Cheese (illustrative)
Cheese (illustrative)Moshe Shai/Flash90

Ahead of the Shavuot holiday, when many follow the custom of preparing fancy dairy meals, the Chief Rabbinate has warned the public to be wary of cheeses without official kashrut approval. 

Cheeses that have not been approved by the Rabbinate include:

  • Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs and with pepper, produced in France, labelled as OU-D;
  •  100% goat milk cheese spread from the Uriel company in France, presented as certified Kosher with chalav nochri, under the supervision of Rabbi A. Ralbag;
  •  Goat's milk Gouda cheese, semi-hard cheese, 28% fat, 100% goat's milk, produced by Henry Willich in the Netherlands, also Kosher under the supervision of Rabbi A. Ralbag, USA;
  •  Whipped Philadelphia cream cheese, produced by Kraft Foods Inc. of Illinois, USA, labelled as OK-D;
  • Babybel cheese from Le Group Bel, the Netherlands; also under the supervision of Rabbi A. Ralbag. 

​The Rabbinate clarified that the above cheeses should not be bought or sold and should be returned to suppliers. It added that stores must ensure that all products have been certified Kosher by the Rabbinate and include whether or not the milk is cholov yisrael, supervised by a Jew, as some observant Jews are strict about the source of their milk.