Yabia Omer,
“For example, giving a Hechsher to water that comes directly from filtered water pipes (zero chashash for grapes, etc.). Have you ever heard of “kosher” water??”
Is bottled water not heated at some point during the process? Even so, it’s true that plain bottled water does not require a hechsher. But why are you ragging on the kashrus agencies when it’s the bottling companies’ decision to get the hechsher on their products?
“Another example is a Hashgacha requiring the food manufacturer to use ingredients/coponents only with THEIR Hashgacha. In other words, Hashgacha Gimmel requiring a muffin manufacturer to use flour, sugar etc etc with Gimmel, and not from equally-reliable Daled. That is not Halacha, that is money.”
Ah yes, those Jooz and their money. Can you think of other reasons a hashgacha might limit the ingredients to products they can personally vouch for?