Lists of Kosher Products
The Kosher Food Community of Interest [IGfKL] was founded because in the past only certain individual Jewish communities published their own basic kosher lists.
Anyone interested in products not on these lists would often address manufacturers directly, without really knowing for sure what aspects of the products might give rise to concerns about kashrut status. Such inquiries of non experts would entail unnecessary complications for manufacturers and couldn’t be relied on to produce the requisite evidence of compliance with the kashrut rules.Further informations
The kosher lists can be downloaded from the Internet:
Kosher List Communauté Israélite de Genève (CIG)
Kosher List Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (ICZ)
Kosher List Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft Zürich (IRGZ)
The founders of the IGfKL aimed right from the onset for a high standard, not only in terms of the explanatory technical and scientific information on the products, but also in terms of Halacha. The IGfKL set itself the task of checking whether commercially available products were suitable for use in kosher households, an objective it achieved thanks to the efforts of the individuals appointed to do this work. This eased the financial burden borne by consumers, and the individual Rabbinates and manufacturers have fewer individual enquiries to answer.
Community specific kosher lists
Once the priorities have been set for selecting the products to be checked, the responsible officer clarifies the necessary information according to which Rabbi Schmerler approves the protocols for the individual products. Finally, responsibility passes to the Rabbinates of the communities. They are free to make their own decisions on which products to include on their community’s kosher lists and how to inform their members. These lists are of use not only to members of the Swiss communities but also to tourists and travelling business people. Overall they simplify staying in Switzerland for strictly religious Jews.
The SIG and the communities provide the funding for the activities of the IGfKL.