Health-conscious turn to kosher

Though the observant Jewish population in the Czech Republic remains small, the kosher foods market is actually expanding as more health-conscious consumers increasingly turn to kosher labeling as a guarantee of pure ingredients and production.

Rudolf Jelínek, a leading producer of the country's traditional liquor of choice, slivovice, has recently released a kosher version of the plum brandy on the Czech market. The company began bottling Silver Slivovitz Kosher in mid-October in the town of Vizovíce, Moravia. The liquor was originally intended only for sale in the United States, but a growing market in organic and vegan foods is also reviving customer interest in kosher products in Prague and beyond.

"Our kosher customers are, of course, also from the Jewish community in Prague, Brno and Karlovy Vary," Hana Holubová, the marketing manager for R. Jelínek told The Prague Post. "However, the main customer is the 'wider market,' which does not associate kosher with faith, but with a premium-quality product."

Kosher liquor is made under the supervision of a representative of the U.S.-based Orthodox Union, Holubová said, who ensures that selected plums are up to standard. She said the technology used is the same as that for normal liquor production, but the machinery is "kosherized" with rinsings in hot and cold water.

"Kosher, strictly translated, means clean," said Tomáš Kraus, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic (FŽO). "Liquor can be kosher if all regulations are kept during the process of production. For example, it does not contain substances that are not permitted - like colorants made of insects. Also, it should not be distilled from wine, as wine has a special set of requirements to be kosher."

The market for all kosher products has been expanding steadily in the Czech Republic, according to Aaron Günsberger, one of the brothers behind the King Solomon Brothers Bakery and Deli, a restaurant and meat production facility in Josefov, Prague's traditional Jewish quarter.

There are only an estimated 6,000 Jewish people living in Prague, according to Kraus. This is hardly enough to make up any significant market, Günsberger said, adding that only around 10 percent to 15 percent of his customers at the bakery and deli are practicing Jews.

"The Jewish population is not growing, but I see there is much higher interest from ... Czech people and expats. Now there is the crisis, but I feel like people are starting to care about what they eat, and it's visible that the number of people buying kosher products is going up," Günsberger said. "It's not about better quality; it is reliability. ... I'm not saying the product is healthier; it's just that what is on the [label] is guaranteed [to be] what's in it."

He added that since the Czech Republic joined the European Union and opened up its markets, the number of kosher products has jumped from virtually none to around 400.

But the main draw for the increase in kosher products is not the domestic market, Günsberger said, but the demand coming from abroad, where kosher products are becoming increasingly popular in tandem with organic and vegan food.

According to a report from market research firm Mintel, the sale of kosher food in the United States grew 64 percent between 2003 and 2008, reaching $12.5 billion annually. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they buy kosher food for quality, and 51 percent said they buy it for "general healthfulness."

For R. Jelínek, 50 percent of their kosher products are exported to the United States, where just this year they saw a 23 percent growth, Holubová said.

"From a business point of view, it's better to have a kosher certificate, because it makes business much easier," Günsberger said.

With kosher certification, he said, companies can expand into almost any country, whether it has a large Muslim, Jewish or diet-conscious population.

"It's one of the tools," he said.

Other Czech companies that have expanded into the kosher sector also did so mainly for exports. Racio, which produces puffed cereal, produced more than 100,000 tons of kosher cereal cakes in 2009 for export to the United States, Israel and Belgium. Plzeňský Prazdroj, brewer of Pilsner Urquell, produces a kosher beer that is mainly exported to Israel.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com