Illinois Law Takes Aim at Camel and Pig’s Milk
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill requiring that milk not from a cow be labeled as such.
The bill’s signing on Aug. 6 followed a concerted lobbying effort by the Chicago Rabbinical Council, an Orthodox rabbinical and kosher certification organization. A previous law, according to a C.R.C. press release, had allowed the sale of milk from any animal, which could include non-kosher milk from pigs or camels.
The new law was amended to require that such milk be labeled accordingly, even if it only contains trace amounts of milk not from a cow. State Senator Ira Silverstein sponsored the bill, which he crafted along with Rabbi Yona Reiss, who heads C.R.C.’s rabbinical court.
“Rabbi Reiss did an outstanding job explaining the whole issue to the committee,” Senator Silverstein said, according to the press release. “He rewrote the bill several times. The C.R.C. is protecting the Jewish community to make sure… milk is kosher. They did the right thing going to the Illinois General Assembly to resolve this issue.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
