Jalna to go kosher again

JALNA will reconsider its decision to forego kosher certification after an outpouring of concern from the community following last week’s article in The AJN.

The company, which has made kosher products for more than four decades, explained to the community that it let its kosher certification lapse while a Senate inquiry into Third Party Certification of Food was conducted.

“This decision was made under consultation with both Kosher Australia and Halal Australia, whereby we decided to let both certifications lapse in a manner we felt was fair to all religious certifiers,” Jalna said in a statement.

The AJN reported last week that for the first time a company allegedly withdrew kosher certification because of the backlash against Halal.

Jalna Dairy Foods advised Kosher Australia that they received complaints because there was a Halal logo on some of their products.

But after an overwhelming response from the community, Jalna has said it will reconsider its decision.

“In alignment with the Senate Inquiry’s positive endorsement of the kosher certification, but more importantly with the current sentiment and view expressed by the public, we felt it was compelling enough and have decided to reconsider our position on kosher certification,” Jalna said in a statement.

“We feel that the public response has warranted reconsideration of this position as an interim measure, whilst we await the full outcome of the Senate Inquiry into transparent religious certification practices and management.”

Jalna has also confirmed that its products remain the same.

“We would like to reassure our customers that at no stage did our product ingredients or methodology change, only the certification labelling on the packaging,” Jalna said.

Kosher Australia told the community it would be scheduling a site visit with Jalna soon to try and reinstate Jalna’s kosher status.

JOSHUA LEVI

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