Yudel, Many of the pesach products in the stores have hashgacha of chug chasam sofer from E. Yisroel. Do you have any info if they are reliable? Thanks
Thanks for the hotline!! Is there any way to get e-mail updates of the newss which is posted on the site? Or do you have some kind of e-mail kashrus newsletter?
And about CHUG... if we don't use hashgochos like STAR-K,could we still rely on CHUG. What about trumos and maasros? We don't have these isssues in the U.S.!!
Dear Rabbi - Please clarify this email message that is going around. Is it true? And what about the comment posted here... www.crest.com/prohealth/aboutToothpaste.jsp *** Bs"d
from a Kashrus Alert by Rabbi Yudel Shain and Rabbi Yisroel Hisiger: CREST TOOTHPASTE The Proctor and Gamble Company has made it known that Crest, "Pro HealthToothpaste," is made with animal derived ingredients, including pork fat.
The following Crest toothpastes are made WITHOUT animal derived ingredients and there is no information about presence or absence of alcohol in flavor.
1) Cavity Protection Toothpaste a. Regular Flavor b. Cool Mint Jell
2) Anti Cavity Toothpaste a. Regular Flavor b. Kid Crest
The rest of Crest toothpastes contain animal-derived ingredients, including porkfat.
Please pass this on to anyone who would care if their toothpaste is treif.
"Yehuda Shain said... For an American, CHUG is mehudar.
Mon Apr 30, 11:41:00 AM 2007"
Reb Yudel,
There are two "chug chasam sofer" - the original from Bnei Brak, which is still a good hechsher AFAIK. The second one, has the shape of a castle and reads Chug Chasam Sofer of Petach Tikva, is given by a certain Deutsh, a Satmarer with dubious credentials and is not trusted by most people in EY.
A new innovation, courtesy of a joint effort by Rubashkin and the OU: GLATT KOSHER TURKEY!(They must think that we're all TURKEYS!)
Marci, Thanks for your prompt reply. I was unaware that TJ's has their own private label of kosher poultry. Please advise the source of this poultry and under which supervisory agency it is being produced. Furthermore, please note that there is no such thing as "glatt kosher" poultry (despite such deceptive advertising by Agriprocessors among others). Poultry is either classified as "kosher" or "unkosher", there is no mid-tier. I think you have confused poultry with beef. ----------------------------------- Hi, Steve-
These turkeys certified by the Orthodox Union as Glatt.
Agriprocessors, Inc., a Postville, Iowa, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,700 pounds of frankfurters due to possible underprocessing.
The following products are subject to recall: Two-pound vacuum-packed packages of "SUPREME KOSHER, FAMILY PACK CLASSIC FRANKFURTERS MADE WITH BEEF & CHICKEN." One-pound vacuum-packed packages of "SUPREME KOSHER, CLASSIC FRANKFURTERS MADE WITH BEEF & CHICKEN."
Each label bears the establishment number, "EST. 4653A" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The labels also bear the Use-by date "March 16, 07."
The frankfurters were produced on November 15, 2006 and were shipped to retail establishments and institutions in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Consumers with questions about the recall should call company Sales Manager Mark Halbe at (563) 864-6114.
Trader Joe’s pulls Empire Kosher poultry from Western stores
by june d. bell correspondent
The Trader Joe’s specialty-food chain decided recently to pull the products of the world’s largest kosher poultry provider and distributor, Empire Kosher, off the shelves of some 150 West Coast stores.
Officials from both companies declined to say why Trader Joe’s, a 216-store chain, decided to cease selling fresh Empire Kosher chicken and turkey in five Western states. The move comes after 14 packages of Empire skinless, boneless chicken breasts were removed from the shelves of a Central California Trader Joe’s market on March 18 after a random county inspection found they weighed an average of 9.8 percent less than their labels stated.
Trader Joe’s vice president of marketing, Pat St. John, declined to discuss why the company’s West Coast buyer decided to replace Empire with its kosher competitor, Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best. St. John said Empire “could no longer supply our needs” but would not elaborate because “they are still a valued vendor to Trader Joe’s.”
The chain continues to sell Empire chicken and turkey in 68 stores in the Midwest and on the East Coast.
Empire’s new president and CEO, Robert Van Naarden, said packages of meat can carry incorrect weights if the company’s scales become miscalibrated. Asked if that had occurred with meat sent to Trader Joe’s, he responded: “I don’t know. It might have,” but emphasized that any problems had been remedied.
Empire’s products are packed, weighed and labeled for sale at its Pennsylvania plant.
“I believe there are other factors at work here,” he said, suggesting that the chain’s West Coast buyer wanted to make room for non-kosher products. “That doesn’t mean I won’t work to fix what they say are problems.”
Van Naarden, a member of a group of investors who purchased Empire Kosher several months ago, said consumer demand would prompt Trader Joe’s to abandon Rubashkin chicken.
“If they [Trader Joe’s] want to go to an inferior product, it’s up to them,” he said. “Their customers will tell them.”
Empire, a privately held company, has been selling kosher poultry since 1938 and supplies more than 50 percent of the kosher chicken sold in North America, Van Naarden said.
“Trader Joe’s may have seen some things they don’t like. Fair enough,” Van Naarden said. “I respect them. … All the things Trader Joe’s is concerned about, as are other customers, are being addressed every single day.”
Trader Joe’s, which prides itself on offering an array of high-end gourmet and imported items at bargain prices, sold Empire’s fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts; eight-piece cut-up chickens; ground turkey; and turkey breasts. In many West Coast communities that lacked kosher grocery markets, Trader Joe’s was the sole outlet for fresh kosher poultry. And, in some areas, the kosher products at Trader Joe’s were priced lower than comparable frozen products in other supermarkets.
An informal survey conducted by the Forward of employees at five Trader Joe’s stores in Northern California indicated that at some stores Empire had continuing problems with spoilage and inaccurate package weights, resulting in incorrect pricing for customers. Employees at two Trader Joe’s outlets in Northern California told customers that Empire was unable to consistently supply enough stock. “It’s frustrating and it makes us look bad,” said an employee in Trader Joe’s Los Altos store.
The loss of the Trader Joe’s West Coast account occurs just a few months into Van Naarden’s tenure at Empire. He described Trader Joe’s decision to cease sales of Empire at most of its stores as “temporary.” He said his company would increase inventory at other supermarkets in the five-state area where it had been shut out of Trader Joe’s stores.
Neither Empire nor Trader Joe’s was fined after the March 18 inspection, but they were asked to correct the problem. State law requires packaged meats to weigh no less than 97 percent of the weight stated on their labels.
The breasts sell for $5.49 per pound, so a 10 percent error on a pound of meat would result in a 55-cent overcharge.
Robert Lopez said it was the first time in his 13 years as a weights and measures inspector for San Luis Obispo County that he had to prohibit the sale of Empire products.
Ken Lake, program supervisor of the California Department of Agriculture’s Division of Management Standards, said the mislabeling appeared to have been isolated and was quickly corrected. “Even the best packers have some things removed from sale,” he said.
St. John said Trader Joe’s has no plans to reinstate Empire despite a four-year relationship. She would not say whether the chain will switch all its stores to Rubashkin’s.
Empire poultry disappeared abruptly from Trader Joe’s refrigerated shelves after Passover.
Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best, a meat vendor that added poultry to its offerings in 1992, was delighted to pick up Trader Joe’s West Coast account. Its arrival this month marks its debut in the West Coast market.
“When they contacted us, we had no idea they’d already booted Empire out,” said Heshy Rubashkin, vice president of marketing and sales for Iowa-based Agriprocessors, which makes Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best products
If anyone still thinks that they can trust Rubashkin, read this letter from the lying thief:
Rubashkin Meats Letter (Sholom Rubashkin):
November 14, 2007
Dear Customer:
It has come to my attention that you may have been the victim of a slanderous and patently false campaign by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. You may have received their misleading flyer entitled “Kosher Alert” or an automated phone call with misinformation about products produced by Agriprocessors. This is part of a textbook campaign by the Union to force a company into submission to unionize a plant even when it is against the wishes of the workers, which is the case at Agriprocessors.
That's because most of the workers are illegals and have no choice but to submit to the horrendous working conditions.
The vicious tactics by the Union not withstanding, when someone makes allegations about practices in our company or the quality of our products, I take it personally. My family guarantees that all our products are safe and wholesome.
Your guarantees are worthless. Just read the government's 577 page report. http://agri.unionactive.com/docs/All%20NRs.pdf
Let me assure you there are no recalls or food safety issues with our products.
Lies. Just last year there was a major recall of hot dogs. Safety issues? Read the report!
We have a moral obligation to produce the safest products for our customers and we take that obligation very seriously.
The only obligation you take seriously is to make sure to maximize profits. That means cut corners wherever possible, switch labels, hand pick mashgichim and pay off rabbis and hacks like Lubinsky.
The Rubashkin family has been supplying high quality kosher meat and poultry for over fifty years. Mr. Aron Rubashkin has earned his reputation of trust for Kosher, quality and food safety. That is why consumers across America rely on our product every day.
That is why you are constantly under investigation and your "kashrus" is the longest running joke.
As you know, all of our products must earn the seal of wholesomeness by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) before they leave our plant. To produce safe food in our modern production facility, we and the on-site USDA inspectors maintain a constant vigilance. We are committed to continue to strive for improvement so that you are guaranteed of the safest and utmost quality products.
It is unfortunate that in today’s day and age of respect for democratic institutions, that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), refuses to abide by the wishes of the workers at Agriprocessors not to organize into a Union We would at any time respect the right of our employees to organize and join a union if they so choose.
We hope that you will now recognize the context of the disinformation that has been disseminated in our community in a brazen attempt to force the workers to unionize. We know, that like all fair-minded people that you will stand with our employees and their right to decide for themselves whether or not to have a union.
Ironically, the UFCW has targeted our food safety record that as you can see below is nothing less than stellar. Here are but a few highlights:
• Concerns about Mad Cow disease are simply wrong. We have never had product from any suspect animals leave our plant.
The video clearly showed a suspect cow not taken out of the herd.
• Agriprocessors has had zero recalls in any of our raw, fresh or frozen poultry and beef products since we opened. Yes, not one recall in nineteen years.
The key word is "raw". The hot dogs were recalled for underprocessing.
• The UFCW claims we have excessive reports of non-compliance. In covering the same UFCW report, the Cedar Rapids Gazette interviewed USDA spokesperson Amanda Eamich who was quoted as saying, “….a plant the size of Agriprocessors might receive 9,000 inspections per year, of which 250 noncompliance findings remains “a pretty small percentage.”
We have always maintained an “open door” policy and encourage our customers to ask any questions that they may have about our products.
We rely on our quality control systems and personnel, USDA oversight and independent auditing to assure the products safety and wholesomeness of our products. Rabbis and customers are welcome to tour our plants at any time to see our commitment at work first-hand.
Another bold faced lie! Visits by mashgichim or anyone else are by appointment only.
We are proud of our commitment to the principles we established almost nineteen years ago. The food we produce at Agriprocessors is safe and wholesome. You have my word on it.
We encourage you to ask questions and find out for yourself. To get the facts, visit our web site agriprocessor.com.
We are most gratified by your continued support and thank you for helping make Agriprocessors the leader in kosher beef and poultry.
This is the updated COR policy for strawberries. They say that they formulated this in cooperation "with their posek, R' Shlomo Miller."
Caterers & other commercial establishments are not required to abide by repeating the process a 2nd time as they recommend to not put too much of a burden on the community. The COR admits that this system is not 100% a guarantee vehamachmir tavo alav brocho.
COR tests found that Canadian strawberries which grow in a colder climate are less infestation prone.
The COR also feels that thrips do not emerge whole from a serious session in a blender.
again I dial the number and then press 1 2 3 or 4 and then the pound sign. I get an error message. What am I doing wrong?
On another note - I see more and more stuff that International Glatt makes that says IHG or HGI. THis is made with meat from Rubashkin !!! HG is Howard Gruenspecht, who quit working from there a few months ago.
Abeles and Heymann just moved their production from International Glatt to New Jersey. Who do they buy from? Obviously, not from International. The only thing that we learned from Kosherfest is that Rosenberg meat is making a private label for them and Irving Braun is working for them. Irving Braun was responsible for Gartner-Harf going bankrupt. He also had many fights with the OU concerning Kashrus. If he is art Abeles and Heyman, then I would put them in the same catagory as Rubashkin.
Rabbi Shain, I have an intereting question that's been bothering me for quite a while. Perhaps you can shed some light on this issue. I eat out very often, frequenting restaurants in Brooklyn, & Great Neck. I noticed that many if not most of these restaurants are owned by sephardic jews. Many of these restaurants especially in Brooklyn Kings highway area & Great Neck serve mostly sephardic customers. They usually have the typical Hechsher like Kehilla or in great neck the OK. Now I am not sephardic, but I know the sephardim can only eat Beis Yosef Meat.
My question is why aren't the (askenazic)hashgochas requiring these establishments to serve Beis Yosef. Isn't it a case of "lifnei iver' knowing full well that many of these customers aren't allowed to eat this meat. I even found that sometimes, Beis Yosef wasn't even available upon request. How can the hashgochas allow it?
Why shouldn't Abeles & ... buy from Rubashkin just like International/ Chaimowitz?
Even restaurants serving Sephardim aren't necessarily using Bais-Yosef-unless it's a Rubashkin product (they'l give them Bais-Yosef labels by the hand full-Even Supreme Ask Rabbi Brody)
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is currently issuing a “kosher safety alert,” in hopes of impacting Agriprocessors, the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, which has been the subject of ongoing scrutiny.
“We are terribly concerned about the health and safety issues, which have been ongoing problems for the past few years at Agriprocessors,” said David Dolov, New England regional director of the JLC. “USDA inspections have revealed serious doubts about Agriprocessors’ ability to maintain sanitary conditions and to produce a safe and wholesome product.” Agriprocessors, which produces beef, poultry, and lamb products under such brand names as Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice, European Glatt, Nevel, David’s, and Supreme Kosher, has received a laundry list of charges from the Unites States Department of Agriculture and others over the past year. The slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, received 250 noncompliance reports from the USDA during 2006, which cited inadequate safeguards against mad cow disease as well as fecal contamination and rodent problems in the food production area. In August, the company was reprimanded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) regarding food safety concerns. The UFCW was most concerned over two large-scale food recalls this year and the plant’s checkered reputation of screening for mad cow disease. Gary Reckrodt, spokesperson for Agriprocessors, said the company was not aware of the JLC’s current food safety alert, but added that organizations like the JLC and the UFCW simply use the issue of food safety to ultimately talk about workers’ rights. “We take food safety concerns very seriously, but the UFCW is using this tactic to force its way in when the real issue is workers’ rights,” said Reckrodt. On Nov. 14, the JLC organized a hand billing at Trader Joe’s grocery store locations nationwide. Dolov and other local participants stood in front of the store’s Cambridge and Brookline locations and handed out flyers. According to Dolov, the JLC focused its efforts at Trader Joe’s because the store stocks products from Agriprocessors. “We want the message to go to Trader Joe’s and ‘up the chain’ to Agriprocessors that they have to improve the workplace at the plant,” said Dolov. “Traders Joe’s is a big chain and can make an impact, not to mention the fact that they distribute a lot of kosher products.” As the country’s leading producer of kosher meats, Agriprocessors plays an important role in the lives of those who follow Jewish dietary customs. If the plant were to be shut down or put temporarily out of business, the impact would be felt in many kosher households, according to Walter Gellerman of The Butcherie in Brookline. “They’re the premier kosher producer. They supply the majority of the market nowadays,” said Gellerman. “If they closed their doors tomorrow there wouldn’t be any glatt kosher meat out there.” Dolov insisted that while he does not want to see Agriprocessors shut down, it is the responsibility of the Jewish people to make sure kosher products are acceptable. “It is our collective responsibility to let the industry know that we demand quality products,” he said.
After Indian chilli exports faced a series of rejections and near-boycott by Europe in 2003, following the detection of chemical dye Sudan Red (generally used by the textile industry) to add colour to the chillies and chilli powder, the board cancelled licences of five exporters
When tinned foods first became widely available in the second half of the 19th century, they were seen as a triumph of wholesomeness over the often adulterated, infested and rotten “fresh” food of the day.
1 dead, 80 sick after consuming adulterated oil in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- An elderly woman has died and 80 people have fallen sick after consuming food prepared with adulterated oil in a party in Saptari district in eastern Nepal, the National News Agency, RSS reported on Friday.
According to the RSS, 40 villagers fainted at the party held at a local resident's home, some 190 km east of Kathmandu, Thursday night.
Three-dozen people, suffering from nausea, diarrhea and headache, were taken to hospital.
The cooking oil used in food items was adulterated, said Doctor Bhawananda Majhi of the Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital.
Meanwhile, 20 policemen at the Zonal Police Office, Rajbiraj have also fallen sick after using the same brand oil.
The police have raided the local markets and confiscated the Shanka Brand Company oil and arrested a shopkeeper.
Did you see the marketing for the new fleishig restaurant in Lakewood. They are selling themselves as the restaurant with every conceivable chumrah. Well it was interesting to note that their ad includes a photograph of a delicious sliced steak with salad and (get this) grated cheese topping on the salad. i guess you could excuse them for their ignorance thinking it was grated carrots. Anyway I thought you may enjoy the good laugh.
yudel do u know any info about the telshe riverdale dinner? did they have a proper hashgacha? which caterer did they use? I saw the ad in the yated. I think the dinner was tonight. I am curious whether they were ok or not
"They are selling themselves as the restaurant with every conceivable chumrah."
That's how Yankel Reisman pitched ARK for years. I wonder if he still says it.
Wasserman in Queens tells customers he is a big yiras shomoyim & "tzitters" to take "afeelu ein pruta" from a Yid improperly. He has been charging "tax" for 20 years on non-taxable items, brushed off people who pressured him for 4 months to stop it, and still feifs everyone on after it was publicized.
All of Wasserman's meats in the take out section are Rubashkin, yet he is considered the frummest / most heimishe place to buy meats in Queens. Even people that don't eat from the Vaad eat from him.
Consumers may draw comfort from federal meat recalls that alert stores, restaurants and households to potentially unsafe meat.
But most recalled meat is never recovered — raising the possibility that it was consumed before or even after the recall — according to a USA TODAY analysis of recall data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For 73 meat recalls this year and last, recovery rates per recall averaged 44%, the analysis shows. But for five recalls that followed reports of consumer illness, recovery rates per recall averaged just 20%.
Recovery rates vary for several reasons, including how quickly meat gets to market and the number of days between production and when problems are detected.
"The closer those dates are to each other, the more we get back," says Kenneth Petersen, USDA assistant administrator.
He says recalls spawned by reports of illness have low recovery rates because weeks or months can pass between when a product is produced, someone gets sick and illness is linked with food.
In contrast, recalls resulting from the USDA's product testing tend to result in higher recovery rates.
The USDA, which regulates meat and poultry, routinely samples thousands of products for harmful bacteria before they leave factories. Test results take a few days to produce.
During that time, companies can legally ship a product. If tests are positive, the product is recalled. Because the meat has been in the market a few days, recovery rates tend to be good: 62% per recall, on average.
There have been 54 meat recalls this year, up from 34 last year. For the most recent recalls, recovery rates are not yet available.
To get more consumers to check homes for recalled meats, the USDA next year plans to publicize names of retailers selling meat that was later recalled. "We think it would be helpful for people to know, 'Gee, that is my store,' " says Petersen.
Recall notices now posted on the USDA's website typically name states where a product was sent but not retailers, unless their names are on the product. Retailer names have been considered confidential business information, as with any customer lists.
Company actions also affect recalls. Typically, recallers alert their customers, often distributors or wholesalers, who alert their customers, and so on. But recovery of products isn't a given.
