Spokane rabbi ensures Palouse grain processing remains kosher

Rabbi Jacob Izakson points to a sign in Co-Ag’s Rosalia elevator that reminds employees not to smoke, eat or drink near the grain pit. Signs like this are one of the key parts of keeping grain kosher.

For millions around the world, eating kosher is an important part of their lives.

Rabbi Jakob Izakson of Spokane said there’s no secret to making sure food is kosher, no blessing is required.

“Wheat, peas, lentils, barley, garbs – they’re all automatically kosher because they grow, because nothing out in the field can be contaminated,” said Rabbi Izakson.

Once the grain hits the elevator, though, the chances of contamination rise.

The key to making sure food is kosher is hours and hours of vigilant inspection.

For the last month or more, Rabbi Izakson has been inspecting grain elevators and processing plants across a swath of the Inland Empire.

Kosher, a Jewish diet laid out in the book of Leviticus, means something is fit to eat. It is Rabbi Izakson’s responsibility to make sure the grains and pulse crops harvested from the fields of the Palouse remain kosher once they hit commercial storage and processing facilities.

Kosher foods are signified by a K inside a circle on the label of a food product.

For grain brokers and processors, earning that insignia is an important part of making Palouse grains available to customers all over the globe.

“You don’t want to limit your product from any market,” said Sam White, Chief Operations Officer with PNW Farmers Cooperative. “If it means you tighten up the way some things are done, it’s definitely worth it in the end.”

Gregarious and kind by nature, Rabbi Izakson is a man on a mission.

He performs his mission with diligence. Much like a detective fresh on the scene of a crime, Rabbi Jack’s eyes scan the elevator for any clue that the kosher food brought in by farmers has been in contact with outside morsels.

“I look around and I can tell if somebody has been eating in the pit,” said Izakson. “First I check if there’s a chair with a coke can or a box of crackers nearby. I have to say, these guys are usually very, very good about it.”

Inspection starts at the pit, where the Rabbi speaks to the employees who open up the gates of grain trucks.

Like the detective interviewing eyewitnesses, he asks operators about their process, about the company’s rules for eating around harvested wheat, barley, peas or lentils and how the machinery at the elevator makes sure everything is kept separate.

“Just by talking to someone, I can get an immediate gauge of how well they’re policies are put together and how well they are put to use,” Izakson told the Gazette outside of a Co-Ag elevator in Rosalia.

After ensuring the dumping area is properly tended, Rabbi Izakson begins to survey the complex.

Is there a chance the grain destined for seed stock can return to the elevator that stores consumer grain? Could an augur transporting wheat, for example, backfeed or spill into a bin filled with lentils?

After making sure the grain taken in from the field is clear of contaminants, the Rabbi moves on to grain processing facilities. He climbs ladders and shoots up hand-powered man-lifts to ensure the screeners and sorters that separate the top-shelf grains from rejects are properly protected.

“Since they’re all open machines, we have to make sure there’s no chance of anything getting in there,” he said.

He must also find out what kind of lubricants are used in the machines and what kind of detergent a plant uses to clean its storage boxes. If they are not already using them, he recommends the plants use kosher alternatives that are available on the market.

Rabbi Izakson, who served as the Rabbi for Temple Beth Shalom in Spokane until last year, began inspecting and certifying as kosher plants and warehouses 20 years ago.

Prior to that, grain processors had to bring in rabbis from as far away as Los Angeles or Chicago to earn the kosher certification.

“I believe the growers and producers in this area – the processors in this area – needed an affordable entry into the kosher market,” he said.

With only about six million Jews in the United States, of which Rabbi Izakson said roughly one-third stick to a kosher diet, the American market is not particularly large. However, the worldwide demand for Palouse grains provides a substantial customer base for kosher products.

“I am amazed of everything on the Palouse, where it goes,” he said. “This wealth of grains, and pulse, it is truly phenomenal. I think it really helps farmers and producers to be able to ship that to kosher markets around the world.”

Companies like soup makers Progresso and Campbell’s need certified kosher products to sell to their Jewish customers. As do companies like Nabisco.

“Up until recently, I had never eaten an Oreo,” said Izakson. “Because they used animal lard, my family never ate them. We had to eat Keebler’s cookies – the Hydrox.”

Nabisco used to make its tasty Oreo cookies with cheaper animal lard. When animal lard prices rose, Nabisco decided to switch over to a vegetable-based shortening to open up its sales to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Izakson said the kosher market has exceeded the bounds of the Jewish religion.

Now, the kosher marketplace is being driven by non-Jewish consumers who want the quality assurance that the circle-K logo provides.

“Kosher, by its very definition, is high quality,” he said. “Allergists now are suggesting their patients eat kosher because it has fewer contaminants.”

The kosher seal also appeals to the growing population of vegans, who don’t include any animal products in their diets.

The circle-K on a can of Campbell’s vegetarian soup, for instance, guarantees there are no meat products in the can, while the vegetarian soup without the seal can contain meat.