Business and Finance

Kosher factories in China

Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, April 6, 2007 10:55 AM

From the Chicago Tribune:

China firms clamor to go kosher
Businesses covet certification that lets them tap $150 billion market
By Evan Osnos

BEIJING -- Rabbi Shimon Freundlich picked up the phone in Beijing, and a Chinese factory boss launched his pitch. He wanted to join the growing ranks of Chinese exporters who have earned a kosher seal of approval.

He promised to follow the rules and to welcome surprise inspections. So, the rabbi asked, what's the product?

"Tables and chairs," came the reply.

A bit more enthusiastic than knowledgeable, China's factory owners are clamoring to go kosher. In an odd-couple embrace that only global commerce could produce, more than 2,000 Chinese plants have been certified in the past decade under Jewish dietary laws in hopes of tapping a world trade estimated at $150 billion a year...

Some of the people mentioned in this story are featured a Danwei TV show about the opening of a Jewish ritual bath in Beijing: A Jew Brew.

There are currently 4 Comments for Kosher factories in China.

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Comments on Kosher factories in China

:O
Kosher?!

Posted by: fiLi | April 6, 2007 7:11 PM

Would be nice to get kosher pastrami on Jewish rye in Shenzhen. I doubt I could even find that in Hong Kong.
I'm rather curious what the guy thought would make tables and chairs kosher. I love the enthusiasm of Chinese business.

Posted by: Matthew | April 9, 2007 5:23 PM

It is actually not so far-fetched to imagine a Kosher table and chair. These days, you can find kosher table-cloth, kosher aluminum foil, kosher glad-wrap, and kosher plastic bags. Many of these products are made using various oils and chemical products that often contain animal fat/whatever.

In addition, in Israel you can find a kosher cellphone that doesn't ring on Shabbat ( the Jewish day of rest ) and filters inappropriate SMS messages.

Posted by: Dror Poleg | April 11, 2007 9:20 AM

To equate Kosher with healthy or clean is of course idiotic. Certifying meat as kosher has only to do with the kind of animal that’s permitted to be eaten and with what and the way in which it’s slaughtered, and has nothing to do with whether or not that animal was raised in humane or uncontaminated conditions. This is yet another case of the cynical Chinese smelling hard currency and going after another market that they don’t understand and in which they have no intrinsic interest.

Posted by: Ignatz Himmelfarb | February 6, 2008 11:58 AM