On Sept. 29, Topps Meat recalled 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger because of potential contamination with the deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. The recall, the second-biggest ever for ground beef, was well publicized. Still, New Jersey officials found 141 boxes of recalled burgers in 12 state stores about a month after the recall.
Some retailers said they didn't know about the recall, says New Jersey consumer affairs spokesman Jeff Lamm.
The hot line works fine, we just tried it. 1-212-990-7238 listen to introduction-at any time press 1 of the 4 channels with no # after or before a number.
Bacon salt means that the salt has a taam of bacon. It's no different than bacon bits from Betty Crocker and others under the OU. OK / Levy had a product around for years that was artificial ham & cheese.
The reason to knock Londinski is because his hashgocho is anyway shvache mayses. I also once read some article about a scandal years ago that I'm going to try to find again.
R' Yudel, there are cholov stam products from South America under the hashgochos down there that are being sold in NY. Do they not track the herds either?
The rabbanut has better standards for lettuce than most hashgochos in America. Bodek or every leaf checked is NOT required by the Queens Vaad and many others.
When Carmi Horowitz sat down to dinner at the Shakespeare Restaurant in Talpiot, he assumed that the venue would be in possession of a valid kashrut certificate, as indicated on the store's sign. He even called ahead to verify that the trendy eatery was, indeed, under kosher supervision. But when Horowitz asked to see the certificate, he got an unpleasant surprise.
"When I asked to see the certificate, the manager told me he had 'sent it for framing,'" said Horowitz. "They then proceeded to show me a photocopy of a certificate from two-and-a-half years ago."
Finally, after a rigamarole that led to the owner's admitting that the venue did, indeed, have its supervision temporarily suspended, Horowitz got up, together with the rest of his party of 13, and left the restaurant.
"It's quite shocking," he said.
The owner, when asked for his side of the story, was indignant. He relates how he was stuck late at night with no lettuce and was forced to purchase from a local grocer, rather than use the Gush Katif lettuce that is certified to be free from insects.
"We soaked the lettuce in saltwater, like they do in the army, but that wasn't enough for them."
Rabbi Ya'acov Ruhamkin, who is the kashrut supervisor for the area, entered the kitchen on a surprise visit, and, seeing the unauthorized lettuce, promptly removed the certificate.
Lior, the manager, was furious about what he called the "corruption" and "money-grubbing" in the rabbinate, and threatened that if the matter were not resolved he would cancel kashrut supervision altogether and rake in additional profits from opening on Friday evening and Saturday.
Though Lior said that he personally kept Shabbat and put on tefillin, he demanded vociferously that the spotlight belonged not on "hardworking shopkeepers" but on the "extortion" they suffered at the hands of the rabbinate.
In the end, the rabbi reported that he had reached an agreement with the owner, which included the signing of a bank guarantee regarding the upholding of kashrut standards in the future. The renewed kashrut certificate, said Ruhamkin, would be forthcoming shortly.
Rafi Yochai, who heads the Chief Rabbinate's Fraud Division, said that such occurrences were common in the kashrut business. "Sometimes an establishment will show insufficient regard for kashrut standards and will need to be reprimanded. The temporary removal of the kashrut certificate is often enough to induce proper compliance," he said.
"Although the establishment would be technically required to remove all signage indicating it as kosher, the Fraud Division, which is besieged by innumerable complaints, rarely goes after all but the most egregious violations."
As reported today on his blog, UOJ was looking for the lowlife who is selling fake mezuzos to Judaica stores and shuls in much of the United States. As reported earlier, the fraudster keeps opening new shell companies to conceal himself.
After an investigation it turns out that it's almost impossible to trace him. The pseudo klaff changes hands many times through multi-layer middlemen.
The only sign to watch out for are blue stickers with a bogus name of a kashrus organization for Sta"m that doesn't exist but is very similar sounding to legitimate ones.
The satmar fight on YOUTUBE - that was necessary? You had to be mevayesh borabim? You feel better now tha you showed a bunch of idiots fighting for the Kavod of someone else?
I heard the first few minutes of the uruguay tape. That has to be a prime example of the worst Yiddish that anyone can have. Either say it in Yiddish so that we can understand it or in English so that there are no ambeguities. Talking Yeshivish, as it were, helps no one.
Try to keep the blogs on topic. Having a lettuce story is nice, but has nothing to do with the topic of the phone number. BTW - I saw a mashgiach in the 5 towns take tweezers and inspect every piece in front of a light, until the piece turned brown. He was so slow, the store was not able to have salads for 2 days. Finally they closed because no food was getting out of the kitchen. Thank you Rabbi Eisen - another feather in his cap and another closed store to his credit.
Remember - it was better to buy from a goy then to buy from Gourmet Glatt
Unbelievable how some people do nothing but complain.
Some anonymous "back seat driver" shows up last night and starts telling R' Yudel how to run his website.
Like it or not, most non-Chassidish speakers of Yiddish, speak the yeshivish version.
Then the guy says lettuce stories have no place in this thread. So what does he do next? Attack Rabbi Eisen over lettuce. The guy obviously has an axe to grind with Rabbi Eisen. I never heard of any store / restaurant having problems because each piece of lettuce is checked. Even if it were so, I guess the grumbly critic likes the alternative better with bugs?
He sounds like one of the left wing modern orthodox from the 5 Towns that attack Rabbi Eisen over Gourmet Glatt. The non-frum shutef, which in the eyes of halacha, has the same reliability as a goy, was causing problems and was rightfully forced out of the business.
Hey critic, YOU make no sense about the 5 Towns Vaad. Why don't YOU speak in language we can understand?
Quoting research surveys on adulteration of food items in India, Prof. Chandrashekar said every third food item in India had some level of adulteration be it in the raw form or in the finished product.
The NY Times had a couple of scary articles this week about crime shooting up because of the mortgage crisis. A sheriff in Florida commenting on big increases of burglaries, robberies, etc, said that even people that don't normally steal get desperate when they lose their house and/or can't feed their children.
The jist of this long article is frightening. I don't care that it doesn't bode well for greedy hashgochos but it will be terrible for the public who will not even be able to get bread in some places when this shake up is finished.
The Conservative are now offering free "hashgocho" as a public service, competing with agencies that charge restaurants between 60 to 90 thousand a year.
R' Peretz Steinberg's son in law Rabbi Asher Schachter just lost one of his restaurants on Long Island because they could not afford to pay him. This is a scandal by itself as it seems he was charging greedy, exorbitant rates because he allows shvache standards with these stores like to remain open and cook bagels on Shabbos, Yomtov & even Yom Kippur.
The Conservative are also telling restaurants to switch from Rubashkin so-called "glatt" to Hebrew National. It is more kosher anyway, vehamayvin yovin, but the cost savings is 100k+ a year.
And one humorous note, Arye Ralbag (or is it his father R' Yehoshofot?) tells the freye his name is Rabbi J. Howard Ralbag.
The Queens Vaad gave a foolish answer to the Jewish Week when asked about the Conservative taking away their accounts. The Vaad says it won't make a dent in heimishe areas like Main St. Shkoyach. What about frumme Yidden in Nassau & Suffolk counties? What are they going to eat if all the establishments save tons of money by going with the Conservative?
While the Conservative have some valid taynos about the greed and unfairness of regular hashgochos, they are also a bunch of conniving people. They get plenty of PR for doing very little. These "rabbis" are making a big fat salary from the temple, which is why they volunteer here for free and come by to do a cursory inspection of the restaurant kitchen. You can bet that they won't be rolling up their sleeves to get dirty like real mashgichim.
Speaking of the Queens Vaad, they have a new administrator. I wonder if it's going to make any difference though. There are so many different machanos to appease over there that it's virtually an impossible job to do things right and others before him haven't lasted. You have to deal with baal habatim, left wing modern orthodox rabbis, Chofetz Chaim rabbonim, etc. There has been big resistance before when someone tried bringing them up to standard with other hashgochos, especially on bugs.
The new guy reportedly left KVH / the Vaad of New England because he was too frum for them. I hope he hasn't gone from the frying pan into the fire azoy vee me zogt.
What does R' Yudel or anyone know about standards from Rabbi Soloveitchik and whoever else on Streit's products?
I don't use R' Zushe Blech sanctioned 18 minute matzah on Pesach. I'm wondering about their other products.
(Agav, there was a rumor around the yeshivos that Streit's had the whitest matzah cake meal and that a lab test revealed parts weren't baked. No idea if it's true.)
(Agav, there was a rumor around the yeshivos that Streit's had the whitest matzah cake meal and that a lab test revealed parts weren't baked. No idea if it's true.)
The Star-K's Rabbi Heinemann was very much on target when he refused to permit the use of the Matzo Meal for Pesach from a number of machine bakeries. Check with them.
R' Yudel, thank you for the pointers about property tax appeal. L'toeles Harabim please put it up on your site as there are many people in our town that don't know about the basics of appealing.
...Since the spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun—maize, milk, oilseeds, you name it—is at or near a peak in nominal terms. The Economist's food-price index is higher today than at any time since it was created in 1845 (see chart)...
...Even in real terms, prices have jumped by 75% since 2005.
...Although the cost of food is determined by fundamental patterns of demand and supply, the balance between good and ill also depends in part on governments. If politicians do nothing, or the wrong things, the world faces more misery, especially among the urban poor. If they get policy right, they can help increase the wealth of the poorest nations, aid the rural poor, rescue farming from subsidies and neglect—and minimise the harm to the slum-dwellers and landless labourers. So far, the auguries look gloomy...
See now why the government "conveniently" leaves food out of its "core inflation" statistics? Because including them would show the ugly truth, and they want to cover that up for as long as possible, class.
"To whom is he teaching knowledge, and to whom is he imparting wisdom? To those just weaned from milk..."(Yeshaya 28:9)
The Talmud (Sotah 12b) notes that this verse refers to Moshe Rabbenu, who as an infant, refused to nurse from any of the Egyptian women that Pharaoh's daughter brought over after she had rescued the child from the river. That is why Miriam suggested to call a wet nurse from among the Hebrew women, whereupon she summoned the child's mother. The spiritual knowledge of Torah enters into someone who partakes only of kosher food.
Everyone complains about the level of kashrut in our midst, but it is only lip service. Everyone talks about the debacle in Monsey but that is as far as it goes. People are busy supporting their families and hope that it was just an isolated incident. As for kashrut, they rely on the rabbis.
I used to assume that a mashgiach at a catered affair made sure that everything he supervised was reliable, but this is not necessarily so.
Many years ago, a colleague told me that he was at large out-of-town wedding-500 guests-and went to the kitchen to speak to the mashgiach. He asked the mashgiach in Yiddish "Can I eat here?" The mashgiach responded "You can't even drink the water. Now, if you ask me what I'm doing here, I will tell you that I represent the local rabbi. But you can't eat at his house, either."
At a bar mitzvah in a beautiful hotel, I asked the mashgiach whether one can eat there. He answered in the negative. Puzzled, I looked at him. He explained that the caterer of the affair was married to a gentile, and he didn't know why the Rabbinical organization in charge trusted him.
After talking for several minutes to the mashgiach at another bar mitzvah, I asked him whether he himself would eat there. He responded that what he does is his own business. He had a different level of fear of G-d than other people. So I rephrased my question: "Should someone of your level of fear of G-d eat there?" He answered that he was not personally familiar with certain foods that were brought in, but the Rabbinic organization in charge probably was-and told me which foods those were.
I was at a wedding at Terrace on the Park and went into the kitchen looking for a mashgiach. I encountered the caterer, whom I trust, and asked him where the mashgiach was. He told me that there were three mashgichim there, but what could he do? Instead of circulating on the various floors, they were sitting downstairs and gabbing with each other.
Several months after the Monsey debacle, I was at a wedding in Monsey and walked into the kitchen, asking for the mashgiach. The kitchen staff pointed to a door and I found the mashgiach there, sitting and learning. I asked him if he was the mashgiach, and when he replied in the affiramtive I exclaimed, "Monsey hasn't changed!" and slammed the door on the way out.
At a wedding in Queens, I spent ten pleasant minutes chatting with the mashgiach. He asked me whether I had been at a wedding there six months before, because that was the last time a guest had come into the kitchen.
During a wedding at a Sheraton Hotel in Connecticut I spoke with three mashgichim in the kitchen. They asked: "There are 700 people here and you are the only one to come to the kitchen. Why?"
So I am asking you, Why? Are you that hungry that you can't survive should you find out that you cannot eat there? Don't know what to ask? If 10% of the guests walked into the kitchen at a catered affair, it would put the caterers, the certified kashrut organizations and the rabbis on notice that the Jewish consumer cares. The mashgichim would do their jobs instead of talking and learning.
I have not picked situations where there were no mashgichim at all or where the kashrut supervisors were arrogant morons. Most of the mashgichim I met were competent, G-d fearing people. They would understand if a layman finds problems in their kitchens, they will lose their credibility and their livelihood.
Next time you are enjoying the sweetbreads and tongue at the smorgasbord, do you feel guilt-free if they they turn out not to be kosher?
Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West. Fuqing is one of the centers of a booming industry that over two decades has transformed this country into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States.
But that growth is threatened by the two most glaring environmental weaknesses in China: acute water shortages and water supplies contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff that includes pesticides. The fish farms, in turn, are discharging wastewater that further pollutes the water supply.
"Our waters here are filthy," said Ye Chao, an eel and shrimp farmer who has 20 giant ponds in western Fuqing. "There are simply too many aquaculture farms in this area. They're all discharging water here, fouling up other farms."
Farmers have coped with the toxic waters by mixing illegal veterinary drugs and pesticides into fish feed, which helps keep their stocks alive yet leaves poisonous and carcinogenic residues in seafood, posing health threats to consumers.
The organic label on a bag of produce, whether domestic or foreign-grown, does not mean that USDA inspectors actually have visited the farms. Instead, a certifier visits the farms and reports to the USDA, which reviews the paperwork. China presents one example of the problem encountered with the credibility of foreign certifiers, said Joe Mendelson, legal director with the Center for Food Safety, a non-profit consumer and environmental protection association based in Washington D.C.
"Do we know whether the government or the certifier has the will to crack down on fraud?" Mendelson asked. "I doubt it, because [a crackdown] would have direct impact on China's ability to export product."
When foreign countries export organic food, even with the USDA certification label, there is cause for concern because of a language gap and a knowledge gap in farmers' understanding of U.S. regulations and what organic means in the U.S., said Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator of the University of Minnesota and former chair of the USDA National Organic Standards Board.
China is the primary country under question, he said, because of its incredibly rapid growth in converting massive amounts of land to organic production in order to reap the price premiums of organic.
"I have been an organic inspector (and have trained inspectors throughout the world, in Japan, Taiwan and Russia) for 20 years--it takes time to convert to organic production," Riddle said.
"There are concerns about China's past agricultural processes and toxic inputs, the possibility of toxic residue in the soil and possibly in the food, and there are concerns about the long-term commitment to following the organic standards and the depth of understanding of the organic requirements," Riddle said.
I am in the kashrus business, and must relate my feelings.
IMHO, IF there are full-time professionally-trained mashgichim who are yirai shmayim, on the premises every minute there is anyone there,
and IF these full-time mashgichim, are supervised by a Rov HaMachshir who knows what is is doing, meaning he backs his mashgichim, and does not take the side of the owner against them,
and IF the owner truly WANTS to cooperate with the mashgichim and rav Hamachshir,
and IF the owner does not have the key, and the mashgiach opens and closes,
and IF the mashgichim overlap shifts enough for good communication and cooperation between them,
Then, and only then, do I believe things can work out with a goy as an owner.
Ah... what is the chiudush, you ask? That sounds like the only way to work with a Goy as an owner, since we would do no differently with a less than chareidi owner.
I then add the following:
TODAY, THESE MUST BE THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ALL OWNERS. PERIOD.
1) "MIRSUS" is dead. He was killed by the "oooops" I messed up society which forgives all mistakes. This means that EVERY ONWER REQUIRED A STAFF OF MASHGICHIM TEMIDIM.
2) Who else killed Mr. Mirsus? The local rabbonim who pressure a rav hamachshir to give a store or restaurant "one more chance" since it is such an important asset to the community.
I presonally know of a case where hashgacha was pulled from a very busy place that was a take out and caterer. They were caught on film, intentionally taking their packaging over to a treif Chinese Restaurant and having them fill it with their treif Sushi, and they then sealed it in their containers with their name on it.
They were caught dead to rights, and the hashgacha was properly removed. This had not been the first problem, by the way.
The Rav HaMachsir then was inundated by phone calls from other rabbonim, "We needs XXXXXX, nobody makes a nicer kiddush for our shul without charging twice the price. Can't you work something out and get them back open?"
The establishment reopened a short time later, with some "precautions" that were, of course, totally inadequate.
NO PRECAUTION IS ADEQUATE when the owner INTENDS TO DECEIVE.
Once deception is found, second chances are bad. They may sound like sensible compromises at the moment, but they have KILLED MR. MIRSUS. Boruch Dayan Emes.
Since we now live in a world of second chances, supervision MUST be total and complete, and only offered with a cooperative owner and management. If either owner or management tries to subvert the kashrus, and it is clearly intentional, we MUST close the place down/remove certification, and so advertize!!
Unfortunately, there is a new factory also. We now have non yirai shamayim, who are disguising themselves as Real Frummies, who want to be trusted more, and to be allowed to "at least let us come in early to cook a little, or clean up without having to pay for a mashgiach. We are frum, don't you trust us?"
The correct answer should be:
"NO! WE TRUST NO ONE."
or, a little nicer:
"Reb Owner, we may trust YOU, but we do not trust a few other frum-looking and outwardly behaving owners. So, how do we allow a Yotzai V'Nichnas with you and not with the others? Our policy now is to not certify any place based upon yotzai v'nichnas."
Today, unfortunately, Yotzai V'Nichnas does not work. Mirsus is dead.
Supervision must be from turning the key to open, to snapping the lock closed.
Mashgichim MUST earn enough that they can save enough money, so that they are not if fear of losing a job.
Mashgichim should NEVER be left without work if a hashgacha needs to be pulled! This will leave a fear in the Mashgiach's heart, and make him afraid to report a problem. A mashgiach should be promised continuous employment, at decent salaries.
Pay needs to come from the Kashrus agency, NOT the customer.
Every Mashgiach must feel VERY comfortabel to pick up their cell phone and call the Rav HaMachshir at ANY time to discuss any problem. If the Rav HaMachshir acts like the mashgiach is annoying him, the mashgiach may not call next time.
If a you feel a certain mashgiach is too timid, or too shy to report a problem promptly, or ask a question promptly, even if it means asking the owner to stop the operation until he completes the phone call, FIRE HIM, HE IS USELESS for this job.
Unfortunately, almost everyone I know in the biz who reads what I wrote will say, "Wow. Those are wonderful ideal. HaLevey we could do this, but ....."
And that is why it is so hard to rely on kashrus today.
Also, as long as you are willing to read my long-winded story, I may add. We must learn to respect the different minhagim. When we are Ashkenazim, and rely on an Ashkanazy heter, that Sepharadim do not allow, we really should so state on the Teuda: Kosher for Ashkenazim Or state what the Heterim are. I know of a Sepharadi Rov who could not believe that he was eating for years from a place with a Heimishe hechsher, that relied on a light bulb in the oven or a pilot light, to avoid bishul akum. This truly very shvach heter is widely used today, unfortunately by many Ashkanazi Rabbonim. We should ceast and desist doing this. Heterim should be disclosed
A warning that some Israeli produce sold in the U.S. is not under certification and may be problematic, was issued by the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc). The cRc warning noted: 'It has come to our attention that produce from Israel, in particular, sweet peppers, is once again being sold in stores.
