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<\/a>\n\t\tA bottle of the cow-free New Milk by tech company Remilk, which launched in Israeli supermarkets in January 2026. (Remilk)<\/p>\n
In the eye of the beholder<\/p>\n
Speaking with The Times of Israel, several kashrut experts explained that, unlike other lab-developed \u201cno-animal\u201d milk or meat products, there is no doubt that the milk is parve. Still, some kashrut precautions may be needed, as long as the New Milk is not generally recognizable to the public, especially to avoid incurring the rabbinic prohibition of marit ayin (\u201cappearance to the eye\u201d), or appearing to violate the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis milk has the qualities of milk, but it is not really milk,\u201d Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council who sits on the rabbinate\u2019s kashrut committee, told The Times of Israel in a message. \u201cIt is totally free from anything connected to cows. If the initial cell had been taken from a cow, there would be arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher, the world\u2019s largest kosher certification agency, explained that the new beverage represents a further step in a world of milk substitutes whose kashrut status has been debated since the time of the Talmud, the foundational text of rabbinic Judaism that was compiled between the 5th and the 6th century CE.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Talmud talks about milk produced from almonds going back thousands of years,\u201d he told The Times of Israel in a video interview. \u201cIt was not well known or popular, so both the Talmud and the [16th-century legal code] Shulchan Aruch say that if you have almond milk on the table, and people aren\u2019t familiar that there is such a thing as almond milk, you must put almonds on the table [to make it recognizable].\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The Talmud talks about milk produced from almonds going back thousands of years\u2019<\/p>\n Both Elefant and Rabbi Avraham Hermon, who serves as a consultant on raw materials for the Kashrut Program of Tzohar, an Israeli moderate Orthodox group, stressed that, in modern terms, this principle requires branding the beverage correctly to ensure people understand that it is not real milk.<\/p>\n The rabbis said that the packaging by Remilk, which produces and distributes the New Milk in partnership with the large Israeli dairy Gad, meets the requirements.<\/p>\n \t Speaking with The Times of Israel via telephone, Hermon and Tzohar Kashrut Program head Rabbi Eyal Moshe said that if the beverage is cooked or served in a meat dish, the bottle should be put on the table for the benefit of eventual guests who are not aware of its existence, and might think that it was regular milk.<\/p>\n \u201cSome rabbis would say that [the New Milk] should not be used unless it\u2019s very clear to those who consume it that this milk is artificial milk,\u201d Hermon said.<\/p>\n While the New Milk contains no lactose and is therefore suitable for lactose-intolerant people, those who are allergic to dairy protein can still not consume it.<\/p>\n \t The beverage contains about 1.3% lab-grown dairy proteins (alongside several ingredients such as coconut and nut fats, water, salt, cane sugar, stabilizers, and more).<\/p>\n Asked whether it could be dangerous to serve something containing dairy proteins in a kosher-certified meat restaurant where patrons do not expect to have to worry about a milk allergy, Oppenheim said, \u201cpeople with allergies always make it very, very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey do not leave it up to the restaurant [to inform them],\u201d he added. (While Bodega has yet to start experimenting with the Remilk beverage, Oppenheim hopes that it will allow the family business to make a step forward into shattering some more food glass ceilings.)<\/p>\n Elefant highlighted that what is considered dairy for health purposes, kashrut purposes, and by governments\u2019 regulations do not always coincide.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the United States, there\u2019s something called non-dairy creamer, but most of the non-dairy creamers are dairy certified by the OU, because they do contain dairy ingredients made from a cow, and specifically something called sodium casein. Therefore, from the Jewish law perspective, they are dairy, but from the government perspective, they are not, because they do not contain dairy proteins.\u201d<\/p>\n \t A kashrut revolution?<\/p>\n Asked whether we can expect in the near future to see the non-cow milk and similar products to radically change the way kashrut is kept, allowing for recipes such as cheese on bolognese sauce pasta or real cheeseburgers, or even making the need for separation between meat and dairy dishes obsolete, Elefant said that ultimately this is not a question for him to answer.<\/p>\n \u2018As a rabbi, I have to answer [kashrut] questions as a technician\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAs a rabbi, I have to answer [kashrut] questions as a technician,\u201d he explained. \u201cIs this parve? The answer is yes. May this be mixed with meat? The answer is yes. Now you or me or anyone may feel that this is a violation of the spirit of the law, which I respect, but I can\u2019t legislate based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Elefant also stressed that many products once thought unattainable have been introduced to the kosher market over the decades. He recalled that when he joined OU some 38 years ago, the main debate was whether they could certify fake crab as kosher.<\/p>\n Yet, there are still new frontiers to be crossed.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, here in the United States, we certify a very popular product, called \u2018the Impossible Burger,\u2019 Elefant said. \u201cThey have it so perfect that after you cook it and you put your fork into it, juice comes out like from a regular hamburger, beet juice, not blood. It\u2019s 100% kosher, 100% parve. That same company has asked to certify \u2018the Impossible Pork.\u2019 It only has kosher ingredients, but how does it look if we have the OU, the largest, most prestigious kosher symbol in the world, next to the word \u2018pork\u2019? So right now, we haven\u2019t done it, but I really believe there will be a day we will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hermon noted that when it comes to lab-grown meat and the possibility of it being certified kosher and parve, the process is much more complicated because most technologies currently under development start with cells from actual cows and then work to grow them in a lab.<\/p>\n \u2018How does it look if we have the OU, the largest, most prestigious kosher symbol in the world, next to the word \u2018pork\u2019?\u2019<\/p>\n In that case, many more requirements apply to the final product for it to be kosher. Among others, the cow from which cells are taken cannot be alive as Jewish law forbids eating from living animals, and it needs to be shechted (or butchered according to Jewish law).<\/p>\n \u201cAnother thing is that the kosher certification has to check is what kind of nutrients you are feeding the cells as they develop, and if they are also kosher,\u201d said Hermon.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tRabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz attends a swearing in ceremony for the Rabbinate Council at the President\u2019s Residence in Jerusalem, October 24, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tScientists at Israeli food tech startup Remilk present products made with its cow-free milk protein. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tRabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of the OU Kosher. (OU Kosher)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tKosher Bacon Cheeseburger served at Bodega Burger restaurant in Tel Aviv. (Courtesy of Bodega Burger)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tRabbi Avraham Hermon, a consultant on raw materials for the Kashrut Program of Tzohar. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n