Tank Cleaning and Kosher Status

At Enviro Care, we’re proud of the numerous areas where our tank cleaning services can be beneficial to clients. And while many associates these services only with areas like hazmat cleanup or chemical waste disposal, there’s another important area we service here: Cleaning tanks to help them obtain kosher status, allowing them to store and transport kosher foods and materials.

The term “kosher” comes from ancient Jewish laws called kashrut, which dealt with the proper preparation and consumption of foods. Different people or groups may practice kosher laws in varying ways in today’s modern age, and the full list of guidelines is very extensive, but there are several basic rules that define some of the simpler areas. Let’s go over these basic rules, what kosher “status” means, and an example of how we go about cleaning tanks to ensure they’re permitted to store kosher food.

General Kosher Rules

Some of the simpler rules of kashrut include:

Forbidden animals: All parts of certain animals, including, flesh, organs, eggs, and even milk, cannot be eaten or drunk at all. Pigs are one animal that falls under this category.
Permitted animals: Birds and mammals eaten must be killed in accordance with Jewish law, and all blood must be drained or broiled from meat and poultry before consumption. In addition, certain parts of these animals may not be eaten.
Meat cannot be eaten or prepared with dairy. Generally, things like fruit, eggs, fish, and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy, though some people do not eat fish with meat.
Any utensils that contact meat – or items used to cook meat – may not be used with dairy, and vice versa.
Utensils that have touched non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food in cases where the food was hot.
Fruits and vegetables are allowed as long as they’ve been inspected for bugs first.
Grape products made by Jews are allowed, but grape products made by non-Jews are not.

Kosher “Status”

As we noted above, kashrut extends beyond just the foods themselves and into areas like utensils and preparation. Any utensil or area where food is cooked in or eaten off of retains the status of that food – if you use a certain pan to cook meat, for instance, you cannot turn around and heat up warm milk in that same pan.

This theme extends to storage areas and surfaces, as well. In fact, for a particular area or room to become truly kosher, a Jewish rabbi must be present to oversee the cleaning processes that take place.

Example

Recently, Enviro Care had a project where two storage tanks needed to be cleaned so they could store kosher materials. Under the guidance of a Jewish rabbi contracted by a company that specializes in Kosher certification, these are the steps we took:

Standard clean: For both our large tanks, we removed all liquids and debris, plus any rust or corrosion stuck to walls.
Thorough interior cleaning: Using a specific cleaner.
High-temperature rinse: We used to water over 195 degrees Fahrenheit to rinse the inside of the tank.
Sanitizer: We applied sanitizer diligently to the entire tank.

For more on the kosher tank cleaning process, or to learn about any of our other services, speak to the pros at Enviro Care today.