Over the past decade, the community has benefited from a remarkable rise in the number of kosher restaurants in the UK, and particularly in our capital. So it is disappointing to discover that the standards of hygiene in all too many of these establishments are disgracefully low. A JC investigation this week has revealed that half of kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries inspected by local authorities are rated “very poor” or “poor” — including some of our most trendy hang-outs. And only two restaurants — out of 59 — are given top marks. Kosher consumers deserve better, and it is, first and foremost, up to the proprietors of these restaurants to recognise that compromising on the safety of their customers is unacceptable, and take immediate action. But it is also a job for our kashrut authorities. Since 1991, the London Beth Din has only given certificates to premises that are inspected every year by a qualified environmental health and safety consultant. They must get even tougher on the restaurants they inspect, all year round. Most importantly, it is up to you, the consumers, to make it clear to restaurant-owners that your patronage cannot be taken for granted — and there is a price to be paid, quite literally, for dirty premises.
Kosher restaurants fail food-safety test 28/12/2007 Barry Toberman Many kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries visited by local-authority inspectors are receiving “very poor” and “poor” ratings for food safety.
A JC investigation of 59 establishments assessed over the last two years found that 30 received either zero- or one-star ratings. Just two were graded five-star and another two four-star.
The ratings are based on a national Food Standards Agency system. A no-star grading suggests “little or no appreciation of food-safety legislation”. One star equates to “a poor level of compliance”.
Kashrut representatives variously expressed surprise and disappointment at the findings, but maintained that hygiene standards were high within the kosher market. However, licensees were not required to inform them of the results of council food safety inspections.
A United Synagogue spokesperson told the JC on Monday: “We take the matter of health and safety very seriously. All of our [London Beth Din] licensees are inspected by a qualified environmental-health and hygiene consultant and meet appropriate standards. We request written confirmation of this at the annual licensing session and the licence will not be renewed without it.” In addition, its shomrim had to pass a food hygiene course.
Although premises are asked to display the ratings certificate following a local-authority inspection, there is no legal obligation. Councils and consumer groups suggest that where none is on show, concerned customers should ask to view the certificate.
We bought the Fairway Markets extra virgin olive oil from Italy, the only one that is pretty much for sure not adulterated. It has a champagne color - not green. When the oil is green it's either because the olives are unripe or because the farmers stick in the leaves to color it. The more yellowish the extra virgin oil, the tastier it is supposed to be.
Toxic ingredients and leather-colouring chemicals mixed in food items and spices are responsible for the spread of gastroenteritis
Red chillies, which are an essential ingredient of any spice preparation, are adulterated with colouring material which contains ‘Sudan-1,’ a dye used in textile and leather industries for colouring fabric and leather goods.
A spice merchant of Aligarh Bazaar told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that it was not just chilli that had been adulterated with unhealthy colouring agents - raw and powdered turmeric powder, coriander, black pepper, and ginger were all mixed with chemicals.
“Pure and unadulterated turmeric is rather whitish in colour while the yellow turmeric is 100 percent coloured with yellow dye.” Customers who prefer the yellow turmeric over the white one should stop buying adulterated and chemically-washed food items before the sale of these items is controlled.
Ginger, which the vegetable sellers sell at takeaway stalls and wheelbarrows daily, is washed with whitening chemical to make it look shiny and attractive because people do not buy it in its original colour, a vegetable broker at new vegetable market, Shahzad, told Daily Times.
Nearly a year after an exclusive CBS4 News I-Team investigation into a seafood scam taking place across South Florida, state authorities have decided to step up their crackdown on restaurants which are caught serving fake grouper.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has doubled the fine for restaurants from $250 to $500 for a first offense.
The agency has been fining restaurants for months when they are caught serving Asian catfish, tilapia or other cheaper species as grouper. The fines began following CBS4 Consumer Reporter Al Sunshine's report on the serving of fake grouper. Fake grouper is by far the biggest food-misrepresentation problem Florida inspectors handle.
The Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates restaurants, has found 139 cases of something other than grouper being sold as the fish between January 2006 through the end of last October, more than half of all food misrepresentation cases statewide during that time. The runners-up were 75 cases of fake crab and 34 cases of fake tuna.
Florida is also going after distributors and the attorney general has subpoenaed records of several major distributors.
The state also launched a web site last year to combat 'bait and switch' when it comes to fresh Florida fish.
Click Here to check out Florida's website devoted to fish fraud.
New York - Cloned Meat to Get FDA Approval New York - The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare as early as next week that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring can be sold to the public.
The FDA had previously asked producers of cloned livestock not to sell food products from such animals pending its final ruling.
The decision is expected to generate intense opposition from some consumer groups. Some big food companies contend the concept is too new and controversial, and they will not, at least initially, market such products. [on VIN by wsj]
R' Yudel, you were under the impression that China stands out as the cheat in Oriental countries. According to this article, Vietnam is just as bad with farmers using toxins as preservatives.
The specialty of the house at many restaurants across Florida is a slab of grouper, blackened, grilled, stuffed or encrusted with pecans, sometimes on a roll, maybe with a slice of Bermuda onion. But not at Richard Gonzmart's place.
Mr. Gonzmart, whose family has owned the Columbia restaurant in Tampa's Cuban-American Ybor City section for four generations, won't serve grouper, because he can't be sure he is getting the real thing from his suppliers.
Many restaurants in Florida have been caught passing off Asian catfish, tilapia or other cheaper species as grouper. Fake grouper is by far the biggest food-misrepresentation problem Florida inspectors handle, and it has turned up in all corners of the state — even at the Capitol cafeteria.
"I'm not going to take that chance because my reputation is more important than keeping grouper on the menu," Mr. Gonzmart said. "It's not worth it to take a shortcut. If grouper is $20 a pound, so be it, but if we buy it for $20 a pound and it's not grouper, that's a problem."
The Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, which regulates restaurants, found 139 cases of something other than grouper being sold as the fish between January 2006 through the end of October — more than half of all food misrepresentation cases statewide during that time.
"It's just a huge amount," said Department Secretary Holly Benson, whose agency has doubled the fish fraud fine for restaurants from $250 to $500 for a first offense.
The fakery hurts fishermen like Michael Athorn. He and his three-member crew spend up to 12 days 60 to 70 miles from shore in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to reach the 6,000-pound catch limit for grouper, which has to be caught on individual hooks.
Back on shore, he has often found restaurants advertising grouper and putting something else on a plate.
R' Yudel, how long ago did you do a lab test on Dayan Westheim's gelatin?
He left the Manchester beis din exactly 3 years ago to start his own hashgocho. He has since hired a staff chemist in London to test ingredients. His new hashgocho has the haskoma of R' Shmuel Wosner shlita. Kashrus Magazine recently did a big puff piece on him.
The new Vaad hakashrus for water (staffed by R' Yosef Eisen and others) has announced that the previously only acceptable filter for the whole house water main has undergone a design change. It is now unacceptable and there is currently no option available.
China Goes Kosher as Exporters Use Rabbis to Reassure Consumers
By Mark Drajem
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese exporters, facing a U.S. backlash over tainted food products, are turning to an unlikely group of inspectors to help clean up their act: Jewish rabbis.
During the previous Shmita (2000-2001) Agudath Israel of America provided over $1,000,000 to Keren HaShviis. It plans to do even more this time around."
FRANCE: Dairy execs guilty in US$34m butter scandal just-food.com (subscription), UK - Jan 14, 2008 Créteil magistrates court heard the butter was adulterated with vegetable matter and meat tallow. EU anti-fraud office OLAF helped secure the convictions, ...
http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=100886
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16/01/2008 - Two French dairy managers face suspended prison sentences and €23m in fines for their alleged role in a Europe-wide scheme to produce and distribute adulterated butter, the European Anti Fraud Office (OLAF) has said.
The defendants, who are set to appeal against the verdict, were convicted on 22 November last year at the Créteil Magistrates Court for manufacturing products with the illegally produced butter which were to be sold "under false pretences".
Adulterated butter, which is substituted with animal fats and other synthetic materials, is a particular problem for EU dairy groups, as the illegal product can made cheaply before being sold on for maximum profit. In addition, it can also be used to obtain EU subsidies set aside for the production of genuine butter.
Both parties were cleared of a further charge of conspiracy to defraud European production subsidies though. These charges formed part of a wider investigation into adulterated butter bought from Italian companies linked to organized crime back in the late 90's.
The two unnamed defendants received suspended sentences of eight months and five months respectively for their alleged roles in the butter scandal. They also have to pay back €23m in unlawfully obtained subsidies to the French Office for Livestock - l'Office français de l'Élevage - which supplies subsidies in the country.
Siim Kallas, OLAF vice president and EC Commissioner for anti-fraud, said the ruling sent out a message to processors and producers alike that fraudulent use of European dairy subsidies would not be tolerated.
According to OLAF, a number of Italian companies during the last decade manufactured industrial butter using animal fats and synthetic materials to then be sold on to member states often in France and Belgium.
The European Anti-Fraud Office has since begun working in conjunction with national authorities like the Serious Financial Crime Office of the French Judicial Police and the Naples Prosecutor's Office backing up investigations in France, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
The investigations have attempted to uncover the production and distribution of adulterated butter on the European market, due to the impact it can have on the EU community budget through bogus subsidies claims.
In Germany, authorities have not themselves made any convictions related to the case, but have recovered €150,000 in funding, according to OLAF.
Italian authorities claim that in 1999, about 16,000 tonnes of adulterated butter was made and sold for more than €45 million on the market. Community subsidies were then also obtained on the product which was declared as butter.
A Mafia gang set up what amounted to a holding group involving the major producers of butter for industrial use in the south of Italy. The group succeeded in gaining control of one of the largest companies in the industry in Northern Italy, which made it one of the main butter producers in Italy.
The "K" is from Rabbi Dr David Scheinkopf who learned in Chaim Berlin but led a Conservative temple in Syracuse. He comes in to play when the OU refuses to certify items that have gelatin and the like.
The Danones are originally Sefardim from Bulgaria.
24/01/2008 - The US arm of Danone could be forced to make a multi-million dollar refund to its customers over allegations that it has used fraudulent health claims to sell some of its Activia and DanActive branded yoghurts.
In a class action filed yesterday against the Dannon company in a California court, a legal team have accused the company of spending $100m promoting clinical benefits of products which the company's own testing disproves.
Should the suit go against Dannon, which represents the interest of Danone in the US, the case could have considerable ramifications for the use of health claims on products, proving a major setback for burgeoning nutritional aids like probiotics.
Both Dannon and parent company Danone were unwilling to comment on the allegations at the time of press, though added that they would be commenting on the civil action soon.
Danon's website claims that the company has for over 10 years worked in with international research laboratories in developing its products.
The case, which has been bought to court by the law firms Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins and Mager & Goldstein, hopes to receive address for Dannon's customers, which it claims have been misled by the company's marketing.
Attorney Timothy Blood, who will represent Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in the action, said the dairy group had purposely deceived consumers about the products.
"Deceptive advertising has enabled Dannon to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices to responsible, health conscious consumers," he stated.
The class action alleges therefore that claims on advertisements and labelling for Activia pronouncing that the product is "proven" to improve one's "intestinal rhythm" and "regulate your digestive system" are all unsubstantiated.
On the back of these claims, the class action accuses Dannon of charging a premium of about 30 per cent on the Activia yoghurt.
"In fact, Dannon's marketing for yogurts containing 'probiotics' led to one of the most successful product launches in recent food-industry history," the group stated.
The case action refers in particular to a $100m dollar promotional campaign by Dannon, which it alleges falsely promoted probiotic yoghurts that have earned it an estimated $428m in revenues since 2006.
Despite these health claims, the civil action accuses Dannon of being aware that numerous scientific studies failed to support their claims on the advertised nutritional benefits.
"A study conducted by leading microbiologists and funded by Dannon determined in 2006 that there was no conclusive evidence' of probiotics providing health benefits," the action states.
The report entitled Probiotic Microbes: The Scientific Basis was prepared by the American Academy of Microbiology.
The allegations regarding Dannon's labelling on its yoghurts could be a major blow for other health claims regarding probiotics.
Products aimed at improving digestion at set to drive the health and nutrition market for products over the coming year, according to Julian Mellentin, author of 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2008.
Mellentin claimes that probiotics will continue to be a force to be reckoned with as they focus on digestive health - which, Mellentin says, is the biggest segment of the functional foods market.
The report says that in Europe probiotic dairy products account for the lion's share of functional food sales. The reason for this is digestive health is a "wellness" issue, not like cholesterol-lowering or heart health which is a "death and disease" issue.
The best source of honey is a local beekeeper, not a big box store. Why? Because you want the jar labeled "honey" to contain nothing but pure honey. That isn't always the case.
The U.S. imports millions of pounds of honey from China, but the product isn't necessarily unadulterated honey. As consumers it's informative to learn what goes on behind the scenes. The global food brokerage firm, S. Kamberg & Company Ltd., warns businesses purchasing imports about products sold as honey. S. Kamberg's site at (http://skamberg.com/honey.htm) recently reported, "There was not a lot of 'real honey' coming into USA from China until last month when the U.S. imported over 4 million lbs. The USA had previously been receiving a lot of packer's syrup from China (honey blended with other sugar syrups). It is uncertain if this was actual packer's syrup, or possibly actual honey sold as packer's syrup to avoid duties. The probability is high that any actual packer's syrup entering this country would be blended with and sold as real honey."
In other words, if you thought you were getting a good deal on honey, it may not have been honey. Just a product cheap enough to undercut the price of local honey.
The Victorian period in England was the golden age of the food cheats, the high point of the “demon grocer” with his limitless tricks for fakery and selling short. It was the era of meat painting and food “polishing” (hiding the likes of rancid butter and cheese beneath a thin layer of the fresh stuff), of vegetables coloured with copper and sweets with lead and mercury, of milk diluted with dirty water and thickened with flour, and of coffee padded with chicory or even with powdered horse liver.
Food adulteration is nothing new. The Romans sweetened poor wine with lead, unaware that it was a toxin, possibly the reason why so many wealthy Romans were sterile. But, as Wilson convincingly demonstrates, the Victorian city provided the ideal conditions for corruption to flourish. Rapid industrialisation had led to the separation of the origins of food and its consumption, allowing for adulteration both deliberate and accidental. At the same time, the medieval guild system of protectionism and strict quality control had collapsed, replaced by a laissez-faire government in thrall to the free market. State interven-tionism of any kind was frowned upon. The burden to detect swindles fell to the buyer, except in those areas such as sugar, tea and coffee where Treasury revenue was affected. “There is not a country in the world where commercial roguery is so generally and successfully practised as in Great Britain,” complained an anonymous Englishman in 1855.
It was only when 20 people died in Bradford in 1858 from poison-laced lozenges that the government was finally forced to legislate against the adulterators. In America, too, a series of scandals forced a reluctant state to take action. The story of the 20th century is the story of the increasing commercialisation of food and the legislation to regulate it. Food laws are now legion. The fake-formula scandal that convulsed China in 2004, where 141 factories were discovered to be manufacturing a baby food made only of sugar and starch, could never happen here in the West.
Can you tell me why the bulk chicken that we have been getting from KIRYOS YOEL only comes with one simon? It comes with only the plastic around the box........no plumkes, no nothing inside the box! For this we can order Reboshkin........no? Am I missing something?
Dear Sir, Your newspaper recently published an interview with the chief rabbi of El Al Israel Airlines with much interesting material for the frum traveler.
However, I would like to draw readers' attention to the rabbi's comment that El Al observes the laws of Shemita. When I traveled on an El Al flight a few weeks ago, the tag that came on my tray said that shemita was only observed according to those who relied on the Heter Mechira.
Those who travel on El Al should know that none of the major kashrus authorities in the United States permit products which rely on the Heter Mechira.
Best wishes, Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein Mehadrin Kashrus mehadrin@aol.com
Remember the days when someone would convince and fellow jew to commit to eating cholov yisroel as opposed to stam. Back in the day the arguement went that for the same price, maybe a little more your dairy would be the highest quality of kashrus. Have you noticed how dairy prices have shot up? I did a quick price comparison with cholov stam products. you would think there was a proportional increase right?
Wrong!! Cholov yisroel is DOUBLE the price. Check it out for yourself - yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese. Some cases almost double, others more than double. what's going on here?
Kashrus Magazine is reporting in the new March issue that restaurants & caterers in Philly and South Jersey were buying a species of Vietnamese catfish filets that were presented by wholesalers as kosher grouper.
R' Yudel, what do you know about the hashgocho of Rabbi Charlop from YU? I have heard that his standards are seemingly reliable and that the staff he has are most probably doing a good job. He is the certifier of Pepsi and is now negotiating to get Gatorade which was previously never kosher. Some people are wondering what kind of network Rabbi Charlop has as the Gatorade formula is made in Ireland. The OU also tried to get it but backed off when they found out about Rabbi Charlop being first. While the OU can very predatory, they know not to start up with a top figure at YU who has been in hashgochos for a very long time.
A second congregation—Orthodox Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol (BMH)—was formed in 1897 at 1447 Larimer Street by shoe merchant Henry Plonsky. In 1996, BMH merged with the Orthodox Beth Joseph Synagogue to become BMH-BJ. Although the shul is a member of the Orthodox Union, it has mixed-seating services in its main sanctuary on Saturdays as well as a separate-seating minyan with a mehitza in its Adelman Chapel.
It seems that they are not officially an OU member shul, but the OU does recommend this mixed-seating "sanctuary" on their website.
http://www.bmh-bj.org/index.html
BMH-BJ does admit having mixed seating on their website. They speak of "vibrant prayer through multiple worship experiences" and when you click on the "Services" tab there is a subcategory with the minyan with the mechitzah.
This all fits in perfectly with the OU platform of Rubashkin, Le Marais, Catfish gefilte and treif bison.
"This all fits in perfectly with the OU platform of Rubashkin, Le Marais, Catfish gefilte and treif bison."
Don't confuse the issue with chazzerei. OU Kashrus Division has nothing to do with OU Synagogue Services and their lack of standards in a shul. It is like saying that a chosid that stored dagnerous chemicals in an abandoned sewing plant in Allentown, PA has something to do with all the othet chassidim that belong to an organization.
The OU Synagogue division is controlled by the same executives & board who approve the cover ups at the Kashrus division. Rabbi Genack does not act alone. He has meetings with the higher ups and the President of the entire OU even signed the letter for the Le Marais cover up.
Canadian researchers found that carcinogens PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other environmental toxins are present at higher levels in farm-raised salmon than in their wild counterparts.
Last night in the supermarket I saw OU on fresh cucumbers (the label also said no waxes are used) and Vaad Hakashrus of Fairfield County CT on fresh sprouts.
Whey permeate, a by-product of cheese production, could be a food preserver, suggests new research, as the industry looks to alternatives to chlorine solutions for preserving fresh-cut vegetables.
"These results suggest that whey permeate could be a promising alternative to chlorine for sanitising fresh-cut vegetables," said the researchers from Dublin Institute of Technology.
In June Cadbury was fined £1m after pleaded guilty in a UK court to three breaches of the country's food and hygiene regulations, admitting it was responsible for allowing salmonella-contaminated chocolate to be sold on the market last year.
The company was forced to recall about one million chocolate bars after 37 people fell sick across the country due to salmonella. Cadbury was cited as failing at the time to follow new EU-wide hygiene rules, known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) analysis.
With the head of Europe's largest wheat mill under arrest, pasta makers are checking their supplies to see whether any came from a stock found to be contaminated with a cancer-causing toxin.
Francesco Casillo, the head of Molino Casillo, was arrested for allegedly adulterating stocks with contaminated wheat after a joint investigation by Italy's agricultural ministry and the fraud police.
The arrest follows the discovery that wheat imported from Canada was contaminated with ocratoxin, a carcinogenic substance. About 58,000 tonnes of durum wheat was confiscated at the port of Bari.
A statement by the minister of agriculture, Gianni Alemanno, says the case shows the need for stricter controls on tracing and tracking food imports. He said it also proved that Italy's system of safety inspections and tests was helping to keep contaminated food off the shelves.
