Kosher than a jar of another brand of salsa even if it bears a heksher (authorized symbol of kashrut certification) as well. With Paul Newman donating all his Newman’s Own net profits to tzedakah (charity), we have the ethical obligation to support his company’s products. [He’s donated over $200 million to charity thusfar, not to mention his salsa is very good] Now the Conservative Movement is coming along and considering the creation of an additional label that would identify a product as meeting ethical standards as well as the standards of the Jewish dietary laws.
Here’s the article from the Forward about this “Heksher Tzedek“
From JTA.org
Conservatives might mark food for ethics
The Conservative movement is considering labeling kosher food according to the ethical standards by which it is produced.
A commission appointed by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly is debating the creation of a social responsibility certification.
The commission was created in response to recent reports of unsafe working conditions and labor violations at AgriProcessors of Postville, Iowa, one of the nation’s largest kosher meat-packing plants.
The new label would be concerned primarily with protecting workers’ rights, in accordance with Jewish law.
It would be an additional label placed onto food already carrying traditional kosher certification.