S. Petersburg Jews will now have the opportunity to enjoy delicacies from their childhood in kosher form. To make this possible, the Kashrut Department of the S. Petersburg Jewish Community inspected the Cameya Confectionery plant. After careful inquiries and visits to the plant, most of the company’s production was found to be easy to convert to kosher certified. “For the most part, the ingredients used at that the Cameya Confectionery plant were kosher,” noted an employee of the Kashrut Department.
The plan to produce kosher certified confections was initiated by the director of the Cameya Plant, Mikhail Liokumovich. “When I was in the U.S. and Israel, I saw how many kosher products there were. It was unfortunate that we don’t have so many in Russia and particularly in S. Petersburg. So I decided to try to change the situation. I do not seek any commercial benefit from this project, but would like Jews of S. Petersburg – both adults and children – to be able to freely walk into any store and buy kosher sweets.”
Members of the S. Petersburg Jewish community are pleased with the appearance of kosher candies. “The kosher shop at the synagogue, for many years, has been selling candy from Israel. While they are delicious, they are not the ‘taste we know since childhood,’ ” said one community member. The Cameya Plant’s candies remind locals about the sweets from the Soviet times, in the good sense of the word. The prices are also much lower than imported kosher products.
The company’s products that are certified kosher are as follows: “Lux” fruit drops (assorted fruit); fruit drops (assorted fruit); fruit drops with menthol; lemon and orange peels; cockerels on a stick, caramel “tulips”; orange slices; and assorted fruit caramel.