"Once more foreign products have presented the greatest risk of counterfeiting and fraud, an episode that confirms the necessity of reinforcing label of origin guarantees on food products, to increase the protection both of consumers and producers who invest in quality," he stated in a press release today.
The ministry said Casillo had been arrested by customs police, who carried out an arrest warrant for a charge of tampering and counterfeiting of foodstuffs, as well as poisoning of foodstuffs.
The arrest warrant was issued by the preliminary investigative judge Michele Nardi. The judge is investigating the import from Canada of grain contaminated with cancer-causing toxins, which was shown to be over legal limits on an load seized last September onboard a ship in the port of Bari, according to a statement translated by AGI Online on behalf of the Italian government.
Italy's family-owned Molino Casillo is a group of four mills situated in southern Italy. The company says it is the European leader in the production of semolina for pasta and is the world's largest private buyer of durum wheat.
Molino Casillo buys about one million tonnes of durum wheat a year. and is one of the principal market makers in durum wheat and semolina.
A company spokesperson refused to speak to the media after contacted by FoodProductionDaily.com. He said someone would be available for comment this afternoon.
World production of durum wheat is forecast to fall to 35.4 million tonnes for the 2004 to 2005 growing season, down 5.8 million tonnes from the previous season.
Canada, one of the world's largest producers of durum wheat, sells about 40 per cent of its supply to Italy, according tow AWB Consultancy.
Italy's production the previous growing season fell by 33 per cent and is forecast to be unchanged or possibly lower this season, AWB stated.
Ocratoxin is produced by several fungi and occurs naturally in a variety of plant products such as cereals, coffee beans, beans, pulses and dried fruit.
It has been detected also in products such as coffee, wine, beer and grape juice.
Its presence depends on climatic conditions, abnormally long storage, transportation, wet or dry milling, roasting procedures and fermentation.
High concentrations in foods have been linked with damage to kidney function.
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Gorton's Inc. recalled about 1,000 cases of frozen fish in 10 states Friday after confirming a Pennsylvania customer found pills in her food.
Gorton's said it ordered the recall as a precaution while a laboratory works to determine the nature of the pills. Those tests should be complete early next week.
"Obviously product alteration is a very serious matter," said Jud Reis, vice president of marketing for the company, based in Gloucester, Massachusetts "We are conducting a full investigation into the source of the problem."
Tracy Rowan of New Freedom, Pennsylvania, called police after she bit into one of the pills Sunday and found another on her daughter's plate. On Friday, Reis said the material was some sort of pill, not compressed batter or bread crumbs.
Rowan described the pills as beige and aspirin-size.
R' Yudel, I know there have been problems with Tartikov but are some of his products innocent & simple enough that they are still ok? I'm wondering about the Rokeach marshmallows made in Israel which the ingredients say are from fish and only have Tartikov and NOT a 2nd hashgocho.
I have a similar question about candy canes under the hashgocho of Asher Yaakov Westheim. I know that you found tarfus in his candies with gelatin. Candy canes are not known to have gelatin but then again, these canes have no ingredients listed on them.
I don't go out of my way to buy these things but I found out that a haymishe supermarket has been giving complimentary nosh to kids who come into the store.
R' Yudel, I know there have been problems with Tartikov but are some of his products innocent & simple enough that they are still ok? NO!
I'm wondering about the Rokeach marshmallows made in Israel which the ingredients say are from fish and only have Tartikov and NOT a 2nd hashgocho.ALL GELATIN IS PROBLOMATIC INCLUDING THE FISH GELATIN (see R' Westheim)
I have a similar question about candy canes under the hashgocho of Asher Yaakov Westheim. I know that you found tarfus in his candies with gelatin. IF TREIF GELATIN CAN BE FOUND IN HIS CERTIFIED PRODUCTS, ALL OF HIS CERTIFICATIONS WOULD BE SUSPECT! Candy canes are not known to have gelatin but then again, these canes have no ingredients listed on them.
I don't go out of my way to buy these things but I found out that a haymishe supermarket has been giving complimentary nosh to kids who come into the store.BUY YOUR OWN NOSH
What is the problem with unreliable hashgochos on fish gelatin? Is it because with global trading there is really beef & chazir gelatin getting mixed in? Is there an incentive to cheat because fish is more expensive?
Rokeach is owned by the big conglomerate RAB Foods. Even if you don't trust Tartikov, isn't there some kind of mirsas that they don't want to get caught cheating with beef or pork instead of fish?
Rav Yudel, I was very upset that in shul, my young child was given the Haribo gummies with Westheim's gelatin. I approached the rov who looked into it and responded as follows: he does not want to asser it unless I can get a copy of your lab report or if another rov vouches for the story because someone at the OU told him you are a "very controversial" person.
It's an outrage that those OU hypocrites are bashmutzing you but are you able to post the report here to silence your detractors?
You just can't make this stuff up. Teichman's Heart-K hashgocho appears on this coffee from Uganda that is sold at Liberal synagogues around the country. It has an X-tian Cross and Muslim Crescent and a Magen Dovid. What's next? A rov that I showed this to was completely flabbergasted.
The're waiting for june 15 the same way KAJ waited for april 15, maybe because with a full moon, they can see better. In any case, the'll probably continue using it after june 15, just like KAJ still uses it for meat.
The left wing modern orthodox of YCT just told one newspaper that June 15th was to give a chance to Rubashkin to give in their demands that independent monitors be allowed in Postville. Rubashkin has not yet agreed to anything but is talking to them.
Many restaurants and butchers are terrified of the boycott and have contacted YCT to say they are no longer using Rubashkin.
I hope you get this message. What is the kashrus status in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine caffeteria. I understand that its under the OU. I am just wondering if you know anything more regarding that specific location, would help me a lot. Thank you in advance.
OU MESORA CONFERENCE on KEDUSHAS HA'ARETZ "Issues Pertaining to the Holiness of the Land of Israel"
DATE: Sunday June 15 TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. PLACE: Lander College for Men 75-31 150th St. Kew Gardens Hills, Queens Men and Women are welcome.
The program is entitled "Kedushas Ha'Aretz and its Mitzvos." It will include a halachic, historic, and archeological perspective of Eretz Yisroel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, as well as the special mitzvos that are connected to the Holy Land when it involves kedushas ha'aretz.
Admission is $10 (free to members of the OU). An OU certified box lunch is available during the conference for an additional $10. Pre-registration is required. Contact: 212-613-8212 email to: kleina@ou.org
Excrept from an interview with a Rubashkin mashgiach:
http://jcarrot.org/
Meanwhile their job is to keep things running smoothly and fill the orders. So everyone is under a lot of pressure. I can imagine things falling through the cracks in such a hectic environment
This statement alone speaks volumes. I wonder how many pounds of non-kosher meat "fell through the cracks" and was labeled kosher "in such a hectic environment", where "everyone is under a lot of pressure" to "fill the orders"?
How is one able to know that the meal-mart meat he is buying is not coming from s.america? 2. Does this problem in any way impact the ne'emonus of the Nirbater?
Health officials crack down on unpasteurized milk By PAUL ELIAS,AP Posted: 2008-06-11 14:58:44 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Dairy owner Mark McAfee started selling raw milk in 2000, marketing it to customers who believe it contains beneficial microbes that treat everything from asthma to autism.
The unpasteurized milk swiftly caught on as part of the growing natural food movement. But the Food and Drug Administration considers McAfee a snake oil salesman and recently launched an investigation into whether his dairy illegally shipped raw milk across state lines. The agency even tried to recruit one of his employees to secretly record conversations with him.
The case against McAfee is part of a crackdown on raw milk by government health officials who are concerned about the spread of food-borne illnesses. Lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are stepping up efforts to keep unpasteurized milk out of reach, even as demand for the niche product grows.
McAfee, who was among the first in California to sell raw milk on a large scale, brushed off the investigation: "When you're a pioneer, you have to expect to take a few arrows."
Twenty-two states prohibit sales of raw milk for human consumption, and the rest allow it within their borders. The FDA bans cross-border sales.
In Pennsylvania, local officials recently busted two dairies unlawfully selling milk straight from the cow.
And in Maryland, health officials issued an emergency ban late last year on "cow-sharing" agreements, claiming they were aimed at skirting a ban on raw milk sales.
"Raw milk should not be consumed by anyone for any reason," said John Sheehan, head of the FDA's dairy office. "It is an inherently dangerous product."
But shutting down sales is tricky because the federal government has largely let states regulate the raw milk industry. The result is a hodgepodge of laws that confuse consumers, dairy farmers and regulators alike.
McAfee said he expects the FDA's criminal probe to be dropped without charges in a deal that will require him to guarantee his interstate shipments are for use only as pet food. The FDA declined to comment.
Raw milk proponents insist they are under siege by state and federal regulators intent on snuffing out the industry.
The popularity of raw milk is fueled by consumers' concerns about the chemicals and hormones used in traditional dairy farming, and a growing interest in unprocessed, organic foods.
Devotees of raw milk ascribe to it almost mythical healing powers. They feed it to babies, believing it strengthens the immune system and staves off digestive troubles. The heat used in pasteurization, they say, kills healthy natural proteins and enzymes.
"It's a magic food," said Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates consumption of natural foods.
The FDA insists pasteurization destroys harmful bacteria without significantly changing milk's nutritional value. The process also extends its shelf life.
Nevertheless, some consumers have formed cooperatives to support dairy farmers who offer raw milk. They also join "cow-sharing" programs in which farmers take care of cows that are "leased" by consumers.
Food safety officials say raw milk has sickened hundreds of people with salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,000 people fell ill from raw milk between 1998 and 2005. Two died.
The FDA ban on cross-border sales of raw milk led to its criminal investigation of Organic Pastures, a Fresno dairy owned by McAfee that is California's largest raw milk supplier.
The agency ordered two of McAfee's employees to testify before a grand jury and offered to pay one of them to surreptitiously record her conversations with McAfee, according to the worker.
"The main issue was selling our products outside the state of California," said dairy worker Amanda Hall, who refused to wear the wire. The two workers' grand jury appearances were canceled last month.
Even if McAfee avoids criminal charges, he still faces lawsuits filed by the families of five children who claim his raw milk made them seriously ill.
He denies the allegations and said testing at his dairy did not detect the strain of E. coli that sickened some of the children.
McAfee also is challenging a new California law requiring lower bacteria levels in raw milk. He fears the change will put him out of business. A judge in San Benito County last month ruled for the state, but McAfee appealed the decision on Thursday. Also, a state senator plans to introduce a bill to repeal the law.
Whole Foods Co. lobbied for a law that ensure raw milk dairies can stay in business.
"It is a growing piece of our business," said Walter Robb, the company's co-president. "We want to protect consumer choice."
He and other raw milk proponents argue that the FDA should spend its time working on other agricultural practices that jeopardize food safety, such as the way large farms confine animals.
But parents like Melissa Herzog strongly disagree.
Herzog, whose 10-year-old daughter spent two months in the hospital after her kidneys failed because of E. coli poisoning, is one of the families suing Organic Pastures over the 2006 outbreak that health officials determined was probably caused by raw milk from the dairy.
"I don't have anything good to say about raw milk," she said. "It was a horrible experience."
I would like to discuss a blog that was posted previously and is no longer available. I do not see a contact email to speak with you. If you could please provide me with contact information. You can reach me at zela00@comcast.net. Please respond as soon as possible as this is an important matter.
Yehuda Shain, a rabbi who runs the group Kosher Consumers Union, said he already avoided the company's meat before the raid, mainly because of concerns about its kosher certification.
Shain said Agriprocessors has undercut its competitors' prices, mainly by paying low wages to its workers. The company's market dominance has grown for years, despite serious questions about its practices, he said. "Price is price," he said.
But the pattern could change, Shain said. "Now that their costs are going to go up considerably, they're no longer going to be able to play that game." He said Agriprocessors probably will be forced to pay higher wages and more closely follow government and kosher-agency regulations.
Rav Yudel, were you really serious? Do you really think that they will now follow "kosher agency regulations"? Who's regulations? Weissmandl? According to him they are already l'mhadrin min ham'hadrin. You must have meant that tongue-in-cheek.
Is meat produced at Agriprocessor’s plant in Postville, Iowa, really kosher?
In spite of it bearing the Orthodox Union’s kosher symbol, that question has been on many of our minds since U.S. immigration authorities raided the plant May 12 and arrested 390 illegal immigrant workers.
The raid also raised allegations that workers were paid less than the minimum wage and subjected to forms of abuse.
What does “kosher” really mean? As used in Jewish law, the definition of kosher is “fit for a certain purpose.”
For example, one could ask whether a dried out lulav is kosher to wave on Sukkot, or whether a cracked shofar is kosher to blow on Rosh Hashanah.
With regard to food, kosher means “fit for a Jewish person to eat.” As most of us know, the Jewish tradition includes intricate rules for food.
But there is no rule that if an illegal immigrant manufactures a food, or if workers producing food are abused or not paid, the food itself then becomes forbidden to eat.
Consider, for example, someone who hosts an extravagant wedding but then never settles the food bill. Even though this would be theft, the wedding guests have not retroactively eaten traif. Pots and pans used to cook the meal don’t need to be kashered.
The rules regarding whether food is kosher and how we conduct our financial affairs are two different things.
However, I don’t think whether the meat produced by Agriprocessors is kosher to eat or not is really our concern. We don’t want to know if it is kosher to eat. We want to know if it is kosher to buy.
Why would meat from Agriprocessors not be kosher to buy? A legal discussion in the Talmud (Shabbat 3a) provides a reason:
On the Sabbath it is forbidden to pick up an object in the public domain and put it down in a private domain. If someone picks something up in a public domain and puts it into the hands of a second person standing in a private domain, the first person has violated the Sabbath and the second person has not.
The Tosfot commentary on the Talmud questions whether it is really possible for this second person to be completely in the clear. After all, he is a party to violating the Sabbath.
So Tosfot explains that while this person has not violated the law of carrying on the Sabbath, he has violated a different prohibition: the prohibition of being part of an activity that involves wrongdoing.
This is the way many of us may come to feel with regard to Agriprocessors if the allegations turn out to be true. When we buy the meat, even though as consumers our role in perpetrating the alleged violations is passive, we nevertheless associate ourselves with doing something wrong.
The Orthodox Union states clearly that its supervision relates only to whether food is permitted to be eaten. It does not consider labor issues, animal cruelty, environmental impact or anything else of this nature and has no plans to start doing so. Why not? For many reasons.
The list of potential issues to include in expanded supervision is nearly endless. The government already regulates some of these matters; the O.U. lacks the required resources and expertise.
And many of these concerns are not uniquely Jewish, while the O.U.’s purpose is to serve the special needs of the Jewish community.
There is nothing wrong with the O.U. conducting itself in this manner, as long as we understand what the O.U. symbol means. A product is kosher to eat, but whether the company manufacturing that product is kosher to do business with is unknown.
What we need is not a replacement for the current kosher supervision system, but an addition to it.
Since how a business treats its workers, the environment and its animals is important, we need another mechanism by which consumers can receive that information.
The Conservative movement has taken some steps to form a “hechsher tzedek” kosher certification focused on the above issues. Some other small, independent groups have done the same.
The Orthodox kashrut establishment, however, due to its large existing infrastructure of supervisors, would be able to produce a new certification with the greatest ease, efficiency and speed.
As kosher consumers, let’s make clear that we want them to do so. Only if we as consumers make known that we will base our purchasing decisions on the presence or absence of such a new symbol is it likely that substantial action will be taken.
Rabbi Shlomo Levin is spiritual leader of Milwaukee’s Modern Orthodox Lake Park Synagogue.
If the company can maintain production at the plant, its prices may still rise as it hires documented workers, said Joe Regenstein, a food-sciences professor at Cornell University.
"I suspect prices will rise disproportionately as the real costs of production will have to get factored in," Regenstein said. "The particular competitive advantage of Agri is likely to be lost. If they end up in further trouble, there could be a shortage of (kosher) meat sometime over the summer."
Kosher companies are also smaller than many other meat producers, so they lack economies of scale in marketing and logistics, Cornell's Regenstein said.
A handful of meat producers, including Agriprocessors, Alle Processing and Aurora Packing Company Inc., dominate the North American kosher-beef industry, giving the few players pricing power.
The poultry market is similar: Empire Kosher Inc. and Marvid Poultry Canada are the top chicken sellers.
Marvid raised wholesale prices for a pound of regular chicken from $1.30 to $1.62 in mid-May as the U.S. dollar remained weak against the Canadian currency.
Does R' Yudel hold of this shechita from Texas? I was wondering where California Delight gets their meat from. A&B may be buying from them but they also buy from Rubashkin.
From the Galveston coast to Dallas, by way of New York, Rabbi Yaakov Rosenblatt is living the tenet of l’dor v’dor, generation to generation. Continuing in the footsteps, or meat cleavers, of his great-grandfather Rabbi Abraham David Rosenblatt and his grandfather Max, the Dallas-based rabbi has taken the family business, A.D. Rosenblatt Meats, a kosher meat supplier to a whole new level.
More than 750 pounds of glatt kosher meat was delivered last week to the Preston/Forest Tom Thumb store with orders for the Coit/Campbell store in negotiations. In Houston, the meat is available at Randalls.
The 400 undocumented workers arrested at the Agriprocessors plant in the May 12 raid and their families are living in limbo, out of work and facing deportation. But now the fallout is beginning to extend beyond those most directly impacted.
The production slowdown at the Postville plant has finally hit the nation’s kosher markets and, by extension, kosher consumers. Retailers from coast to coast are reporting trouble having their orders filled. Many are hiking prices, although they are generally vague about whether the increases are coming from Agriprocessors or competing suppliers.
Bottom line is, there is less kosher meat, and it’s costing more.
Some retailers aren’t even bothering to order from Agriprocessors, which has scrambled in recent weeks to bolster its depleted work force.
For A.D. Rosenblatt, the delay and availability of meats from Agriprocessors has opened a door at area markets. While Tom Thumb says the store is waiting on poultry deliveries, they have not been affected in beef receipts per the recent raid, yet the store is happy to be working with an additional distributor. ”People are happy and they are buying it with no complaints,” said Andy Flores, Meat Market manager at the Preston/Forest store. ”In this case, no news from the customer is good news.”
Not to leave the tradition of teaching led by his father Zev behind, Rabbi Rosenblatt and his wife Suri first came to Dallas in 2000 to learn and to teach with the Dallas Area Torah Association. The couple started DATA’s Plano branch.
In 2004 Rabbi Rosenblatt left DATA, interested in starting a business. ”This was my family’s business; Rosenblatts had been koshering and selling meat since the 1870s. My grandfather was a shochet and ritual director in Galveston early in the last century and it was my turn.” One of 11 children, Rabbi Rosenblatt is joined in business by his brother, Abraham David, who represents the company in sales.
Rabbi Rosenblatt started small; at a plant in Coke, Texas. There, they slaughtered four cattle – all unkosher. His second attempt also failed to provide any kosher meat. ”I knew that only about 30 to 35 percent of all meat is kosher but it was still pretty discouraging,” he said. ”I then first moved to a plant near Hillsborough, and then to Omaha, Neb. where we were able to net 30 kosher animals every other week.” In March of this year, A.D. Rosenblatt started basing the majority of its business, about 200 cattle a week, from a plant in Harper, Kan. Available cuts include boneless chuck, chuck tender, chuck flanken, minute roast, whole, export and bone-in navel ribs, marrow and neck bones, skirt steaks and tongue.
Glatt, which literally means smooth, means the animal’s lungs contain no questionable adhesions. The term is commonly used to describe a higher level of Kosher supervision. “There is a strong demand for this level of kashrut and we’re proud of what we are able to provide,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt. The company also produces Beit Yosef meat, “absolutely pristine,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt.
