Ask the Rabbi Title Cold Stone Creamery Question Hi. There is a Cold Stone Creamery in Huntington and one in Mineola (in The Source Mall) which both have a very vague kosher certificate in the window of the store. Don't all cold Stone's carry the same ice cream? In other words, if the store in Great Neck is kosher, can I rely on that to eat in the other stores considering that I am a person who holds that you can eat in Baskin Robins or Haagen Daaz stores even without a hashgacha? Thank you so much Answered by: Rabbi Katz Good question Shifra.Many people make the same assumption and, unknowingly violate kashrus. Here are the facts: I care too much about kashrus to rely on assumption. While it is true that franchise regs limit the ingredients that individual stores may use you can not trust your neshama to a franchise agreement. Who checks? How often? Do you know that franchisees of large ice cream chains have been caught cheating many times? Did you know that many such agreements allow for certain exceptions, such as permitting for an ingredient to be purchased for other sources if they run out in an "emergency". Now, specifically regarding Cold Stone, I'll bet you did not know that before we undertook the hashgacha we removed several non kosher ingredients----I am certain that these ingredients are used at non-certified Cold Stone locations. For these reasons we urge the public to patronize only those stores that are supervised by a known, reliable agency. Return. Question of the Week pet food Question I have heared that pet foods may require hashgacha. Is this true? why must animals eat kosher? Answer Halacha recognizes two types of forbidden substances. Isurei Achilah, forbidden food from which benefit may be derived so long as they are not eaten and Isurei Hanaah, substances from which we may not benefit in any way. Nearly all pet food contains non-kosher animal proteins. However, it is important to note that while it is certainly forbidden to prepare or serve these pet foods with kosher utensils, one is permitted to feed them to his animals. Check the ingredients! Many pet foods contain beef protein as well as a milk derivative such as casein, rendering the mixture Bassar V'Cholov, a classic example of Isurei Hanaah, which we may not feed to our animals.It should be noted that chicken protein combined with a milk derivative is Bassar V'cholov Derabanan-which is not considered Isurei Hanaah and may therefore be fed to Jewish-owned animals. Most pet foods contain Chometz, another example of Isurei Hanaah. They should not remain in Jewish possession during Pesach.Due to the complexity of the many ingredients one should not rely upon a reading of the ingredient panel or an inquiry with the company to detirmin if a given pet food contains chometz. For year-round use I cannot say that hashgacha is a requirement-provided that the ingredients are checked for Bassar V'cholov. However, the use of an approved product will certianly rule out the danger of unwittingly purchasing a Bassar V'chalav product (the lables are quite similar) and benefiting from it-an Issur D'oraysoh. Evanger's brand of dog and cat foods is approved for pets by the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Though it is not kosher,the CRC certifies that it is free of Bassar V'chalav and Chametz.