Kosher Australia is the largest Australian based

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 ...

. As of 2018 they had certified over 500 companies both in Australia and abroad. It was initially called Mizrachi Kashrut, followed by Melbourne Kashrut before becoming Kosher Australia in 2004.

History

Kosher Australia began in 1968 when Rabbi Baruch Abaranok, the then rabbi of the Mizrachi organisation in Melbourne, started providing supervision to local community caterers. A team of volunteer community members investigated companies for kosher compliance and by 1976, annual kosher guides were made available to the kosher community. Over the years it has expanded to employ a number of staff and is recognised internationally by other kosher authorities. The rabbi responsible for the organisation's policies is

Mordechai Gutnick Rabbi Mordechai Zev Gutnick ( he, מרדכי זאב הכהן גוטניק) is a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Australia. Gutnick has served as a member of rabbinical courts in Melbourne and Sydney and various Australian rabbinical associa ...

, who also sits on the

Melbourne Beth Din The Melbourne Beth Din (MBD) is an Orthodox / Chassidic Jewish court in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Located in Caulfield North, Victoria, it rules mostly on divorces and conversions although it does rule on other matters as well. Histor ...

Controversies

Kosher food in Australia has come under attack as a part of the alt-right's attack on

halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...

food, led by MP

Pauline Hanson Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian ...

. It has been part of investigations in Parliament, although there have been no ramifications for the kosher industry yet. There have also been a number of attacks on kosher slaughter, and the community has stood up to defend itself.

References

External links

Kosher Australia Website

Travellers' Guide
{{Jews_and_Judaism_in_Australia Judaism in Australia Kosher food certification organizations