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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/41367/full/41367/china-gets-kosher-milk-we-all-laugh-at-first/ <br /><br /> <b>China gets kosher milk, we all laugh - at first.</b> <br /> Friday, February 12, 2010 | by rachel leibold <br /><br /><p><img alt="milk_280" height="280" src="/images/uploads/blog_art/0110/milk_280.jpg" title="milk_280" width="154" /></p> <div class="caption">Drink up, my droogs.<br /></div> <p>China is known for a lot of things: Pandas. Mao. Jackie Chan. That totally-awesome-slash-mildly-frightening drumming display at the Beijing Olympics.</p> <p>What China is not known for is Jews. Actually, that's not entirely true - during the Holocaust, many Jews fled Europe for China (the term "Shanghailanders" may ring a bell), and for centuries Kaifeng (the ancient capital of China) was the home to a small but thriving Jewish community. But the Kaifeng Jews eventually assimilated and forgot their heritage, and most Shanghailanders ended up immigrating elsewhere (like the Bay Area) after the war.<br /><br />Today there are around 10,000 Jews in the People's Republic. So let's be honest. In a country of 1.3 billion people, 10,000 of anything is, well, nothing. In fact, the percentage of China's population that is Jewish is so infinitesimal that I don't even have a calculator that will tell me what it is.<br /><br />Which is why I was so surprised when I saw <a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/11/1010582/kosher-milk-comes-to-china" target="_blank">a story on JTA</a> about kosher milk coming to the PRC. A dairy in Beijing is now distributing the milk, which is both cholov Yisroel (the strict kosher standard for dairy products) <em>and</em> organic.<br /><br />At first glance, this story seems pretty friggin' ridiculous. In a country of 1.29999 billion people who aren't Jewish and 10,000 who are, establishing a kosher dairy industry seems a little bit, um, stupid? I mean, of those 10,000 Jews, how many probably keep kosher? Sure, there are 10 Chabad Houses in China whose inhabitants need certified milk, but that still doesn't seem like enough to necessitate a full-on kosher dairy industry.<br /><br />But then I remembered: melamine. In 2008, batches of melamine-tainted baby formula sickened more than 300,000 Chinese babies, and some even died. JTA reports that in the wake of that incident, "public distrust of the dairy industry remains strong."<br /><br />Studies of who is buying kosher food in the U.S. has revealed that in fact, a very significant number - up to 80 percent, according to some reports - of people who buy kosher products aren't doing it for religious reasons. They're doing it because they feel that kosher food is healthier, thanks to the strict supervision process. This has been a boon to companies like Manischewitz and Streit's, which might otherwise have tanked thanks to the dwindling number of Jews keeping kosher.<br /><br />So there's actually a very good likelihood that kosher milk will really take off in China, not just with Jews.<br /><br />Perhaps this move, while seemingly a bit odd on the outside, is actually genius. Even if only 5 percent of China's population could be convinced that kosher is better, that's still <strong><em>65 million</em></strong> people - think the entire population of France.<br /><br />So to the person who thought this up, I raise my glass (of milk) to you. May the New Year see you prosper. 恭喜发财!</p>
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