smoked bacon and cheddar snack

B"H Shalom Rabbi. I am 58, Jewish, in New York. I never attended Yeshiva and I am trying to learn late in life.. I was wondering if you can explain this. The ingredients are not bacon but all natural. Isn’t this considered "marit ayin"? I don’t think any Yeshiva would buy these snacks for students or would make them available in Kosher vending machines. Can you please provide any insights? Thank you.

ב"ה Shalom, First of all, much success in your Torah learning. I don't know what product you are referring to, however as I have written before on this website, any processed food product needs proper kosher certification, by a recognized kosher agency. While some products are seemingly have no non -kosher ingredients to the nonprofessional eye, without having visited in the factory where the products are manufactured one can only guess if non-kosher products were produced or not produced on the same production line or how some of the natural ingredients were extracted. Therefore, I would not say it's "Marit Ayin" , but it may outrightly be NOT KOSHER. However, before making any conclusions you should ask around this particular yeshiva who endorsed the sale of a product with no kosher certification. All the best