An announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it is suspending federal testing of commercially produced milk revived the debate over relying on government policy to label milk as kosher based on a heter by Rav Moshe Feinstein.
By Anash.org reporter
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced this week that it is suspending federal testing of commercially produced milk, sparking a renewed discussion over the heter to permit non-Chalav Yisrael milk because of government supervision.
Though Halacha calls for a Yid seeing the milking to make is kosher (“chalav Yisroel“), since 5714 (1954), many Orthodox Jews have relied on the psak of Rav Moshe Feinstein, who determined that government regulation and inspection of milk production in the United States were enough to assure that milk sold as “milk” came only from kosher animals (inventing a new category called “chalav stam“).
While Reb Moshe’s heter was intended for specific circumstances, it has become widely relied upon over time, including by the Orthodox Union, the most recognizable kosher certifier in the United States, which considers it a pivotal psak. This remains the case despite the fact that many halachic authorities ruled that Chazal required actual supervision of a Jew.
Following the FDA’s announcement, the OU’s hotline was overwhelmed with questions. Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, chair of the OU’s dairy committee, argued that the FDA change has no immediate impact on the kosher status of commercial milk.
“This development has no impact whatsoever on the kosher status of chalav stam that Rabbi Feinstein permitted in the US,” Gordimer explained. “The primary oversight of farms and dairy factories is performed by state governments; the FDA is a mere secondary body for this purpose. Inspections are ongoing, and the laws prohibiting non-cow milk from being sold as milk remain in place.”
Nevertheless, the move has stirred unease among kosher consumers. In a popular kosher food Facebook group, one user commented, “Are we seeing the first step in the end of chalav stam?”
While chalav Yisrael – milk personally supervised by Jews – remains the halachic standard by chassidim, this development has renewed the conversation about the importance of verified chalav Yisroel.
Despite His heter,
Reb. Moshe did not once ever rely on it for himself, or for his or his sons Yeshivos or camps. He once inadvertently ingested chalav stam, and stuck his fingers down his throat to throw it all up- and out.
He was one of the last Rabbonim in Russsia under the communists ymchshmm., and devised a way to make the community pool into a -bedi eved- kosher Mikva, while at the same time convincing them to permit one hour a week of separate swimming hours.
For his family he never relied on the ”heter”, and for ten yrs. he and his wife remained..
There was a 10 year age difference between Reb Dovid and yblctva Reb Reuvein.
Zchusom Yagein Aleinu
There is no heter for milk from a tereifa animal, which is an issur deoraisa. theres a debate whether less than 1.67 (shishim) of cows go under an operating that render them tereifa.
At the time of r’ moshe’s pesak, this was not relevant information but today it is.
Rav Moshe’s teshuva ends with the phrasing “those who do so have what to rely upon but any ‘ba’al nefesh’ will be stringent.” That, in rhetoric circles is called damning with faint praise. His psak was never meant to be a public “matir issurim,” unlike the common practice today.
The FDA or any other agency never tested for cow’s milk, nor is it even possible.
Listen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pltZFTKZylU