Hebrew National, which in its advertising claims it "answers to a higher authority," has answered to yet another authority -- the Conservative movement -- and passed with flying colors.

For more than a decade, the movement has declined to recommend Hebrew National products because of "questions raised about the quality of its kosher supervision," according to Rabbi Paul Plotkin, chairman of the kashrut subcommittee of the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

"At no time did we ever say it wasn't kosher," Rabbi Plotkin stressed, adding that the movement simply never accepted Hebrew National products.

That changed in November with the retirement of Rabbi Tibor Stern, Hebrew National's kosher supervisor for the past 25 years, and his replacement with kosher supervisors from Triangle K.

Rabbi Plotkin said he and two other rabbis from his committee, Joel Roth and Mayer Rabinowitz, met with the supervising rabbi at Triangle K, Aryeh Ralbag, and inspected the two slaughterhouses that provide meat for Hebrew National in Green Bay, Wis., and Temma, Iowa. In addition, the three toured Hebrew National's koshering and processing plants in Indianapolis, Ind.

"We were given access to everything," Rabbi Plotkin said. "It was not a cursory inspection. All of the questions that had been raised over the years that led to our not being able to recommend Hebrew National were totally addressed by what we saw.

"Appropriate and significant changes have occurred in the slaughter and the packing and koshering process that have satisfied us," he said.

A Hebrew National spokeswoman, Julie DeYoung, declined to permit Rabbi Ralbag to be interviewed, saying he had signed a confidentiality agreement with the company.

DeYoung said the change in kosher supervision has not resulted in any changes to Hebrew National products. She said the same inspectors remain at the plants and that the switch to Triangle K was made in an "orderly way" because Rabbi Stern "had been ill for some time." He died in January.

DeYoung added that the company now places the Triangle K logo on all of its products and that there are "no plans to advertise" the change in supervision because the information is "readily available to those who are interested."

Rabbi Plotkin said he has been working with Hebrew National since at least 1998 "trying to ascertain whether the product was acceptable to us. Hebrew National said it would like to make the product acceptable to us and it took a while for that to take place. They were not able to make the changes while Rabbi Stern was there."

One of the changes is that the kosher supervision is "transparent" -- all of the details involved in the operation are available and the entire premises are open for inspection, Rabbi Plotkin explained.

"They told us about and showed us the changes in the actual production, and we were satisfied," he said.

The RA's kashrut subcommittee reported its finding to the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which on June 2 accepted the supervision of Triangle K for all products. Until now, Triangle K had provided kosher supervision for only non-meat products.

Although the Conservative movement used to check the kosher certification on products in the past, that practice stopped a few years ago when a company whose product the rabbis found unacceptable threatened to sue.

"The Rabbinical Assembly for the last number of years has been in a passive mode regarding the process of [kosher supervision]," Rabbi Plotkin said. "The exception has been Hebrew National because there has been such an overwhelming desire from the rabbis and congregants to know if it was acceptable. There is a great need for a widely distributed, economical and high quality kosher products, and it serves our interests to have it because we have Jews everywhere and its products are widely available."

Because Hebrew National does not use glatt kosher meat -- cows whose lungs have no imperfections -- its products will remain unacceptable to those who eat only glatt kosher meat.