Bacon Ritz Crackers Are Also Kosher

Bacon flavouring on chips, crackers and other such snacks has been around for a long time now, particularly as bacon continues to make the rounds as one of America’s most popular food groups, despite it being probably one of the worst things you can consume.

Even kosher bacon products aren’t exactly ‘news’, with Ruffles’ Sour Cream & Bacon Flavour Potato Chips out on the market for quite some time now.

Regardless, it seems many members of the Jewish community are up in arms regarding the latest Ritz cracker, that happens to also be bacon flavored.

Distributed by Nabisco, Ritz Bacon Crackers brandish a kosher symbol, particularly the signature for dairy certification, OU.

“There was much discussion over the decision about this product,” said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of the Orthodox Union Kashrut Department, who notes that the words ‘artificially flavored’ are quite discernible following the title. “Nobody’s going to think this is actual bacon,” he adds.

Despite it, some have had their objections with the product, reports Times of Israel, including the proprietor of the website Pork Memoirs, Jeffrey Yoskowitz.

Yoskowitz’s site is dedicated to finding alternatives for those who’d like to eat bacon.

“This is a particular type of American item I don’t want to be a part of, specifically because of the artificial flavoring,” he said. “I’d rather have beef bacon or lamb bacon on a cracker.”

“To see a Jew eating kosher bacon-flavored crackers is just as confusing as a Jew walking into a non-kosher restaurant,” he added.

Though Rabbi Elefant agreed, in part, that certain Jewish people will find the item ‘offensive’, he added that, “The reality is there’s nothing close to bacon in this product,” Elefant said. “There are artificial bacon flavorings that give the ‘bacon flavor.’”

Elefant notes that certifying the product as kosher does not mean the crackers actually taste like bacon. “Kosher law is kosher law,” he said. “If proper law, supervision and certification are followed, the law is the law; no law that says you can’t have artificial-flavored bacon.”