A
s the coronavirus has shut down the world economy and driven millions into unemployment, one sector has boomed: the food industry, which has struggled to keep shelves stacked as global supply chains shut down.
But kashrus agencies and the wider kosher industry are racing to design solutions for their own unique coronavirus-era problems, from how to conduct hashgachah remotely, the risk of being caught up in the geopolitical tussle over China, and a threatened contraction of the kosher food industry.
“New certification is frozen for the moment, because we can’t give hashgachah without access to factories,” says Rabbi Moshe Elefant, who is chief operating officer of the OU. “In the first phase when most factories in China and then Europe were under lockdown, there was nothing to certify. But now that China — where there are more than 600 OU-certified factories — is opening up, it’s hard to get mashgichim.”
Hashgachah in China involves traveling Israeli mashgichim and local Chabad shluchim, Rabbi Elefant explains. “Most of the shluchim have left, and for mashgichim to come — even if they can get a flight — involves two weeks’ quarantine when they come back. Who wants to work like that?”
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