Hebrew National is a brand of kosher

hot dogs A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

and other

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

s made by

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

. In 1982, Hebrew National opened a non-kosher division under the name National Deli; it was sold off in 2001, and is now based in Florida.

History

The ''Hebrew National Kosher Sausage Factory, Inc.'', was founded on East Broadway, on the Lower East Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 1905. The company was founded by Theodore Krainin, who emigrated from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in the 1880s. By 1921, the factory was registered as government inspected establishment #552 by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry with Theodore Krainin as proprietor. Alfred W. McCann writing in a 1921 '' Globe and Commercial Advertiser'' article cited Hebrew National as having "higher standards than the law requires." McCann wrote the article during a crusade for commercial food decency standards, in which the ''Globe'' was prominent. He wrote, "More power to Krainin and the decency he represents! Such evidence of the kind of citizenship which America should covet is not to be passed by lightly." Hebrew National "served the Jewish neighborhoods of immigrants from Eastern Europe and Germany and soon developed a favorable reputation among the other Jewish residents of New York City." In 1934, after a bankruptcy action, the certificate of incorporation for Hebrew National Sausage Factory listed Solomon Levinson, Sylvia Marans and Miriam Spector, all of Brooklyn, as directors and shareholders. In 1937 after an increase in capital stock, Jacob Pinkowitz was listed as an officer. The company was bought by

Jewish Romanian The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

immigrant

butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...

Isadore Pines (born ''Pinkowitz''). In 1935, Isadore's son, Leonard Pines, took over the business.Phyllis Berman, Why Pastrami and Soap Don't Mix. ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' December 2, 1985. In 1965, Hebrew National came up with the slogan that they've used ever since: '' We answer to a higher authority'' — a reference to Jewish dietary laws and a claim to higher quality that was able to appeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish markets. In 1968, the Pines family sold Hebrew National to

Riviana Foods Ebro Foods, S.A. (; ), formerly Ebro Puleva, is a Spanish food processing company. Ebro Foods is the world's largest producer of rice and the second biggest producer of pasta (its Panzani brand is a market leader in France). The company's head offi ...

, which was taken over by Colgate-Palmolive in 1976. In 1980, Isadore "Skip" Pines, grandson of Isadore, bought the company from Colgate-Palmolive for a fraction of the price it was originally sold for. The

health food A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy. A health ...

movement of the 1980s encouraged the company to stick to a recipe that used no artificial colors or flavors, and to minimize other potential modernizations of the recipe. This strategy ultimately proved successful, and with a growing revenue, Hebrew National hoped to transform itself into a large conglomerate through acquiring other brands, in order to compete with the food giants that dominated the industry. Hebrew National developed a non-kosher brand called "National Deli". This strategy was less successful, and National Foods was acquired by

in 1993. The National Deli brand was sold off in 2001 to a former Hebrew National employee, and still operates out of

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Location

The site of Hebrew National's manufacturing plant had been

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

for many years; it moved to

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

, in 1989. The Indianapolis plant was closed down in 2004 as operations were consolidated with the ConAgra Foods Armour hot dog plant in Quincy, Michigan.

Kosher supervision

The majority of Hebrew National beef products are consumed by non-Jews. The ''Jewish Daily Forward'' wrote in 2004, that then-recent changes in supervision are "unlikely to translate into a significant increase in sales." Despite Hebrew National being described as "the largest, most recognized kosher brand in the United States" as of "the middle of the twentieth century," the company's level of being kosher "did not seem to impress yeshiva-educated elements of the Orthodox Jewish community." For many years, Hebrew National relied on a body within the company to certify its products kosher. Many Orthodox Jews did not feel that Hebrew National's kosher standards were up to those set in place by groups such as the Orthodox Union, Kof-K, and others and therefore did not consume Hebrew National

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

-based products. Standards and opinions differed for Hebrew National's

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, ...

. The Conservative movement also did not regard Hebrew National as kosher. Rabbi Paul Plotkin, the chair of the

Committee on Jewish Law and Standards The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards is the central authority on halakha (Jewish law and tradition) within Conservative Judaism; it is one of the most active and widely known committees on the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly. With ...

' Kashrut Committee, wrote that "Until recently, Hebrew National, which is widely distributed, wasn't 'kosher enough.' Its supervision was unacceptable to many Jews who keep kosher including the Conservative movement." In the early 2000s, Hebrew National switched to an external certification group, Triangle K, under the auspices of Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag, which was widely seen as an upgrade in its standards of kashrut. In 2004, the Conservative movement found the upgrade sufficient to be acceptable. Rabbis Ralbag and Plotkin conferred jointly and developed a strategy for consistent monitoring of the products labeled kosher by Hebrew National. By reducing production facilities to just one location, expenses were dramatically reduced for upkeep, utilities, employees, and maintenance. The production process was streamlined so that a viewing station kept an eye on each individual sausage that passed through the facility. Rabbis Plotkin and Ralbag share monitoring duties amongst a group of other rabbis, allowing for a reliable dedication to the purveyance of kosher hot dogs. Hebrew National hot dogs are, in this way, able to claim their product as kosher. In a blog post on the subject, Conservative

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

and kosher certification entrepreneur Jason Miller lamented the fact that in several baseball stadiums in the United States, Hebrew National hot dogs are publicized as kosher "when in fact they are cooked on the same grill as the non-kosher hot dogs and sausages" and served on dairy hot dog buns.''Rabbi Jason Miller'
Blog: "Are Hebrew National Hot Dogs Kosher?"
June, 2012. Nonetheless, ''

The Jewish Daily Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, '' ...

'' reported that most Orthodox authorities did not follow this endorsement, and most Orthodox Jews continue not to rely on its kashrut.

Products

Hebrew National makes beef products including beef franks,

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days ...

bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, corned beef,

pastrami Pastrami (Romanian: '' pastramă'') is a food originating from Romania usually made from beef brisket, lamb, pork, chicken sometimes from turkey. The raw meat is brined, partially dried, seasoned with herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. ...

, and

knackwurst Knackwurst () (in North America sometimes spelled knockwurst () refers to a type of sausage of northern German origin from the mid-16th century. The many available varieties depend on the geographical region of their production. Etymology and ...

. Condiment sales were discontinued in 2010.

References

External links