The company is supervised by the OU, Orthodox Union, CRC, the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and Star K. In addition to the A.D. Rosenblatt label, the meat is sold under the Abeless & Heymann and California Delight labels. At the Harper plant, A.D. Rosenblatt installed a new slaughter pen, designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, of the University of Colorado. “Dr. Grandin is a brilliant woman, an expert on humane treatment of animals,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt. ”The expense of kosher meat comes from the production line; the manpower, the inspections, the many steps in the process.”
In addition to the cattle, the company is also distributing lamb, about 300 a week, from a plant in Iowa. ”The success rate for a kosher lamb is greater than that of the cattle because their lungs are generally healthier,” Rabbi Rosenblatt said. ”We have rack of lamb, chuck, breast and the shank cuts being shipped,” ”We’ve gone from 15 animals a week to between 200 and 300 a week.” “The meat is so fresh and you can tell that it’s just days from processing to our table,” said frequent, and now loyal customer, Travis Katz who most enjoys slicing down the minute roast for fajitas with his wife Ceci and their family. ”They are very tender and lean cuts, absolutely delicious, and I’m telling you, the quality is wonderful.”
Rabbi Rosenblatt, A.D. Rosenblatt’s COO, is joined in business by his partner of three years, Bob Feinberg, CFO, with whom he speaks by telephone, “maybe 15 times a day. We’re a great team.” “I had a fire in me to continue as an entrepreneur and Rabbi Rosenblatt and I connected at the right time,” said Feinberg who had previously sold his 20-year-old vending machine company. ”My wife took on the directorship of the Levine Academy preschool and one of us retired wasn’t a good thing. Rabbi asked for help and, while it was an uphill battle, and we have a long way to go, we are now seeing the fruits of our labor, we’re known, and we’re respected.”
“I feel very connected to this business and hope my ancestors would be proud,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt, setting an example for the next generation; Yehuda, Batya, Rivka, and Yisroel Yitzchak. ”I didn’t know my great-grandfather, but I definitely feel his inspiration.”
“We’ve exceeded our wildest dreams and we’re now in a great situation,” Feinberg said. ”But we’re here to stay.”
Today's map from the National Weather Service shows the closest major river to Rubashkin (and by extension it's tributaries) still have not reached flood stage. The treif & rotting meat may soon get very soggy.
A Modern Orthodox social justice group launched a boycott of the kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors.
Uri L'tzedek, an initiative started by students at the liberal Orthodox rabbinical seminary Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York City, set Monday as the date it would stop patronizing Agriprocessors if the company did not agree to abide by certain ethical labor standards.
Organizers say some 1,300 people, including several leading Jewish figures, have signed the group's petition asking the company to establish a transparent department to ensure compliance with both Jewish and U.S. legal requirements regarding worker treatment.
Representatives of Uri L'tzedek met last week with several company officials in New York, including members of the extended Rubashkin family, which owns the company. The group was promised a statement of the company's position on worker rights within 48 hours, but the document had not materialized as of Tuesday morning.
The representatives also spoke with Jim Martin, a former federal prosecutor who was hired recently as the company's compliance officer. The group submitted written questions to Martin regarding the parameters of his role; they are awaiting a response.
"In the interests of fully restoring consumer confidence, we have asked that the company be transparent about Mr. Martin's findings, recommendations, and new policies instituted," said a statement Tuesday from the group. "We are also looking forward to receiving the document that Agriprocessors has promised to provide that will detail Agriprocessors' policy towards the rights of its workers. Provided that Agriprocessors supplies the information that is has promised to provide and is willing to make Mr. Martin's reports and conclusions available to the public, we are hopeful that we can resolve these issues positively for the workers at Agriprocessors, the Rubashkin family, kosher consumers, and klal yisrael."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested nearly 400 Agriprocessors workers in a raid last month on the firm's plant in Postville, Iowa. Employees since the raid have complained of working long hours without being paid and being sexually harassed.
Agriprocessors spokesmen have not responded to JTA requests for comment.
At Baltimore's largest kosher grocery store, meat manager Chaim Fishman has learned to order twice as much poultry from his chief supplier as he used to. He knows that however much he orders, the company will ship half.
Three weeks after federal immigration agents raided the AgriProcessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, and detained almost half of its work force, Baltimore's kosher markets and caterers are finding ways to satisfy one of the nation's most dedicated clienteles.
"I'm ordering much more because I know they're going to halve me," said Fishman, sitting in an office above the Seven Mile Market in Pikesville.
"I'm getting about 25 percent of my supply from them. It used to be 75 percent."
Some customers loyal to Rubashkin - perhaps the best known label marketed by AgriProcessors - are buying, and in some cases hoarding, what they can find on shelves.
Outside Seven Mile Market, some customers said they have found enough kosher meat to feed their families, and they seemed to be reserving judgment about AgriProcessors' employment practices.
"I need to see both sides," said Stan Hochman, who lives nearby. "When I hear these things, there's always a tainted side. I just don't know."
Rabbi Shlomo Porter, director of the Etz Chaim Center, which eduates adult Jews about religious practices, said AgriProcessors should not be blamed for employees who supplied false documentation.
"I think there has been a slant to try to make a negative picture of kosher slaughtering," said Porter. "If the government felt Rubashkin had done anything wrong, they would have indicted Rubashkin."
(Senior Federal agents have told the Washington Post that a case is being built against the Rubashkins but that white collar cases take years to produce indictments)
When the consuming of “glatt” kosher took off like a rocket in the 1980’s, a prominent West Coast journalist who was also a qualified kashrus supervisor took me aside after davening one Shabbos morning and asked, “Do you really think that you are eating glatt kosher meat all the time, even though the label says so?”
Before I could utter a response, the journalist/kashrus supervisor revealed, “There’s no doubt you are eating kosher meat but it’s physically impossible to check everything thoroughly, especially the lungs, because of time constraints and the demand to move things along. At the slaughterhouse, the mashgichim from the different kashrusagencies have specific time slots on the line that must be kept. If you are eating glatt meat 50 percent of the time, that’s good.”
I forwarded your request and was asked to let you know that only people who have received invitations will be able to attend. Also, that this session is a briefing and not an open discussion. Since you have received an invitation, you will be the only one to be admitted.
Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
Eda Kram Lubicom Marketing Consulting 1428 36th St. Suite 219 Brooklyn, NY 11218 T:(718) 854-4450 ext. 100 F:(718) 854-4474 Email: eda@lubicom.com
Rosenblatt in Texas was the subject of much interest from Breuer's. Before they were finally forced to dump Rubashkin, they had approached Rosenblatt about making him the new source for KAJ meat. Rosenblatt refused because of cheshbonos that boiled down to money. A rov tells me he was sworn to secrecy about the exact reason and anyway forgot how it works but that Rosenblatt was afraid of negative repurcussions from certain corners if he went with KAJ.
The KAJ have since been encouraged by people to try approaching Rosenblatt again.
I ask because A to Z Supermarket in Queens, who claims to be exclusively "Beis Yosef glatt" and to have stopped buying any Rubashkin product after Pesach, is selling ox tail as of last week.
According to another butcher, R' Moishe Feinstein zl signed a kol korei assering anything from the achorayim of cattle, including ox tail.
Rubashkin was the first one to be poretz geder.
The only other meat supplier who sells ox tail is Royal, a small time operation that most people never heard of. Royal is under the OU and some wishy-washy Bucharian hashgocho.
People were complaining that A to Z was sold out of other meats so after they put ox tail in their cholent, it completely fell apart.
Star-K tells people that KVH packaged products are acceptable. I guess that means that Star-K also allows Jewish owned factories to produce on Shabbos. This Conservative baal habos is complaining it's hypocrisy that KVH is now forcing his retail bakery to close on Shabbos when wholesale businesses can be mechalel Shabbos.
The bagels are kosher, but not the Saturday hours
By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | May 30, 2008
SWAMPSCOTT - Kosher or not kosher?
For Bernard Newman, whose family has owned a seaside kosher bakery for 43 years, the debate over upholding Jewish law has reached Talmudic proportions in recent days. Even though Newman has kept kosher all of his life, and has always used kosher ingredients in his bakery, the primary Jewish organization in the state that recognizes kosher establishments says that for now, Newman's bakehouse is not kosher.
Newman's Bakery holds a special distinction in the region: It is the last Jewish-owned bakery in the state that holds a kosher approval rating by the Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts despite being open for business on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The council had granted approval to some kosher bakeries decades ago, but they've all either closed or changed their business hours.
Last week, though, the council changed its policy and gave Newman's an ultimatum: Close on Saturdays or lose kosher approval.
"God said you should keep the Sabbath, you know, and we felt that with the store being open on Shabbos, we just didn't want to continue on," explained Rabbi Abraham Halbfinger, director of the council, using the Hebrew word for Sabbath.
But Newman insists the dictum is inconsistent with a ruling that the same group made more than a half a century ago, and says he'll continue to keep his bakery open on the Sabbath with their kosher approval or not. "It's hypocrisy," Newman said. "How can we be kosher one day and not kosher the next day?"
The dispute centers on whether the bakery can honor two commandments: keeping kosher and not working on the Sabbath. Newman wants to stay open on Saturdays and still keep the kosher designation, because he needs the business.
To meet kosher law, the bakery does not serve meat and uses only kosher ingredients in its bagels, pastries, and dairy treats. Under the council's policy, trained inspectors enter Jewish eateries and review all products and ingredients to make sure they are kosher.
The order to shutter Newman's on Saturday, or lose its kosher designation, has caused a stir among Newman's customers, and angered Newman, who drives a Toyota with the license plate CHALE - a nod to the bread eaten by Jews on the Sabbath.
Rabbi Baruch HaLevi of Swampscott's Conservative Congregation Shirat Hayam criticized the council's decision, saying it's part of a cultural shift by observant Jews. "Traditional Judaism is moving so far to the right that it's making it virtually impossible to have good quality, accessible kosher products," said HaLevi, who will continue to allow Newman's food to be served in his synagogue.
"It comes down to loopholes and politics, power, and money, and it's a shame," HaLevi said.
Newman acknowledged that he could lose up to 10 percent of his business, which comes from local Jewish organizations in this heavily Jewish town on the North Shore, if he loses kosher approval.
Halbfinger, who has run the council for 29 years, said he could not explain the group's decades-old ruling. But Rabbi Mordechai Twersky, a Boston-area kosher-supervisor, said the decision to allow bakeries to open on the Sabbath occurred after union bakers balked at working a seven-day week and chose to work on Saturdays instead of Sunday. Others have a different recollection: They say the Rabbinical Council cited a loophole that allowed bakeries that could not afford to lose their Saturday business to stay open.
"I can't answer what was done before; I can only answer what we're doing now," Halbfinger said.
Newman said he could accept the council's ruling if the area's Jewish-owned kosher food manufacturers that make muffins, cakes, and cookies were also forced to close on Saturday.
When asked the logic behind that ruling, Halbfinger declined to explain the council's decision. "The laws are a lot different there, and maybe we'll reach that point someday also, but right now we're dealing with shops like this here, and this is the last one," Halbfinger said.
More than 60 years ago, dozens of Boston-area Jewish-owned kosher bakeries remained open on the Jewish Sabbath, and included Dorchester bakeries such as Kasanoff's and Eagerman's. After World War II, Newman's father, Joseph, learned the trade in Malden and Boston, and in the 1960s opened his small bakery across from picturesque Fishermen's Beach. At that time, kosher butchers and bakers dotted the streets of Lynn and Swampscott, but by the 1980s Newman's was one of the few kosher alternatives on the North Shore.
Newman's father, who is retired, said he understands the commandment of keeping the Sabbath, but questioned why the council allowed his bakery to stay open for 43 years on Saturdays.
"It's a disservice to the community," Joseph Newman said. "We played a role in people's daily lives and served them kosher food."
Over the years, the bakery became a magnet for local politicians and gadflies. Today, the sparsely decorated bakery has the same look and feel it had 30 years ago.
Bernard Newman, who is 59, worked as a paramedic but decided to follow his father and grandfather into the baking business. Newman, who often bakes while listening to talk radio, said there is a mystical aspect to making kosher food.
"I believe that kashrus [keeping kosher] is a discipline, it enriches you and makes you more holy. It's respect for the law, for Torah, for God," said Bernard Newman, whose customers have included Joan Kennedy, Johnny Pesky, and the late governor John Volpe.
At 6 a.m. he opens the bakery's doors, and by 7 he leaves to pray at a local synagogue. When he returns, he talks to the same customers who have been schmoozing in the bakery for years.
"I feel very good coming in here. The Newman's exemplify kosher food," said Marion Garfinkel of Swampscott, who has been shopping there for 41 years. Garfinkel urged the council to reconsider its decision.
But Halbfinger defended the ruling and said the council corrected a wrong. "We're doing a right thing. We're not extreme; Shabbos is not extreme," he said. "We're trying to keep tradition."
Steven Rosenberg can be reached at rosenberg@globe.com
Well Chaburah is an Empire product with some additional concerns, so Empire should be your choice-albeit there are better choices but not if price is your kashrus emblem to be relied upon.
and if you have a larger variety (everything being the same) Empire, Chaburah, hebrew national (btw-they were just announced as the top-hot-dog)Rubashkin / Weiss Mandel....?
Actually, I would put the goyishe brands like Purdue, Hormel, Oscar Meyer, etc, after Hebrew National. They have less salmonella and other health hazards than Rubashkin.
Our child was recently admitted to Schneider's Children Hospital (division of Long Island Jewish). The kosher food plan is under the Heinemann caterer Abe's of Allentown PA. The meat they use might be Rubashkin. The hospital itself has no reliable hashgocho and mixes up the tray items with things under no hashgocho whatsoever - including a dole fruit cup that was colored pink with cochineal, derived from crushed beetles.
There are some Boro Park / Williamsburg Yidden who leave food with heimish hashgochos in a chesed room for people who have a Shabbos / Yomtov emergency. The room is difficult to find without help and the hospital staff will not guide you there because of politically correct meshugassin. People should seek out the help of the rov at the nearby Young Israel of New Hyde Park for assistance. We were afraid to use any crock pots / microwaves etc in the chesed room. Even though you have to read Yiddish to use the combination, we still don't know what kind of food people could have cooked in there.
The so called rov of the hospital, the 85 year old Rabbi Moseson, claims to be "orthodox" even though he led a Conservative temple for decades and does not seem to be particularly sensitive to frum needs. The hospital is right on the border with some buildings in Queens and some buildings in Nassau County. Rabbonim have tried to find out whose water they are using because of the shrotzim. The "Jewish" hospital will not cooperate and "Rabbi" Moseson refuses to even discuss it with the excuse that cholim can eat shrotzim. He does not answer when asked about relatives of patients who are not ill.
Next door to Schneider's is a luxury hotel (for $25 a night) that parents of Schneider's patients can stay at, subsidized by the McDonald's Foundation and other corporate donors & wealthy individuals. There are special rooms to accomodate Shomer Shabbos guests. Anyone staying there should be aware of possible chilul Hashem, as the "House" as it is called has complained to the Young Israel about frum guests who leave the rooms in a very messy state. There is a "kosher" kitchen at the House where again we were afraid people may have brought in improper food. The regular kitchen provides all kinds of gourmet treif food for free - a real fresser's delight. The House gives each guest 2 free bottles of water a day. The water is Dasani (Coca Cola) brand which usually has a hashgocho but these particular bottles were bottled specifically for McDonald's restaurants and have no hashgocho. Dasani water is filtered tap water fortified with vitamins which may pose a kashrus issue. A rov informs me that the vehicle to load the vitamins may be non-kosher but he believes it is bottul.
In case anyone needed anymore proof that Babad-Tartikov's standards are questionable, I was shocked to see he has stooped so low as to take on "Cholon" on Kings Highway.
Cholon was under Dovid Katz because these freye Israelis needed a "standard" where anything goes. A rosh yeshiva refers to this class of gesheften on Kings Highway as the chevrah of "basar shenisaleim min haayin". I don't know if Babad is giving on more than the pastries from Cholon that I see being sold elsewhere, but at least the last time I checked, they are made in the same place where they cook the meat.
G. Willi-Food Announces That its U.S. Subsidiary - WF Kosher Food Distributors Ltd. - Closes Doors of its Operations; WF Files Complaint for $10M Against Seller of U.S. Operations
YAVNE, Israel, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- G. Willi-Food International Ltd. (the "Company" or "Willi Food"), one of Israel's largest food importers and a single-source supplier of one of the world's most extensive range of quality kosher food products, today announced that its U.S. subsidiary - WF Kosher Food Distributors Ltd. ("WF") - has ceased the activities of its operations effective immediately. WF has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court against the seller to WF of the operations and assets of Laish Israeli Food Products Ltd. ("Laish") for losses incurred resulting from inaccurate representations made by the seller in connection with the sale of Laish assets to WF, and from the seller's malicious interference with the U.S. operations of WF after the sale of the operations to WF.
WF also intends to file a complaint against certain Israeli vendors that provided it with products not in accordance with the agreed upon terms.
I am from Canada and am travelling to N.Y. to be with my ill sister. I would like to know what are the reliable hechsheirim and in particular in regards to basar. BTW...there is a bagel/pizza shop on York Ave (manhattan) near Sloan Kettering under a hechsher i never heard of...New York Kosher..the teudah is signed by a R. yaakov Neiman (i think) the address given i believe is a post office box..any ideas I have been reading your blog for quite some time..i enjoy and learn much from what you post...
"New York Kosher. Rabbi Yaakov Neiman received semicha from Yeshivas Ner Yisrael. He has over 25 years experience with kashrus vaadim and retail establishments, and is a member of the Igud HaRabanim. He recently started New York Kosher, which currently certifies several companies".
Rabbi Neiman is a Rav living in Flatbush. He used to work with the Midtown Board of Kashrus. I am pretty certain that there are items sold under his hashgocha that are NOT cholov yisroael.
Regarding olive oil, Rav Marmorstein checked out Fairway from Italy with an OU. Fairway takes a lot of precautions to ensure it's not adulterated, doing the job that the OU neglects.
This is currently the only olive oil we buy at home.
Rabbi Westheims "fish gelatin" Lab report claims the following:
out of 8 sealed packages- 6 were definetly Beef 1 was fish 1 was a mix inconclusive.
Fish gelatin is generally not used for confectionary items for at least 2 reasons; it melts at to low of a temperature 80F +-, also it has a yellowish color.
“Don’t confuse me with the facts; my mind is already made up!” Is this you?, if not call -
245 comments:
1 – 200 of 245 Newer› Newest»Yudel, Many of the pesach products in the stores have hashgacha of chug chasam sofer from E. Yisroel. Do you have any info if they are reliable?
Thanks
Chug, Ralbag on Osem for us Americans would be mehadrin hashgochas V the current ones we have here.
Use it, Chag Kosher etc
Thanks for the hotline!! Is there any way to get e-mail updates of the newss which is posted on the site? Or do you have some kind of e-mail kashrus newsletter?
And about CHUG... if we don't use hashgochos like STAR-K,could we still rely on CHUG. What about trumos and maasros? We don't have these isssues in the U.S.!!
For an American, CHUG is mehudar.
Dear Rabbi - Please clarify this email message that is going around. Is it true? And what about the comment posted here...
www.crest.com/prohealth/aboutToothpaste.jsp
***
Bs"d
from a Kashrus Alert by Rabbi Yudel Shain and Rabbi Yisroel Hisiger:
CREST TOOTHPASTE
The Proctor and Gamble Company has made it known that Crest, "Pro
HealthToothpaste," is made with animal derived ingredients, including pork fat.
The following Crest toothpastes are made WITHOUT animal derived ingredients and there is no information about presence or absence of alcohol in flavor.
