AKO (ASSOCIATION OF KASHRUS ORGANIZATIONS) CONFERENCE DECEMBER 31, 2019- JANUARY 2, 2020 By: Linda Levin   Among the 613 mitzvos in the Torah,  Shemiras Shabbos, Taharas Hamishpacha and Kashrus  stand out as defining what it means to be a Torah-observant Jew.   Almost 50 years ago, I remember being told  never to eat a candy bar without first checking the ingredient list. If the list did not include lard or animal fat but said “vegetable oil” that was enough to allow its consumption.  There were few if any reliable kashrus symbols on the package.   Back then, keeping kosher was simple….. or so we thought. There were just a few “rules”: no meat and milk together, checking an ingredients list printed on a package, a frum person or your Rabbi said the item was permissible to eat.  Kashrus supervision was in its infancy with many misconceptions. Kashrus agencies were yet to become the sophisticated operations we have today.   Baruch Hashem, our communities grew; yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs flourished. Kolelim with advanced learning opportunities sprouted in every corner of the globe. More and more people became educated and knowledgeable in halacha and they began demanding more stringencies and more transparency in food production. Over time, it became no longer acceptable to eat anything without a reliable hechsher; no one would think of eating out in a restaurant without a proper Hechsher.    Many began to demand ever higher levels of kashrus including certification of yoshon, pas Yisroel,  and chalav Yisroel. Today,  mashgichim must be highly trained.  Courses, both live and online, are available for those wishing to enter the Hashgacha field.   As issues in kashrus proliferated, the kosher consumer sought reliable solutions. While there used to be one or two main supervisory agencies, local agencies began to proliferate.  Newly established agencies were not limited to the New York area. Out -of -town communities and communities overseas needed their own local supervision. As of 2019, there were 1,400 registered kashrus certification agencies worldwide!!   The Association of Kashrus Organizations (AKO) was established in 1985 to unite the different kashrus agencies around the globe under one umbrella with the goal of raising and maintaining the highest level of kashrus possible.  Leading authorities in the world today have a venue where they can discuss the numerous situations that arise in the kashrus industry, to create a plan for emergency kashrus situations, to construct basic guidelines for mutually acceptable standards and to present a unified voice in kashrus.   This year’s AKO conference coincided with the Siyum Hashas.  The conference, which covered a wide variety of kashrus issues and workplace issues, spanned three days. It was hosted and coordinated by one of the premier kashrus agencies in America today,-the KOF-K. The KOF-K was founded by Rabbi Zecharia Senter about 40 years ago.  He works together with his sons, Rabbis Daniel and Ari Senter and a devoted staff of Kashrus professionals.   At the conference, the KOF-K paid special tribute to their esteemed Av Beis Din, Rabbi Shlomo Gissinger, zt”l whose petira  this past Elul dealt a heavy blow not only to the KOF-K but to all of Klal Yisroel.  A special Siyum Hashas by the kashrus agencies was held on the first day of the conference l’zecher haRav Gissinger, followed by a video […]
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