Recently, I have received many emails and phone calls regarding the Kosher Status of Frozen Yoghurt and Ice Cream Stores in Vancouver. At present there are no Kosher Certified Ice Cream/ Frozen Yogurt stores, however there are some that claim to be Kosher.
Since these establishments are not certified and there is no Mashgiach visiting the store on a regular basis there can be many issues. Typically the store will purchase a prepared Ice Cream or yogurt base. This base will contain various ingredients including, milk, milk powder, stabilizers, thickening agents, cultures and possibly other ingredients including gelatin. Once they receive this, they will mix it with a flavour. E.g. Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla etc. to make the final product. Flavours are very highly kosher sensitive items. Typically a flavour company that is Kosher Certified will employ a full time Mashgiach or have someone that will visit them 3-4 times a week. The reason for this is because they produce Kosher as well as non-kosher flavours. Natural flavours can be extracted from animals or plants and artificial flavours are extracted from chemicals and other ingredients. For many years we certified a flavour company in Greater Vancouver that produced kosher flavours as well as Non-Kosher flavours such as a Strawberry flavour from Cochineal (an insect) .
When you as a customer visit the store, it can be very reassuring that the staff hand you a thick binder showing you all of the Kosher Certificates for their ingredients. However unless you have a deep understanding of the halacha’s of kashrus and check each ingredient, you will not actually know if they are kosher or not. Because the store is not certified, they are not bound by any legal agreements or surprise inspections by a Mashgiach. The only word you have that the ingredients are kosher is that of the store attendant. In addition the Kosher Certificates that they showed you, may no longer be valid or they could have since changed to a non-kosher supplier.
There is also the concept of Maris Ayin. If someone sees a Frum Jew going into or purchasing something such as Ice Cream from an uncertified store, they may unknowingly feel that everything is kosher and decide to purchase an Ice Cream with non-Kosher toppings. Even if you as the customer find out that it is no longer kosher, the person who saw you there may unknowingly still be going assuming it is kosher because he saw you there.
The ideal situation would be to have a Kosher certified Ice Cream/ Frozen Yogurt store. Until that opportunity arises I recommend not patronising these establishments. If we continue to take our families there, they will have no reason to obtain Kosher Certification. I would also suggest giving feedback to the particular companies via letters, emails, facebook etc. suggesting that they get Kosher Certification.
Richard Wood
Kosher Check Kosher Certification