1) Cavity Protection Toothpaste
a. Regular Flavor
b. Cool Mint Jell
2) Anti Cavity Toothpaste
a. Regular Flavor
b. Kid Crest
The rest of Crest toothpastes contain animal-derived ingredients, including porkfat.
Please pass this on to anyone who would care if their toothpaste is treif.
"Yehuda Shain said...
For an American, CHUG is mehudar.
Mon Apr 30, 11:41:00 AM 2007"
Reb Yudel,
There are two "chug chasam sofer" - the original from Bnei Brak, which is still a good hechsher AFAIK. The second one, has the shape of a castle and reads Chug Chasam Sofer of Petach Tikva, is given by a certain Deutsh, a Satmarer with dubious credentials and is not trusted by most people in EY.
A new innovation, courtesy of a joint effort by Rubashkin and the OU: GLATT KOSHER TURKEY!(They must think that we're all TURKEYS!)
Marci,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I was unaware that TJ's has their own
private label of kosher poultry. Please advise the source of this
poultry and under which supervisory agency it is being produced.
Furthermore, please note that there is no such thing as "glatt kosher"
poultry (despite such deceptive advertising by Agriprocessors among
others). Poultry is either classified as "kosher" or "unkosher", there
is no mid-tier. I think you have confused poultry with beef.
-----------------------------------
Hi, Steve-
These turkeys certified by the Orthodox Union as Glatt.
Thanks for shopping with us,
Marci
Trader Joe's Customer Relations
http://www.recalls.org/f01-07.htm
Agriprocessors, Inc., a Postville, Iowa, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,700 pounds of frankfurters due to possible underprocessing.
The following products are subject to recall:
Two-pound vacuum-packed packages of "SUPREME KOSHER, FAMILY PACK CLASSIC FRANKFURTERS MADE WITH BEEF & CHICKEN."
One-pound vacuum-packed packages of "SUPREME KOSHER, CLASSIC FRANKFURTERS MADE WITH BEEF & CHICKEN."
Each label bears the establishment number, "EST. 4653A" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The labels also bear the Use-by date "March 16, 07."
The frankfurters were produced on November 15, 2006 and were shipped to retail establishments and institutions in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Consumers with questions about the recall should call company Sales Manager Mark Halbe at (563) 864-6114.
http://www.jewishpress.com/print.do/25972/Kosher_Tidbits_from_around_the_Web_-_November_12%2C_2007.html
It's confirmation something is corrupt when it gets the Low Klass seal of approval.
Trader Joe’s pulls Empire Kosher poultry from Western stores
by june d. bell
correspondent
The Trader Joe’s specialty-food chain decided recently to pull the products of the world’s largest kosher poultry provider and distributor, Empire Kosher, off the shelves of some 150 West Coast stores.
Officials from both companies declined to say why Trader Joe’s, a 216-store chain, decided to cease selling fresh Empire Kosher chicken and turkey in five Western states. The move comes after 14 packages of Empire skinless, boneless chicken breasts were removed from the shelves of a Central California Trader Joe’s market on March 18 after a random county inspection found they weighed an average of 9.8 percent less than their labels stated.
Trader Joe’s vice president of marketing, Pat St. John, declined to discuss why the company’s West Coast buyer decided to replace Empire with its kosher competitor, Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best. St. John said Empire “could no longer supply our needs” but would not elaborate because “they are still a valued vendor to Trader Joe’s.”
The chain continues to sell Empire chicken and turkey in 68 stores in the Midwest and on the East Coast.
Empire’s new president and CEO, Robert Van Naarden, said packages of meat can carry incorrect weights if the company’s scales become miscalibrated. Asked if that had occurred with meat sent to Trader Joe’s, he responded: “I don’t know. It might have,” but emphasized that any problems had been remedied.
Empire’s products are packed, weighed and labeled for sale at its Pennsylvania plant.
“I believe there are other factors at work here,” he said, suggesting that the chain’s West Coast buyer wanted to make room for non-kosher products. “That doesn’t mean I won’t work to fix what they say are problems.”
Van Naarden, a member of a group of investors who purchased Empire Kosher several months ago, said consumer demand would prompt Trader Joe’s to abandon Rubashkin chicken.
“If they [Trader Joe’s] want to go to an inferior product, it’s up to them,” he said. “Their customers will tell them.”
Empire, a privately held company, has been selling kosher poultry since 1938 and supplies more than 50 percent of the kosher chicken sold in North America, Van Naarden said.
“Trader Joe’s may have seen some things they don’t like. Fair enough,” Van Naarden said. “I respect them. … All the things Trader Joe’s is concerned about, as are other customers, are being addressed every single day.”
Trader Joe’s, which prides itself on offering an array of high-end gourmet and imported items at bargain prices, sold Empire’s fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts; eight-piece cut-up chickens; ground turkey; and turkey breasts. In many West Coast communities that lacked kosher grocery markets, Trader Joe’s was the sole outlet for fresh kosher poultry. And, in some areas, the kosher products at Trader Joe’s were priced lower than comparable frozen products in other supermarkets.
An informal survey conducted by the Forward of employees at five Trader Joe’s stores in Northern California indicated that at some stores Empire had continuing problems with spoilage and inaccurate package weights, resulting in incorrect pricing for customers. Employees at two Trader Joe’s outlets in Northern California told customers that Empire was unable to consistently supply enough stock. “It’s frustrating and it makes us look bad,” said an employee in Trader Joe’s Los Altos store.
The loss of the Trader Joe’s West Coast account occurs just a few months into Van Naarden’s tenure at Empire. He described Trader Joe’s decision to cease sales of Empire at most of its stores as “temporary.” He said his company would increase inventory at other supermarkets in the five-state area where it had been shut out of Trader Joe’s stores.
Neither Empire nor Trader Joe’s was fined after the March 18 inspection, but they were asked to correct the problem. State law requires packaged meats to weigh no less than 97 percent of the weight stated on their labels.
The breasts sell for $5.49 per pound, so a 10 percent error on a pound of meat would result in a 55-cent overcharge.
Robert Lopez said it was the first time in his 13 years as a weights and measures inspector for San Luis Obispo County that he had to prohibit the sale of Empire products.
Ken Lake, program supervisor of the California Department of Agriculture’s Division of Management Standards, said the mislabeling appeared to have been isolated and was quickly corrected. “Even the best packers have some things removed from sale,” he said.
St. John said Trader Joe’s has no plans to reinstate Empire despite a four-year relationship. She would not say whether the chain will switch all its stores to Rubashkin’s.
Empire poultry disappeared abruptly from Trader Joe’s refrigerated shelves after Passover.
Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best, a meat vendor that added poultry to its offerings in 1992, was delighted to pick up Trader Joe’s West Coast account. Its arrival this month marks its debut in the West Coast market.
“When they contacted us, we had no idea they’d already booted Empire out,” said Heshy Rubashkin, vice president of marketing and sales for Iowa-based Agriprocessors, which makes Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best products
If anyone still thinks that they can trust Rubashkin, read this letter from the lying thief:
Rubashkin Meats Letter (Sholom Rubashkin):
November 14, 2007
Dear Customer:
It has come to my attention that you may have been the victim of a slanderous and patently false campaign by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. You may have received their misleading flyer entitled “Kosher Alert” or an automated phone call with misinformation about products produced by Agriprocessors. This is part of a textbook campaign by the Union to force a company into submission to unionize a plant even when it is against the wishes of the workers, which is the case at Agriprocessors.
That's because most of the workers are illegals and have no choice but to submit to the horrendous working conditions.
The vicious tactics by the Union not withstanding, when someone makes allegations about practices in our company or the quality of our products, I take it personally. My family guarantees that all our products are safe and wholesome.
Your guarantees are worthless. Just read the government's 577 page report.
http://agri.unionactive.com/docs/All%20NRs.pdf
Let me assure you there are no recalls or food safety issues with our products.
Lies. Just last year there was a major recall of hot dogs. Safety issues? Read the report!
We have a moral obligation to produce the safest products for our customers and we take that obligation very seriously.
The only obligation you take seriously is to make sure to maximize profits. That means cut corners wherever possible, switch labels, hand pick mashgichim and pay off rabbis and hacks like Lubinsky.
The Rubashkin family has been supplying high quality kosher meat and poultry for over fifty years. Mr. Aron Rubashkin has earned his reputation of trust for Kosher, quality and food safety. That is why consumers across America rely on our product every day.
That is why you are constantly under investigation and your "kashrus" is the longest running joke.
As you know, all of our products must earn the seal of wholesomeness by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) before they leave our plant. To produce safe food in our modern production facility, we and the on-site USDA inspectors maintain a constant vigilance. We are committed to continue to strive for improvement so that you are guaranteed of the safest and utmost quality products.
It is unfortunate that in today’s day and age of respect for democratic institutions, that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), refuses to abide by the wishes of the workers at Agriprocessors not to organize into a Union We would at any time respect the right of our employees to organize and join a union if they so choose.
We hope that you will now recognize the context of the disinformation that has been disseminated in our community in a brazen attempt to force the workers to unionize. We know, that like all fair-minded people that you will stand with our employees and their right to decide for themselves whether or not to have a union.
Ironically, the UFCW has targeted our food safety record that as you can see below is nothing less than stellar. Here are but a few highlights:
• Concerns about Mad Cow disease are simply wrong. We have never had product from any suspect animals leave our plant.
The video clearly showed a suspect cow not taken out of the herd.
• Agriprocessors has had zero recalls in any of our raw, fresh or frozen poultry and beef products since we opened. Yes, not one recall in nineteen years.
The key word is "raw". The hot dogs were recalled for underprocessing.
• The UFCW claims we have excessive reports of non-compliance. In covering the same UFCW report, the Cedar Rapids Gazette interviewed USDA spokesperson Amanda Eamich who was quoted as saying, “….a plant the size of Agriprocessors might receive 9,000 inspections per year, of which 250 noncompliance findings remains “a pretty small percentage.”
We have always maintained an “open door” policy and encourage our customers to ask any questions that they may have about our products.
We rely on our quality control systems and personnel, USDA oversight and independent auditing to assure the products safety and wholesomeness of our products. Rabbis and customers are welcome to tour our plants at any time to see our commitment at work first-hand.
Another bold faced lie! Visits by mashgichim or anyone else are by appointment only.
We are proud of our commitment to the principles we established almost nineteen years ago. The food we produce at Agriprocessors is safe and wholesome. You have my word on it.
We encourage you to ask questions and find out for yourself. To get the facts, visit our web site agriprocessor.com.
We are most gratified by your continued support and thank you for helping make Agriprocessors the leader in kosher beef and poultry.
Sholom Rubashkin
Vice President
Kashrus has become a total joke nodays.
We need more than one Yudel Shain out there.
Did KYO sell Rubashkins meat?
http://www.cor.ca/en/32616
R' Yudel,
This is the updated COR policy for strawberries. They say that they formulated this in cooperation "with their posek, R' Shlomo Miller."
Caterers & other commercial establishments are not required to abide by repeating the process a 2nd time as they recommend to not put too much of a burden on the community. The COR admits that this system is not 100% a guarantee vehamachmir tavo alav brocho.
COR tests found that Canadian strawberries which grow in a colder climate are less infestation prone.
The COR also feels that thrips do not emerge whole from a serious session in a blender.
Fresh strawberries are out completely!
Frozen ones, only the FAIRMONT Brand.
It's questionable if the Bodek ones after blending do you also have to cook them as well.
again I dial the number and then press 1 2 3 or 4 and then the pound sign. I get an error message. What am I doing wrong?
On another note - I see more and more stuff that International Glatt makes that says IHG or HGI. THis is made with meat from Rubashkin !!! HG is Howard Gruenspecht, who quit working from there a few months ago.
Abeles and Heymann just moved their production from International Glatt to New Jersey. Who do they buy from? Obviously, not from International. The only thing that we learned from Kosherfest is that Rosenberg meat is making a private label for them and Irving Braun is working for them. Irving Braun was responsible for Gartner-Harf going bankrupt. He also had many fights with the OU concerning Kashrus. If he is art Abeles and Heyman, then I would put them in the same catagory as Rubashkin.
Rabbi Shain, I have an intereting question that's been bothering me for quite a while. Perhaps you can shed some light on this issue. I eat out very often, frequenting restaurants in Brooklyn, & Great Neck. I noticed that many if not most of these restaurants are owned by sephardic jews. Many of these restaurants especially in Brooklyn Kings highway area & Great Neck serve mostly sephardic customers. They usually have the typical Hechsher like Kehilla or in great neck the OK. Now I am not sephardic, but I know the sephardim can only eat Beis Yosef Meat.
My question is why aren't the (askenazic)hashgochas requiring these establishments to serve Beis Yosef. Isn't it a case of "lifnei iver' knowing full well that many of these customers aren't allowed to eat this meat. I even found that sometimes, Beis Yosef wasn't even available upon request. How can the hashgochas allow it?
The commenter is probably referring to Bistro Grill of Great Neck & Woodmere.
The use Rubashkin ONLY so even if it's claimed to be Beis Yosef, it could be treif gomur.
The owners are a shutfus of a freye Yid and a modern YU guy who is just barely frum if even that.
Is Abeles and Heyman buying from Rubashkin? Would their mashgiach know?
Anyone?
Why shouldn't Abeles & ... buy from Rubashkin just like International/ Chaimowitz?
Even restaurants serving Sephardim aren't necessarily using Bais-Yosef-unless it's a Rubashkin product (they'l give them Bais-Yosef labels by the hand full-Even Supreme Ask Rabbi Brody)
does International use Rubashkin in any products under Debrecen/ R' Stein?
Anonymous said...
does International use Rubashkin in any products under Debrecen/ R' Stein?
They say they don't!.
I'm wondering if they think that Rubashkin may be kosher for others & they are in a bind..........I hope not.
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_company_news/Dr_Temple_Grandin_and_the_Orthodox_Union.php
When did Rabbi Spiegel leave Rubashkin?
This article from June has Rubashkin advertising his employment as if they are proud of it.
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_kosher_certification/pdf/Rabbi_%20M_Weissmandls_Reports_On_Agriprocessors.pdf
Check out this letter from Rav Weissmandel.
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_kosher_certification/pdf/Supreme_Kosher_Certificate_of_Kashrut.pdf
According to this, Spiegel is still working for Rubashkin. I somehow was getting the impression that he's no longer there.
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_testimonials/pdf/Mayor_Robert_Penrod_Letter.pdf
WHat do you expect him to say when he would be nothing without Rubashkin's money?
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_postville_news/iowa_kosher_slaughtering_plant.php
Rubashkin takes sides in the Satmar machlokes. What did it take to get R' Aron out to Iowa?
http://www.agriprocessor.com/agriprocessors_postville_news/pdf/Satmar_Rabbi_Visits_Agriprocessors.pdf
Try this if you don't see the Satmar picture.
Anonymous said...
does International use Rubashkin in any products under Debrecen/ R' Stein?
They say they don't!.
I'm wondering if they think that Rubashkin may be kosher for others & they are in a bind..........I hope not.
DID YOU CALL THEM UP AND ASK THEM? WHO DID YOU SPEAK TO? WHEN DID YOU CALL?
DO THEY KASHER THE OVENS AND WAIT 24 HOURS AFTER A RUBASHKIN PRODUCTION? DO THEY CLEAN THE KAILIM BETWEEN BATCHES?
IT IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS YOU MIGHT THINK.
CONCERNING ABELES AND HEYMAN - WHAT ARE THEIR SOURCES? HEYMAN WAS NOT SHOMER SHABBAT AND WAS NEVER TRUSTED. WHAT REPUTATION DO THE NEW OWNERS HAVE?
It's up as the first item.11/25/07
Agudas Convention is history now.
Do you know any other catered Dinners that we can post with the same questions?
chaim berlin diner is coming up. shick is catering. btw reb yudel, what meat did the agudah end up serving?
www.citicomonline.com/events.html
There are many yeshiva & mossad dinners. Mordy Mehlman's Citicom has most of them listed here.
http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=4052
The Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) is currently issuing a “kosher safety alert,” in hopes of impacting Agriprocessors, the country’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, which has been the subject of ongoing scrutiny.
“We are terribly concerned about the health and safety issues, which have been ongoing problems for the past few years at Agriprocessors,” said David Dolov, New England regional director of the JLC. “USDA inspections have revealed serious doubts about Agriprocessors’ ability to maintain sanitary conditions and to produce a safe and wholesome product.”
Agriprocessors, which produces beef, poultry, and lamb products under such brand names as Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice, European Glatt, Nevel, David’s, and Supreme Kosher, has received a laundry list of charges from the Unites States Department of Agriculture and others over the past year.
The slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, received 250 noncompliance reports from the USDA during 2006, which cited inadequate safeguards against mad cow disease as well as fecal contamination and rodent problems in the food production area. In August, the company was reprimanded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) regarding food safety concerns.
The UFCW was most concerned over two large-scale food recalls this year and the plant’s checkered reputation of screening for mad cow disease.
Gary Reckrodt, spokesperson for Agriprocessors, said the company was not aware of the JLC’s current food safety alert, but added that organizations like the JLC and the UFCW simply use the issue of food safety to ultimately talk about workers’ rights.
“We take food safety concerns very seriously, but the UFCW is using this tactic to force its way in when the real issue is workers’ rights,” said Reckrodt.
On Nov. 14, the JLC organized a hand billing at Trader Joe’s grocery store locations nationwide. Dolov and other local participants stood in front of the store’s Cambridge and Brookline locations and handed out flyers. According to Dolov, the JLC focused its efforts at Trader Joe’s because the store stocks products from Agriprocessors.
“We want the message to go to Trader Joe’s and ‘up the chain’ to Agriprocessors that they have to improve the workplace at the plant,” said Dolov. “Traders Joe’s is a big chain and can make an impact, not to mention the fact that they distribute a lot of kosher products.”
As the country’s leading producer of kosher meats, Agriprocessors plays an important role in the lives of those who follow Jewish dietary customs. If the plant were to be shut down or put temporarily out of business, the impact would be felt in many kosher households, according to Walter Gellerman of The Butcherie in Brookline.
“They’re the premier kosher producer. They supply the majority of the market nowadays,” said Gellerman. “If they closed their doors tomorrow there wouldn’t be any glatt kosher meat out there.”
Dolov insisted that while he does not want to see Agriprocessors shut down, it is the responsibility of the Jewish people to make sure kosher products are acceptable.
“It is our collective responsibility to let the industry know that we demand quality products,” he said.
http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/21000046/Global-spice-meet-to-look-at-f.html
After Indian chilli exports faced a series of rejections and near-boycott by Europe in 2003, following the detection of chemical dye Sudan Red (generally used by the textile industry) to add colour to the chillies and chilli powder, the board cancelled licences of five exporters
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10170431
When tinned foods first became widely available in the second half of the 19th century, they were seen as a triumph of wholesomeness over the often adulterated, infested and rotten “fresh” food of the day.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/23/content_7132048.htm
1 dead, 80 sick after consuming adulterated oil in Nepal
KATHMANDU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- An elderly woman has died and 80 people have fallen sick after consuming food prepared with adulterated oil in a party in Saptari district in eastern Nepal, the National News Agency, RSS reported on Friday.
According to the RSS, 40 villagers fainted at the party held at a local resident's home, some 190 km east of Kathmandu, Thursday night.
Three-dozen people, suffering from nausea, diarrhea and headache, were taken to hospital.
The cooking oil used in food items was adulterated, said Doctor Bhawananda Majhi of the Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital.
Meanwhile, 20 policemen at the Zonal Police Office, Rajbiraj have also fallen sick after using the same brand oil.
