Kosher Products: Part Two

Kosher ingredients, like kosher foods, must follow strict dietary guidelines put forth in the Torah to ensure consumption falls within the parameters of all the Torah’s laws. Bell Chem, the Tampa food ingredient supplier, understands the importance many people place in kosher foods and recognizes that food additives are also required to be kosher in order to be part of a kosher meal, whether the meal is fresh from the market or a packaged delight waiting patiently in the pantry.

While the following products are all kosher, each one is not necessarily a food additive. Some, such as urea, are primarily used in the fields of plants that will eventually be processed and served at a kosher table. Others are added while the food is processed, such as sodium citrate, which acts as a preservative. The third category can be added to a kosher kitchen for home preparation, such as citric acid FCC, a common ingredient in canning fruits and vegetables.

• White mineral oil 90 NF: This mineral oil has a National Formulary (NF) rating of 90, meaning it has a good viscosity and is easily pourable. Generally used in dough dividers and other confectionary applications, white mineral oil easily slides through and separates the stickiest of flour mixtures for clean, even amounts every time.
• Canola oil: This oil, derived from rapeseed, was developed in Canada in the 1970s. The name is a shorthand version of Canada ola (“oil”). Canola oil can replace any other oils – sunflower, olive, or peanut oil, for instance – with healthier benefits than other oils since it is low in saturated fats and abundant in polyunsaturated fats.
• Granular urea: This is the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer on the planet because of its affordability, ease of use, and abundance. Plants require nitrogen for growth and maintenance, and since urea has to step down to ammonia before being converted to nitrogen, it is long lasting.
• Citric acid FCC: This ingredient has many important roles in food preparation. It acts as a preservative, acidifier and buffer, emulsifier, and flavor enhancer. Soft drinks, food station cleaners, packaged foods, canning operations, and ice creams all have a use for citric acid.
• Sodium citrate dihydrate FCC: This ingredient combines the sodium salt of citric acid with two water molecules to create a food preservative, flavor additive, alkalizing and buffering agent, emulsifier, and sequestering product.
• Fructose crystalline FCC: This ingredient is as close to 100% pure fructose as possible. By definition, at least 98% of the product is pure with the remaining 2% as a combination of water and minerals. With a taste that is 20% sweeter than table sugar, fructose crystalline is becoming increasingly popular.
• Triple-pressed stearic acid: This blend of saturated fatty acids is generally colorless, waxy, and has a “fatty” odor. In foods, stearic acid acts as an emulsifier, keeping fats properly mixed in ingredients.

Call the Tampa food ingredient supplier, Bell Chem, at 407-339-2355 (BELL) to learn more about their wide line of kosher ingredients and products. Our blogs discuss many kosher additives and products as well as many of the standard food, cosmetic, and sanitation chemicals and products stocked by Bell Chem.

Kosher Products at Bell Chem

When a product is labeled “kosher,” it means that the products are pure or suitable for consumption by followers of the laws of the Torah. Kosher products face strict dietary guidelines that ensure every letter of the Torah’s laws are obeyed. Several of the products and chemicals sold by the Florida chemical supplier, Bell Chem, are certified kosher, meaning they do not contain animal or plant derivatives specifically mentioned in the Torah as unfit for consumption.

Foods considered kosher, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, may not be acceptable if they are packaged with non-kosher products, such as trace amounts of impure animal fats or whey from a non-kosher cow. Although chickens and cows are acceptable, they must be fed a diet that meets kosher standards, and they must be processed humanely.

However, foods are not the only products that can be certified kosher. Any additives or supplements consumed must also meet the same standards as kosher foods. Bell Chem understands these guidelines and has an array of food-grade supplements and chemicals that may be added to packaged foods to maintain their freshness while still obeying all kosher guidelines. A few of those products include proprietary vitamin blends, vegetable glycerine, ascorbic acid crystals, stearic acid powder, citric acid, potassium citrate, sodium citrate dihydrate, tri-calcium phosphate, white mineral oil, canola oil, granular urea, and fructose crystals.

Bell Chem is pleased to allow its customers the ability to prepare and preserve kosher foods with ingredients approved by the laws of the Torah. To learn more about kosher products, contact the Florida chemical supplier, Bell Chem, at 407-339-2355 (BELL). Read our blogs for information on our line of products and chemicals.