THE COST OF RABBINIC SUPERVISION IN ISRAEL

FROM FAILED MESSIAH

Israel Spends About $770 Million Annually On Kosher Food Supervision, Driving Up The Cost Of Food By 5%, Finance Ministry Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Kosher food certification costs the Israeli economy about 3 billion shekels ($770 million) each year, and that’s not counting rabbinical supervision over fresh fruits and vegetables, Ha’aretz reported tonight.

That kosher food supervision adds about 5% to the cost of producing food, the Finance Ministry’s preliminary estimation found.

Kosher food supervision raises costs at each step of food production from growing through various forms of processing, to the final consumable products and the stores and restaurants that sell them.

The Finance Ministry report found that inefficiencies in the kosher food supervision process run by the official state chief rabbinate’s monopoly unnecessarily drove up costs.

“This monopoly requires thousands of jobs and its practices raise the cost of living in Israel as any exclusive provider in the production process would. Situations arise where more restrictive practices are enforced in some places and not others, transparency is lacking, certain suppliers are given preference over others, barriers to entry are erected to products and smaller manufacturers,” the Finance Ministry report found.

Sources in Israel’s treasury reportedly estimate inflated costs from the official state chief rabbinate’s kosher supervision monopoly costs Israel 300 million shekels (just under $77 million) per year alone. The chief rabbinate’s kosher supervision of fresh produce adds about 1 billion shekels ($255 million) per year to that figure.