The police have raided the local markets and confiscated the Shanka Brand Company oil and arrested a shopkeeper.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=89613
Price increases trigger adulterated food market
Monday, November 26, 2007
Did you see the marketing for the new fleishig restaurant in Lakewood. They are selling themselves as the restaurant with every conceivable chumrah. Well it was interesting to note that their ad includes a photograph of a delicious sliced steak with salad and (get this) grated cheese topping on the salad. i guess you could excuse them for their ignorance thinking it was grated carrots. Anyway I thought you may enjoy the good laugh.
yudel do u know any info about the telshe riverdale dinner? did they have a proper hashgacha? which caterer did they use? I saw the ad in the yated. I think the dinner was tonight. I am curious whether they were ok or not
"They are selling themselves as the restaurant with every conceivable chumrah."
That's how Yankel Reisman pitched ARK for years. I wonder if he still says it.
Wasserman in Queens tells customers he is a big yiras shomoyim & "tzitters" to take "afeelu ein pruta" from a Yid improperly. He has been charging "tax" for 20 years on non-taxable items, brushed off people who pressured him for 4 months to stop it, and still feifs everyone on after it was publicized.
All of Wasserman's meats in the take out section are Rubashkin, yet he is considered the frummest / most heimishe place to buy meats in Queens. Even people that don't eat from the Vaad eat from him.
What a tragedya.
By Julie Schmit and Barbara Hansen, USA TODAY
Consumers may draw comfort from federal meat recalls that alert stores, restaurants and households to potentially unsafe meat.
But most recalled meat is never recovered — raising the possibility that it was consumed before or even after the recall — according to a USA TODAY analysis of recall data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
For 73 meat recalls this year and last, recovery rates per recall averaged 44%, the analysis shows. But for five recalls that followed reports of consumer illness, recovery rates per recall averaged just 20%.
Recovery rates vary for several reasons, including how quickly meat gets to market and the number of days between production and when problems are detected.
"The closer those dates are to each other, the more we get back," says Kenneth Petersen, USDA assistant administrator.
He says recalls spawned by reports of illness have low recovery rates because weeks or months can pass between when a product is produced, someone gets sick and illness is linked with food.
In contrast, recalls resulting from the USDA's product testing tend to result in higher recovery rates.
The USDA, which regulates meat and poultry, routinely samples thousands of products for harmful bacteria before they leave factories. Test results take a few days to produce.
During that time, companies can legally ship a product. If tests are positive, the product is recalled. Because the meat has been in the market a few days, recovery rates tend to be good: 62% per recall, on average.
There have been 54 meat recalls this year, up from 34 last year. For the most recent recalls, recovery rates are not yet available.
To get more consumers to check homes for recalled meats, the USDA next year plans to publicize names of retailers selling meat that was later recalled. "We think it would be helpful for people to know, 'Gee, that is my store,' " says Petersen.
Recall notices now posted on the USDA's website typically name states where a product was sent but not retailers, unless their names are on the product. Retailer names have been considered confidential business information, as with any customer lists.
Company actions also affect recalls. Typically, recallers alert their customers, often distributors or wholesalers, who alert their customers, and so on. But recovery of products isn't a given.
On Sept. 29, Topps Meat recalled 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger because of potential contamination with the deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. The recall, the second-biggest ever for ground beef, was well publicized. Still, New Jersey officials found 141 boxes of recalled burgers in 12 state stores about a month after the recall.
Some retailers said they didn't know about the recall, says New Jersey consumer affairs spokesman Jeff Lamm.
The hot line works fine, we just tried it. 1-212-990-7238 listen to introduction-at any time press 1 of the 4 channels with no # after or before a number.
Yisroel contact me at kashrusy@aol.com
Kosher-Certification
J&D’s B-a-c-o-n Salt is proud to be kosher-certified by the following organization:
Square-K Kosher Services
POB 18915
Seattle, WA 98118
Fax: (908) 370-0467
Rabbi Moshe Londinski
Who uses Bacon that needs kosher bacon salt?
Bacon salt means that the salt has a taam of bacon. It's no different than bacon bits from Betty Crocker and others under the OU. OK / Levy had a product around for years that was artificial ham & cheese.
The reason to knock Londinski is because his hashgocho is anyway shvache mayses. I also once read some article about a scandal years ago that I'm going to try to find again.
R' Yudel, there are cholov stam products from South America under the hashgochos down there that are being sold in NY. Do they not track the herds either?
All of you Please; Don't challenge Reb Yudel!!!!!
please update the uraguay issue on the hotline in ENGLISH please
http://www.silverfernspecialties.com/where_how_who.html
Imported cakes are being sold in NY under the hashgocho shown here.
Is it reliable?
The rabbanut has better standards for lettuce than most hashgochos in America. Bodek or every leaf checked is NOT required by the Queens Vaad and many others.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546758749&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
When Carmi Horowitz sat down to dinner at the Shakespeare Restaurant in Talpiot, he assumed that the venue would be in possession of a valid kashrut certificate, as indicated on the store's sign. He even called ahead to verify that the trendy eatery was, indeed, under kosher supervision. But when Horowitz asked to see the certificate, he got an unpleasant surprise.
"When I asked to see the certificate, the manager told me he had 'sent it for framing,'" said Horowitz. "They then proceeded to show me a photocopy of a certificate from two-and-a-half years ago."
Finally, after a rigamarole that led to the owner's admitting that the venue did, indeed, have its supervision temporarily suspended, Horowitz got up, together with the rest of his party of 13, and left the restaurant.
"It's quite shocking," he said.
The owner, when asked for his side of the story, was indignant. He relates how he was stuck late at night with no lettuce and was forced to purchase from a local grocer, rather than use the Gush Katif lettuce that is certified to be free from insects.
"We soaked the lettuce in saltwater, like they do in the army, but that wasn't enough for them."
Rabbi Ya'acov Ruhamkin, who is the kashrut supervisor for the area, entered the kitchen on a surprise visit, and, seeing the unauthorized lettuce, promptly removed the certificate.
Lior, the manager, was furious about what he called the "corruption" and "money-grubbing" in the rabbinate, and threatened that if the matter were not resolved he would cancel kashrut supervision altogether and rake in additional profits from opening on Friday evening and Saturday.
Though Lior said that he personally kept Shabbat and put on tefillin, he demanded vociferously that the spotlight belonged not on "hardworking shopkeepers" but on the "extortion" they suffered at the hands of the rabbinate.
In the end, the rabbi reported that he had reached an agreement with the owner, which included the signing of a bank guarantee regarding the upholding of kashrut standards in the future. The renewed kashrut certificate, said Ruhamkin, would be forthcoming shortly.
Rafi Yochai, who heads the Chief Rabbinate's Fraud Division, said that such occurrences were common in the kashrut business.
"Sometimes an establishment will show insufficient regard for kashrut standards and will need to be reprimanded. The temporary removal of the kashrut certificate is often enough to induce proper compliance," he said.
"Although the establishment would be technically required to remove all signage indicating it as kosher, the Fraud Division, which is besieged by innumerable complaints, rarely goes after all but the most egregious violations."
As reported today on his blog, UOJ was looking for the lowlife who is selling fake mezuzos to Judaica stores and shuls in much of the United States. As reported earlier, the fraudster keeps opening new shell companies to conceal himself.
After an investigation it turns out that it's almost impossible to trace him. The pseudo klaff changes hands many times through multi-layer middlemen.
The only sign to watch out for are blue stickers with a bogus name of a kashrus organization for Sta"m that doesn't exist but is very similar sounding to legitimate ones.
A few comments on t he last few blogs:
The satmar fight on YOUTUBE - that was necessary? You had to be mevayesh borabim? You feel better now tha you showed a bunch of idiots fighting for the Kavod of someone else?
I heard the first few minutes of the uruguay tape. That has to be a prime example of the worst Yiddish that anyone can have. Either say it in Yiddish so that we can understand it or in English so that there are no ambeguities. Talking Yeshivish, as it were, helps no one.
Try to keep the blogs on topic. Having a lettuce story is nice, but has nothing to do with the topic of the phone number. BTW - I saw a mashgiach in the 5 towns take tweezers and inspect every piece in front of a light, until the piece turned brown. He was so slow, the store was not able to have salads for 2 days. Finally they closed because no food was getting out of the kitchen. Thank you Rabbi Eisen - another feather in his cap and another closed store to his credit.
Remember - it was better to buy from a goy then to buy from Gourmet Glatt
why is option 5 not working?
Unbelievable how some people do nothing but complain.
Some anonymous "back seat driver" shows up last night and starts telling R' Yudel how to run his website.
Like it or not, most non-Chassidish speakers of Yiddish, speak the yeshivish version.
Then the guy says lettuce stories have no place in this thread. So what does he do next? Attack Rabbi Eisen over lettuce. The guy obviously has an axe to grind with Rabbi Eisen. I never heard of any store / restaurant having problems because each piece of lettuce is checked. Even if it were so, I guess the grumbly critic likes the alternative better with bugs?
He sounds like one of the left wing modern orthodox from the 5 Towns that attack Rabbi Eisen over Gourmet Glatt. The non-frum shutef, which in the eyes of halacha, has the same reliability as a goy, was causing problems and was rightfully forced out of the business.
Hey critic, YOU make no sense about the 5 Towns Vaad. Why don't YOU speak in language we can understand?
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2007/12/25/news0557.htm
Adulterated pasta.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/25/stories/2007122554240400.htm
Quoting research surveys on adulteration of food items in India, Prof. Chandrashekar said every third food item in India had some level of adulteration be it in the raw form or in the finished product.
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=41746&n_tit=Mangalore%3A+LPG+Streamlined+to+Large+Extent+in+City+-+Naik
Adulterated pepper and cardamom.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/938321.html
Mamash midas sdom r"l.
"resort to illegal activity to make ends meet."
The NY Times had a couple of scary articles this week about crime shooting up because of the mortgage crisis. A sheriff in Florida commenting on big increases of burglaries, robberies, etc, said that even people that don't normally steal get desperate when they lose their house and/or can't feed their children.
Hashem yishmereinu.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a1479/News/New_York.html
The jist of this long article is frightening. I don't care that it doesn't bode well for greedy hashgochos but it will be terrible for the public who will not even be able to get bread in some places when this shake up is finished.
The Conservative are now offering free "hashgocho" as a public service, competing with agencies that charge restaurants between 60 to 90 thousand a year.
R' Peretz Steinberg's son in law Rabbi Asher Schachter just lost one of his restaurants on Long Island because they could not afford to pay him. This is a scandal by itself as it seems he was charging greedy, exorbitant rates because he allows shvache standards with these stores like to remain open and cook bagels on Shabbos, Yomtov & even Yom Kippur.
The Conservative are also telling restaurants to switch from Rubashkin so-called "glatt" to Hebrew National. It is more kosher anyway, vehamayvin yovin, but the cost savings is 100k+ a year.
And one humorous note, Arye Ralbag (or is it his father R' Yehoshofot?) tells the freye his name is Rabbi J. Howard Ralbag.
The Queens Vaad gave a foolish answer to the Jewish Week when asked about the Conservative taking away their accounts. The Vaad says it won't make a dent in heimishe areas like Main St. Shkoyach. What about frumme Yidden in Nassau & Suffolk counties? What are they going to eat if all the establishments save tons of money by going with the Conservative?
While the Conservative have some valid taynos about the greed and unfairness of regular hashgochos, they are also a bunch of conniving people. They get plenty of PR for doing very little. These "rabbis" are making a big fat salary from the temple, which is why they volunteer here for free and come by to do a cursory inspection of the restaurant kitchen. You can bet that they won't be rolling up their sleeves to get dirty like real mashgichim.
Speaking of the Queens Vaad, they have a new administrator. I wonder if it's going to make any difference though. There are so many different machanos to appease over there that it's virtually an impossible job to do things right and others before him haven't lasted. You have to deal with baal habatim, left wing modern orthodox rabbis, Chofetz Chaim rabbonim, etc. There has been big resistance before when someone tried bringing them up to standard with other hashgochos, especially on bugs.
The new guy reportedly left KVH / the Vaad of New England because he was too frum for them. I hope he hasn't gone from the frying pan into the fire azoy vee me zogt.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a1532/News/New_York.html
What does R' Yudel or anyone know about standards from Rabbi Soloveitchik and whoever else on Streit's products?
I don't use R' Zushe Blech sanctioned 18 minute matzah on Pesach. I'm wondering about their other products.
(Agav, there was a rumor around the yeshivos that Streit's had the whitest matzah cake meal and that a lab test revealed parts weren't baked. No idea if it's true.)
(Agav, there was a rumor around the yeshivos that Streit's had the whitest matzah cake meal and that a lab test revealed parts weren't baked. No idea if it's true.)
The Star-K's Rabbi Heinemann was very much on target when he refused to permit the use of the Matzo Meal for Pesach from a number of machine bakeries. Check with them.
R' Yudel, thank you for the pointers about property tax appeal. L'toeles Harabim please put it up on your site as there are many people in our town that don't know about the basics of appealing.
The Real Inflation Rate: Food up 75% in 2 years
http://shalomhabayit.blogspot.com/2007/12/real-inflation-rate-food-up-75-in-2.html
The end of cheap food
Dec 6th 2007 From The Economist print edition
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10252015
...Since the spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun—maize, milk, oilseeds, you name it—is at or near a peak in nominal terms. The Economist's food-price index is higher today than at any time since it was created in 1845 (see chart)...
...Even in real terms, prices have jumped by 75% since 2005.
...Although the cost of food is determined by fundamental patterns of demand and supply, the balance between good and ill also depends in part on governments. If politicians do nothing, or the wrong things, the world faces more misery, especially among the urban poor. If they get policy right, they can help increase the wealth of the poorest nations, aid the rural poor, rescue farming from subsidies and neglect—and minimise the harm to the slum-dwellers and landless labourers. So far, the auguries look gloomy...
See now why the government "conveniently" leaves food out of its "core inflation" statistics? Because including them would show the ugly truth, and they want to cover that up for as long as possible, class.
Sorry, I forgot to post the link. Here it is:
http://newsinlakewood.blogspot.com/2007/12/tips-on-appealing-property-tax.html
http://daledamos.blogspot.com/2007/12/important-reminder-for-jblogosphere.html
BLOGISTAN
Rabbi Avi Shafran
READ IT AND WEEP:
From this week's Jewish Press
Kashrut
By: Rabbi Binyamin Epstein
"To whom is he teaching knowledge, and to whom is he imparting wisdom? To those just weaned from milk..."(Yeshaya 28:9)
The Talmud (Sotah 12b) notes that this verse refers to Moshe Rabbenu, who as an infant, refused to nurse from any of the Egyptian women that Pharaoh's daughter brought over after she had rescued the child from the river. That is why Miriam suggested to call a wet nurse from among the Hebrew women, whereupon she summoned the child's mother. The spiritual knowledge of Torah enters into someone who partakes only of kosher food.
Everyone complains about the level of kashrut in our midst, but it is only lip service. Everyone talks about the debacle in Monsey but that is as far as it goes. People are busy supporting their families and hope that it was just an isolated incident. As for kashrut, they rely on the rabbis.
I used to assume that a mashgiach at a catered affair made sure that everything he supervised was reliable, but this is not necessarily so.
Many years ago, a colleague told me that he was at large out-of-town wedding-500 guests-and went to the kitchen to speak to the mashgiach. He asked the mashgiach in Yiddish "Can I eat here?" The mashgiach responded "You can't even drink the water. Now, if you ask me what I'm doing here, I will tell you that I represent the local rabbi. But you can't eat at his house, either."
At a bar mitzvah in a beautiful hotel, I asked the mashgiach whether one can eat there. He answered in the negative. Puzzled, I looked at him. He explained that the caterer of the affair was married to a gentile, and he didn't know why the Rabbinical organization in charge trusted him.
After talking for several minutes to the mashgiach at another bar mitzvah, I asked him whether he himself would eat there. He responded that what he does is his own business. He had a different level of fear of G-d than other people. So I rephrased my question: "Should someone of your level of fear of G-d eat there?" He answered that he was not personally familiar with certain foods that were brought in, but the Rabbinic organization in charge probably was-and told me which foods those were.
I was at a wedding at Terrace on the Park and went into the kitchen looking for a mashgiach. I encountered the caterer, whom I trust, and asked him where the mashgiach was. He told me that there were three mashgichim there, but what could he do? Instead of circulating on the various floors, they were sitting downstairs and gabbing with each other.
Several months after the Monsey debacle, I was at a wedding in Monsey and walked into the kitchen, asking for the mashgiach. The kitchen staff pointed to a door and I found the mashgiach there, sitting and learning. I asked him if he was the mashgiach, and when he replied in the affiramtive I exclaimed, "Monsey hasn't changed!" and slammed the door on the way out.
At a wedding in Queens, I spent ten pleasant minutes chatting with the mashgiach. He asked me whether I had been at a wedding there six months before, because that was the last time a guest had come into the kitchen.
During a wedding at a Sheraton Hotel in Connecticut I spoke with three mashgichim in the kitchen. They asked: "There are 700 people here and you are the only one to come to the kitchen. Why?"
So I am asking you, Why? Are you that hungry that you can't survive should you find out that you cannot eat there? Don't know what to ask? If 10% of the guests walked into the kitchen at a catered affair, it would put the caterers, the certified kashrut organizations and the rabbis on notice that the Jewish consumer cares. The mashgichim would do their jobs instead of talking and learning.
I have not picked situations where there were no mashgichim at all or where the kashrut supervisors were arrogant morons. Most of the mashgichim I met were competent, G-d fearing people. They would understand if a layman finds problems in their kitchens, they will lose their credibility and their livelihood.
Next time you are enjoying the sweetbreads and tongue at the smorgasbord, do you feel guilt-free if they they turn out not to be kosher?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/asia/15fish.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Here in southern China, beneath the looming mountains of Fujian Province, lie dozens of enormous ponds filled with murky brown water and teeming with eels, shrimp and tilapia, much of it destined for markets in Japan and the West.
Fuqing is one of the centers of a booming industry that over two decades has transformed this country into the biggest producer and exporter of seafood in the world, and the fastest-growing supplier to the United States.
But that growth is threatened by the two most glaring environmental weaknesses in China: acute water shortages and water supplies contaminated by sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff that includes pesticides. The fish farms, in turn, are discharging wastewater that further pollutes the water supply.
"Our waters here are filthy," said Ye Chao, an eel and shrimp farmer who has 20 giant ponds in western Fuqing. "There are simply too many aquaculture farms in this area. They're all discharging water here, fouling up other farms."
Farmers have coped with the toxic waters by mixing illegal veterinary drugs and pesticides into fish feed, which helps keep their stocks alive yet leaves poisonous and carcinogenic residues in seafood, posing health threats to consumers.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3962.cfm
The organic label on a bag of produce, whether domestic or foreign-grown, does not mean that USDA inspectors actually have visited the farms. Instead, a certifier visits the farms and reports to the USDA, which reviews the paperwork.
China presents one example of the problem encountered with the credibility of foreign certifiers, said Joe Mendelson, legal director with the Center for Food Safety, a non-profit consumer and environmental protection association based in Washington D.C.
"Do we know whether the government or the certifier has the will to crack down on fraud?" Mendelson asked. "I doubt it, because [a crackdown] would have direct impact on China's ability to export product."
When foreign countries export organic food, even with the USDA certification label, there is cause for concern because of a language gap and a knowledge gap in farmers' understanding of U.S. regulations and what organic means in the U.S., said Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator of the University of Minnesota and former chair of the USDA National Organic Standards Board.
China is the primary country under question, he said, because of its incredibly rapid growth in converting massive amounts of land to organic production in order to reap the price premiums of organic.
"I have been an organic inspector (and have trained inspectors throughout the world, in Japan, Taiwan and Russia) for 20 years--it takes time to convert to organic production," Riddle said.
"There are concerns about China's past agricultural processes and toxic inputs, the possibility of toxic residue in the soil and possibly in the food, and there are concerns about the long-term commitment to following the organic standards and the depth of understanding of the organic requirements," Riddle said.
I am in the kashrus business, and must relate my feelings.
