By Alina Dain Sharon/JNS.org
In the 1930s, Rabbi Tobias Geffen of Atlanta began to investigate the hidden ingredients inside mass-produced foods in an effort to evaluate whether those ingredients conflict with kosher laws.
He then set a precedent by convincing The Coca-Cola Company to make a kosher-for-Passover version of its soft drink, suggesting that the company substitute
alcohol derrived from molasses in place of the grain alcohol used in the processing of its drink. This step by Coca-Cola stood out at a time when few mainstream food manufacturers were producing kosher-for-Passover products.
“Coke was an enormous consumer product in the 1930s, and jealously guarded its formula,” said historian Roger Horowitz, author of, Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food. Much of the company’s decision, he explained, rested on its confidence in Rabbi Geffen
How Coca-Cola
Paved the Way For
Passover-Friendly Foods
A kosher-for-Passover bottle of Coca-Cola, distinguished from ordinary Coca-Cola bottles by its yellow cap.
Credit: Mark H. Anbinder via Flickr.com.