Kashruth Council of Canada (better known as COR), is a

kosher certification agency A kosher certification agency is an organization or certifying authority that grants a ''hechsher'' ( he, הכשר, "seal of approval") to ingredients, packaged foods, beverages, and certain materials, as well as food-service providers and faciliti ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is best known for its kosher supervision service, with the COR symbol found on the labels of many commercial and consumer food products. The council serves 1,000 facilities that provide 70,000 products to Canadian consumers. As of September 2014, COR employs 70 full-time and part-time

mashgichim A mashgiach ( he, משגיח, "supervisor"; , ''mashgichim'') or mashgicha (pl. ''mashgichot'') is a Jew who supervises the kashrut status of a kosher establishment. Mashgichim may supervise any type of food service establishment, including sl ...

who work in local food service and catering venues, plus approximately 30 mashgichim worldwide who supervise COR-certified manufacturing plants. COR supervises food at event venues such as the

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it ...

, the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...

and the

Toronto Zoo The Toronto Zoo is a zoo located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Encompassing , the Toronto Zoo is the largest zoo in Canada. It is divided into seven zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, Americas, Tundra Trek, Australasia, Eurasia, and the ...

. In total, COR certifies 53 restaurants in Toronto. COR, in conjunction with Liaison Culinary College, has a college accredited training program for its mashgichim. COR answers questions about Kashruth on phone, email, text and social media. In April 2016, the month before

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that celebrates the The Exodus, Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt, Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew calendar, He ...

, COR collectively answered 10,000 questions.

History

COR was founded in November 1952. Before that, it was hard to get legitimately kosher meat in Toronto because there was no regulation. The

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...

was asked to set up a system to ensure legitimacy of the kosher status of meat in Toronto. In 1954, a Rabbinical Board called the "Vaad Hakashruth of the Canadian Jewish Congress of the Central Region" was established. It then consisted of 12 Rabbis, having grown to 26 members as of 2017. In June 1956, the name of the Vaad Hakashruth was changed to the Council of Orthodox Rabbis, the source of the abbreviation COR. In the early 1960s, COR successfully appealed to Prime Minister

John G. Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

to have

Shechita In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; he, ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. Sources states that sheep and cattle should be slaughtered ...

legally approved by the federal government and protected by Canadian law. For many years, Rabbi Gedalia Felder was the chairman of the Vaad Hakashruth, and in 2006, his son Rabbi Yacov Felder became the vice chairman, and eventually the chairman.

References

Kosher food certification organizations Jewish organizations based in Canada Religious consumer symbols {{Canada-org-stub

History

See also

References