New York, NY – In the thick of the Girl Scout cookie season, it is becoming clear that labeling on some cookie boxes is a little thin.
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The kosher symbol, intended to show consumers that the contents adhere to Jewish dietary laws, was mistakenly left off 14 million boxes of Thin Mints, the chocolate peppermint wafer that accounts for roughly 25 percent of Girl Scout cookie sales, said Raymond Baxter, president and chief executive of Interbake Foods, the parent company of ABC Bakers of Richmond, Va., one of two approved manufacturers of the cookies.
Proofreaders missed the mistake. But a customer noticed that the symbol – a circled U accompanied by a D for dairy – was missing, and contacted the Girl Scouts, said Brian Crawford, an executive at the Scouts’ New York headquarters. (Some troops sell cookies in the fall, though most sales are held January through March.)
ABC Bakers quickly sent letters explaining the oversight (and showing proof of kosher certification from the Orthodox Union) to Scout councils, which have given them to some troops and customers.
Rabbi Yisroel Bendelstein of the Orthodox Union, who has fielded perhaps a half-dozen calls about the cookies, said he hoped the letters would “obviate any concerns.”
Thin Mints, the rabbi said, are his favorite Girl Scout cookie.
How would the Rabbi know that the “Thin Mints” are his favorit cookies? Does he eat OU-D?!
Yes the rabbi eats ou-d. Even though I don’t it is still kosher
I wish they would just take the hechsher off. I used to get nagged at work all the time, and had to explain about “cholov yisroel.” After a while I just said I’m on Weight Watchers.
OU-D is lav davka milchig. You have to read the ingredients. If milchig keilim are used, the OU will put the D on. They do not label DE as one of the other Kashrus organizations do. DON’T ‘PASSEL UP’ PEOPLE SO QUICKLY!!!
Weight Watchers is also OU-D
Why are most baked under the ou marked as d dairy? Anybody can explain?
But just keep in mind that the Thin Mints are smaller this year due to the economy.
OU policy is to place a D on any product produced on milchig keilim.
However, Rabbi Heber explained to me that there are products, such as cake mixes, where the same line is used for the dairy, and the parve, and the lines are intentionally NOT cleaned between productions because if they dont clean the lines it keeps all the crumbs in the process. If they cleaned out the lines then the would lose all those crumbs, which would add up to many many pounds of flour after many runs, so it turns out that products that are run with only parve ingredients end u with milchigs in it too.
Rabbi Bendelstein never said that he eats the Thin Mints. He just said they’re his “favorite”. Maybe they’re his favorite shape or favorite color or remind him of an old (thin?) friend named Mintz, etc. Maybe he said it for effect. Or maybe he does eat them and they really are his favorite. Personally, I liked the peanut butter cookies. Do they still make them?
I would expect that the Rabbi who runs the OU kosher division would in fact eat OU products.