel, then the equipment it is processed on can be used for kosher products without kashering.

3. Non-certified – In some cases, a product cannot be certified as kosher, due to the presence of a minor non-kosher ingredient, but consumers want to know if they are halachically permitted to use that item.  A Mashgiach or other person with general knowledge of food production and/or specific information about that product can help in making that determination.

For example: there are medicinal items and infant formulas which are not certified kosher, but these are products that are very important for certain consumers.  One part of deciding whether they may be used is to figure out if any non-kosher components are batel.

Some things to bear in mind when calculating bitul are (a) ratios are determined based on the volume (size) of each ingredient, not based on weight (which is how companies typically measure), (b) most companies consider the exact amounts of each ingredient in a product to be proprietary information and won’t share that with the certifying agency, unless there is a pressing need, and (c) certain ingredients are too significant or prominent (e.g., avidah lit’amah, davar hama’amid) and cannot be batel, regardless of how little of them is in the food.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, January 17, 2025.