My employer sells liquid CO2 to Pepsi, Coke and other large bottlers to carbonate their products. We have several plants that offer Kosher CO2, that is, it's blessed by a rabbi and thus the Coca-Cola is "kosher."
The result is that many good Christians and atheists alike are drinking kosher soda pop. Who cares? Is that any different from eating halal beef?
Seems to me there are a lot more important issues in the war against terror than this one.
The result is that many good Christians and atheists alike are drinking kosher soda pop. Who cares? Is that any different from eating halal beef?
The difference is greater than that. It's not just about the way some meat is cut with the prayer to Allah. Halal restricts certain foods -- Forbiden. It's like serving the cola syrup-water without the CO2. So it's a much different analogy.
My employer sells liquid CO2 to Pepsi, Coke and other large bottlers to carbonate their products. We have several plants that offer Kosher CO2, that is, it's blessed by a rabbi and thus the Coca-Cola is "kosher."
The result is that many good Christians and atheists alike are drinking kosher soda pop. Who cares? Is that any different from eating halal beef?
The difference is greater than that. It's not just about the way some meat is cut with the prayer to Allah. Halal restricts certain foods -- Forbiden. It's like serving the cola syrup-water without the CO2. So it's a much different analogy.
Halal meat is slaughtered while reciting the name of the pagan moon god Allah which the Muslims worship.
As such it is non-Kosher for Jews to consume, as they are forbidden to consume food offered to pagan gods
It's not like a rabbi stands there and blesses each canister. He certifies the plant -- which probably means ensuring that the equipment used to bottle the CO2 isn't also used for dairy or beer (yeast isn't kosher for passover), and that the equipment isn't contaminated with any pork (some industrial process, not that many any more, still use lard as a lubricant).
The trick is to stock up on Coke during passover. Look for the circle-U on the can. Corn syrup isn't kosher for passover, so for a few weeks each year, the company temporarily switches back to beet or cane sugar, like in the old days. Connoisseurs swear they can taste the difference.
(As an aside, I wonder if that's going to be another side benefit of the push for ethanol -- as demand for corn rises, maybe sugar beets or imported sugar will become more economical than corn syrup, and we'll go back to real sugar in our sofas again ... we can hope.)
This is simply another way to remove "the other white meat" from everyone's diet.
More frightening, though, is this "halal" slaughtering method ~ that's done on a small scale in shops that don't conform to the need to preserve the cows' heads just in case "Mad Cow Disease" is later discovered.
Fundamentally, the background issues are economics and health. The Moslems in this particular area do not want pork producers to prosper, nor are they concerned if their brains rot.