IMHO, IF there are full-time professionally-trained mashgichim who are yirai shmayim, on the premises every minute there is anyone there,
and IF these full-time mashgichim, are supervised by a Rov HaMachshir who knows what is is doing, meaning he backs his mashgichim, and does not take the side of the owner against them,
and IF the owner truly WANTS to cooperate with the mashgichim and rav Hamachshir,
and IF the owner does not have the key, and the mashgiach opens and closes,
and IF the mashgichim overlap shifts enough for good communication and cooperation between them,
Then, and only then, do I believe things can work out with a goy as an owner.
Ah... what is the chiudush, you ask? That sounds like the only way to work with a Goy as an owner, since we would do no differently with a less than chareidi owner.
I then add the following:
TODAY, THESE MUST BE THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ALL OWNERS. PERIOD.
1) "MIRSUS" is dead. He was killed by the "oooops" I messed up society which forgives all mistakes. This means that EVERY ONWER REQUIRED A STAFF OF MASHGICHIM TEMIDIM.
2) Who else killed Mr. Mirsus? The local rabbonim who pressure a rav hamachshir to give a store or restaurant "one more chance" since it is such an important asset to the community.
I presonally know of a case where hashgacha was pulled from a very busy place that was a take out and caterer. They were caught on film, intentionally taking their packaging over to a treif Chinese Restaurant and having them fill it with their treif Sushi, and they then sealed it in their containers with their name on it.
They were caught dead to rights, and the hashgacha was properly removed. This had not been the first problem, by the way.
The Rav HaMachsir then was inundated by phone calls from other rabbonim, "We needs XXXXXX, nobody makes a nicer kiddush for our shul without charging twice the price. Can't you work something out and get them back open?"
The establishment reopened a short time later, with some "precautions" that were, of course, totally inadequate.
NO PRECAUTION IS ADEQUATE when the owner INTENDS TO DECEIVE.
Once deception is found, second chances are bad. They may sound like sensible compromises at the moment, but they have KILLED MR. MIRSUS. Boruch Dayan Emes.
Since we now live in a world of second chances, supervision MUST be total and complete, and only offered with a cooperative owner and management. If either owner or management tries to subvert the kashrus, and it is clearly intentional, we MUST close the place down/remove certification, and so advertize!!
Unfortunately, there is a new factory also. We now have non yirai shamayim, who are disguising themselves as Real Frummies, who want to be trusted more, and to be allowed to "at least let us come in early to cook a little, or clean up without having to pay for a mashgiach. We are frum, don't you trust us?"
The correct answer should be:
"NO! WE TRUST NO ONE."
or, a little nicer:
"Reb Owner, we may trust YOU, but we do not trust a few other frum-looking and outwardly behaving owners. So, how do we allow a Yotzai V'Nichnas with you and not with the others? Our policy now is to not certify any place based upon yotzai v'nichnas."
Today, unfortunately, Yotzai V'Nichnas does not work. Mirsus is dead.
Supervision must be from turning the key to open, to snapping the lock closed.
Mashgichim MUST earn enough that they can save enough money, so that they are not if fear of losing a job.
Mashgichim should NEVER be left without work if a hashgacha needs to be pulled! This will leave a fear in the Mashgiach's heart, and make him afraid to report a problem. A mashgiach should be promised continuous employment, at decent salaries.
Pay needs to come from the Kashrus agency, NOT the customer.
Every Mashgiach must feel VERY comfortabel to pick up their cell phone and call the Rav HaMachshir at ANY time to discuss any problem. If the Rav HaMachshir acts like the mashgiach is annoying him, the mashgiach may not call next time.
If a you feel a certain mashgiach is too timid, or too shy to report a problem promptly, or ask a question promptly, even if it means asking the owner to stop the operation until he completes the phone call, FIRE HIM, HE IS USELESS for this job.
Unfortunately, almost everyone I know in the biz who reads what I wrote will say, "Wow. Those are wonderful ideal. HaLevey we could do this, but ....."
And that is why it is so hard to rely on kashrus today.
Also, as long as you are willing to read my long-winded story, I may add. We must learn to respect the different minhagim. When we are Ashkenazim, and rely on an Ashkanazy heter, that Sepharadim do not allow, we really should so state on the Teuda: Kosher for Ashkenazim
Or state what the Heterim are. I know of a Sepharadi Rov who could not believe that he was eating for years from a place with a Heimishe hechsher, that relied on a light bulb in the oven or a pilot light, to avoid bishul akum. This truly very shvach heter is widely used today, unfortunately by many Ashkanazi Rabbonim. We should ceast and desist doing this. Heterim should be disclosed
A warning that some Israeli produce sold in the U.S. is not under certification and may be problematic, was issued by the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc). The cRc warning noted: 'It has come to our attention that produce from Israel, in particular, sweet peppers, is once again being sold in stores.
http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m12s29&SecId=29&AId=57165&ATypeId=1
Kosher disgrace
28/12/2007
Over the past decade, the community has benefited from a remarkable rise in the number of kosher restaurants in the UK, and particularly in our capital. So it is disappointing to discover that the standards of hygiene in all too many of these establishments are disgracefully low. A JC investigation this week has revealed that half of kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries inspected by local authorities are rated “very poor” or “poor” — including some of our most trendy hang-outs. And only two restaurants — out of 59 — are given top marks. Kosher consumers deserve better, and it is, first and foremost, up to the proprietors of these restaurants to recognise that compromising on the safety of their customers is unacceptable, and take immediate action. But it is also a job for our kashrut authorities. Since 1991, the London Beth Din has only given certificates to premises that are inspected every year by a qualified environmental health and safety consultant. They must get even tougher on the restaurants they inspect, all year round. Most importantly, it is up to you, the consumers, to make it clear to restaurant-owners that your patronage cannot be taken for granted — and there is a price to be paid, quite literally, for dirty premises.
http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s18&SecId=18&AId=57124&ATypeId=1
Kosher restaurants fail food-safety test
28/12/2007
Barry Toberman
Many kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries visited by local-authority inspectors are receiving “very poor” and “poor” ratings for food safety.
A JC investigation of 59 establishments assessed over the last two years found that 30 received either zero- or one-star ratings. Just two were graded five-star and another two four-star.
The ratings are based on a national Food Standards Agency system. A no-star grading suggests “little or no appreciation of food-safety legislation”. One star equates to “a poor level of compliance”.
Kashrut representatives variously expressed surprise and disappointment at the findings, but maintained that hygiene standards were high within the kosher market. However, licensees were not required to inform them of the results of council food safety inspections.
A United Synagogue spokesperson told the JC on Monday: “We take the matter of health and safety very seriously. All of our [London Beth Din] licensees are inspected by a qualified environmental-health and hygiene consultant and meet appropriate standards. We request written confirmation of this at the annual licensing session and the licence will not be renewed without it.” In addition, its shomrim had to pass a food hygiene course.
Although premises are asked to display the ratings certificate following a local-authority inspection, there is no legal obligation. Councils and consumer groups suggest that where none is on show, concerned customers should ask to view the certificate.
We bought the Fairway Markets extra virgin olive oil from Italy, the only one that is pretty much for sure not adulterated. It has a champagne color - not green. When the oil is green it's either because the olives are unripe or because the farmers stick in the leaves to color it. The more yellowish the extra virgin oil, the tastier it is supposed to be.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C01%5C01%5Cstory_1-1-2008_pg12_9
Toxic ingredients and leather-colouring chemicals mixed in food items and spices are responsible for the spread of gastroenteritis
Red chillies, which are an essential ingredient of any spice preparation, are adulterated with colouring material which contains ‘Sudan-1,’ a dye used in textile and leather industries for colouring fabric and leather goods.
A spice merchant of Aligarh Bazaar told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that it was not just chilli that had been adulterated with unhealthy colouring agents - raw and powdered turmeric powder, coriander, black pepper, and ginger were all mixed with chemicals.
“Pure and unadulterated turmeric is rather whitish in colour while the yellow turmeric is 100 percent coloured with yellow dye.” Customers who prefer the yellow turmeric over the white one should stop buying adulterated and chemically-washed food items before the sale of these items is controlled.
Ginger, which the vegetable sellers sell at takeaway stalls and wheelbarrows daily, is washed with whitening chemical to make it look shiny and attractive because people do not buy it in its original colour, a vegetable broker at new vegetable market, Shahzad, told Daily Times.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Food/102FILLER_MEZCAL
Tequila drinks from Mexico are often adulterated.
http://cbs4.com/local/fish.fraud.grouper.2.623108.html
Nearly a year after an exclusive CBS4 News I-Team investigation into a seafood scam taking place across South Florida, state authorities have decided to step up their crackdown on restaurants which are caught serving fake grouper.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has doubled the fine for restaurants from $250 to $500 for a first offense.
The agency has been fining restaurants for months when they are caught serving Asian catfish, tilapia or other cheaper species as grouper. The fines began following CBS4 Consumer Reporter Al Sunshine's report on the serving of fake grouper. Fake grouper is by far the biggest food-misrepresentation problem Florida inspectors handle.
The Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates restaurants, has found 139 cases of something other than grouper being sold as the fish between January 2006 through the end of last October, more than half of all food misrepresentation cases statewide during that time. The runners-up were 75 cases of fake crab and 34 cases of fake tuna.
Florida is also going after distributors and the attorney general has subpoenaed records of several major distributors.
The state also launched a web site last year to combat 'bait and switch' when it comes to fresh Florida fish.
Click Here to check out Florida's website devoted to fish fraud.
http://www.fl-seafood.com/consumers/grouper_substitution.htm
Look here at the filets of non-kosher Asian Catfish which look very much like Grouper.
what's the latest with the lakewood shatnez?
I heard ...
THIS MAY MEAN NO MORE MEAT FOR ME!!!!
New York - Cloned Meat to Get FDA Approval
New York - The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare as early as next week that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring can be sold to the public.
The FDA had previously asked producers of cloned livestock not to sell food products from such animals pending its final ruling.
The decision is expected to generate intense opposition from some consumer groups. Some big food companies contend the concept is too new and controversial, and they will not, at least initially, market such products. [on VIN by wsj]
Ok, Rabbi Shain, what is your take on this?
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Man-gets-6month-jail-in-food-adulteration-case/258554/
Man gets 6-month jail in food adulteration case
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/13805/the-black-market-of-tainted-vietnamese-meat
R' Yudel, you were under the impression that China stands out as the cheat in Oriental countries. According to this article, Vietnam is just as bad with farmers using toxins as preservatives.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080107101009.htm
'Fingerprint' For Fruit Juices Shows When Cheap Juices Are Substituted
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080108/CULTURE/902540546/1015
The specialty of the house at many restaurants across Florida is a slab of grouper, blackened, grilled, stuffed or encrusted with pecans, sometimes on a roll, maybe with a slice of Bermuda onion. But not at Richard Gonzmart's place.
Mr. Gonzmart, whose family has owned the Columbia restaurant in Tampa's Cuban-American Ybor City section for four generations, won't serve grouper, because he can't be sure he is getting the real thing from his suppliers.
Many restaurants in Florida have been caught passing off Asian catfish, tilapia or other cheaper species as grouper. Fake grouper is by far the biggest food-misrepresentation problem Florida inspectors handle, and it has turned up in all corners of the state — even at the Capitol cafeteria.
"I'm not going to take that chance because my reputation is more important than keeping grouper on the menu," Mr. Gonzmart said. "It's not worth it to take a shortcut. If grouper is $20 a pound, so be it, but if we buy it for $20 a pound and it's not grouper, that's a problem."
The Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, which regulates restaurants, found 139 cases of something other than grouper being sold as the fish between January 2006 through the end of October — more than half of all food misrepresentation cases statewide during that time.
"It's just a huge amount," said Department Secretary Holly Benson, whose agency has doubled the fish fraud fine for restaurants from $250 to $500 for a first offense.
The fakery hurts fishermen like Michael Athorn. He and his three-member crew spend up to 12 days 60 to 70 miles from shore in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to reach the 6,000-pound catch limit for grouper, which has to be caught on individual hooks.
Back on shore, he has often found restaurants advertising grouper and putting something else on a plate.
R' Yudel, how long ago did you do a lab test on Dayan Westheim's gelatin?
He left the Manchester beis din exactly 3 years ago to start his own hashgocho. He has since hired a staff chemist in London to test ingredients. His new hashgocho has the haskoma of R' Shmuel Wosner shlita. Kashrus Magazine recently did a big puff piece on him.
The new Vaad hakashrus for water (staffed by R' Yosef Eisen and others) has announced that the previously only acceptable filter for the whole house water main has undergone a design change. It is now unacceptable and there is currently no option available.
http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1469
According to this paper, brand name vodka from Russia is sometimes really counterfeit forgeries from elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
reb yudel - do u have an email address that i can contact u with?
The OU always insists they don't give a hoot about sakanna issues because that's the govt's business. SO how can they be of any help over here?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a9Eb.vP.8FjU&refer=asia
China Goes Kosher as Exporters Use Rabbis to Reassure Consumers
By Mark Drajem
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese exporters, facing a U.S. backlash over tainted food products, are turning to an unlikely group of inspectors to help clean up their act: Jewish rabbis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/business/worldbusiness/19palmoil.html?ei=5087&em=&en=876e64365fa02b2b&ex=1201150800&pagewanted=print
Interesting report on palm oil.
http://www.israelenews.com/view.asp?ID=818
During the previous Shmita (2000-2001) Agudath Israel of America provided over $1,000,000 to Keren HaShviis. It plans to do even more this time around."
FRANCE: Dairy execs guilty in US$34m butter scandal
just-food.com (subscription), UK - Jan 14, 2008
Créteil magistrates court heard the butter was adulterated with vegetable matter and meat tallow. EU anti-fraud office OLAF helped secure the convictions, ...
http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=100886
This article is locked. You need to be a Registered User of just-food to view this article.
http://www.dairyreporter.com/news/ng.asp?n=82586-adulterated-butter-organised-crime-fraud
16/01/2008 - Two French dairy managers face suspended prison sentences and €23m in fines for their alleged role in a Europe-wide scheme to produce and distribute adulterated butter, the European Anti Fraud Office (OLAF) has said.
The defendants, who are set to appeal against the verdict, were convicted on 22 November last year at the Créteil Magistrates Court for manufacturing products with the illegally produced butter which were to be sold "under false pretences".
Adulterated butter, which is substituted with animal fats and other synthetic materials, is a particular problem for EU dairy groups, as the illegal product can made cheaply before being sold on for maximum profit. In addition, it can also be used to obtain EU subsidies set aside for the production of genuine butter.
Both parties were cleared of a further charge of conspiracy to defraud European production subsidies though. These charges formed part of a wider investigation into adulterated butter bought from Italian companies linked to organized crime back in the late 90's.
The two unnamed defendants received suspended sentences of eight months and five months respectively for their alleged roles in the butter scandal. They also have to pay back €23m in unlawfully obtained subsidies to the French Office for Livestock - l'Office français de l'Élevage - which supplies subsidies in the country.
Siim Kallas, OLAF vice president and EC Commissioner for anti-fraud, said the ruling sent out a message to processors and producers alike that fraudulent use of European dairy subsidies would not be tolerated.
According to OLAF, a number of Italian companies during the last decade manufactured industrial butter using animal fats and synthetic materials to then be sold on to member states often in France and Belgium.
The European Anti-Fraud Office has since begun working in conjunction with national authorities like the Serious Financial Crime Office of the French Judicial Police and the Naples Prosecutor's Office backing up investigations in France, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
The investigations have attempted to uncover the production and distribution of adulterated butter on the European market, due to the impact it can have on the EU community budget through bogus subsidies claims.
In Germany, authorities have not themselves made any convictions related to the case, but have recovered €150,000 in funding, according to OLAF.
Italian authorities claim that in 1999, about 16,000 tonnes of adulterated butter was made and sold for more than €45 million on the market. Community subsidies were then also obtained on the product which was declared as butter.
A Mafia gang set up what amounted to a holding group involving the major producers of butter for industrial use in the south of Italy. The group succeeded in gaining control of one of the largest companies in the industry in Northern Italy, which made it one of the main butter producers in Italy.
The "K" is from Rabbi Dr David Scheinkopf who learned in Chaim Berlin but led a Conservative temple in Syracuse. He comes in to play when the OU refuses to certify items that have gelatin and the like.
The Danones are originally Sefardim from Bulgaria.
http://www.dairyreporter.com/news/ng.asp?n=82785-danone-dannon-probiotic
24/01/2008 - The US arm of Danone could be forced to make a multi-million dollar refund to its customers over allegations that it has used fraudulent health claims to sell some of its Activia and DanActive branded yoghurts.
In a class action filed yesterday against the Dannon company in a California court, a legal team have accused the company of spending $100m promoting clinical benefits of products which the company's own testing disproves.
Should the suit go against Dannon, which represents the interest of Danone in the US, the case could have considerable ramifications for the use of health claims on products, proving a major setback for burgeoning nutritional aids like probiotics.
Both Dannon and parent company Danone were unwilling to comment on the allegations at the time of press, though added that they would be commenting on the civil action soon.
Danon's website claims that the company has for over 10 years worked in with international research laboratories in developing its products.
The case, which has been bought to court by the law firms Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins and Mager & Goldstein, hopes to receive address for Dannon's customers, which it claims have been misled by the company's marketing.
Attorney Timothy Blood, who will represent Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in the action, said the dairy group had purposely deceived consumers about the products.
"Deceptive advertising has enabled Dannon to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices to responsible, health conscious consumers," he stated.
The class action alleges therefore that claims on advertisements and labelling for Activia pronouncing that the product is "proven" to improve one's "intestinal rhythm" and "regulate your digestive system" are all unsubstantiated.
On the back of these claims, the class action accuses Dannon of charging a premium of about 30 per cent on the Activia yoghurt.
"In fact, Dannon's marketing for yogurts containing 'probiotics' led to one of the most successful product launches in recent food-industry history," the group stated.
The case action refers in particular to a $100m dollar promotional campaign by Dannon, which it alleges falsely promoted probiotic yoghurts that have earned it an estimated $428m in revenues since 2006.
Despite these health claims, the civil action accuses Dannon of being aware that numerous scientific studies failed to support their claims on the advertised nutritional benefits.
"A study conducted by leading microbiologists and funded by Dannon determined in 2006 that there was no conclusive evidence' of probiotics providing health benefits," the action states.
The report entitled Probiotic Microbes: The Scientific Basis was prepared by the American Academy of Microbiology.
The allegations regarding Dannon's labelling on its yoghurts could be a major blow for other health claims regarding probiotics.
Products aimed at improving digestion at set to drive the health and nutrition market for products over the coming year, according to Julian Mellentin, author of 10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition & Health 2008.
Mellentin claimes that probiotics will continue to be a force to be reckoned with as they focus on digestive health - which, Mellentin says, is the biggest segment of the functional foods market.
The report says that in Europe probiotic dairy products account for the lion's share of functional food sales. The reason for this is digestive health is a "wellness" issue, not like cholesterol-lowering or heart health which is a "death and disease" issue.
http://www.newstarget.com/022541.html
The best source of honey is a local beekeeper, not a big box store. Why? Because you want the jar labeled "honey" to contain nothing but pure honey. That isn't always the case.
The U.S. imports millions of pounds of honey from China, but the product isn't necessarily unadulterated honey. As consumers it's informative to learn what goes on behind the scenes. The global food brokerage firm, S. Kamberg & Company Ltd., warns businesses purchasing imports about products sold as honey. S. Kamberg's site at (http://skamberg.com/honey.htm) recently reported, "There was not a lot of 'real honey' coming into USA from China until last month when the U.S. imported over 4 million lbs. The USA had previously been receiving a lot of packer's syrup from China (honey blended with other sugar syrups). It is uncertain if this was actual packer's syrup, or possibly actual honey sold as packer's syrup to avoid duties. The probability is high that any actual packer's syrup entering this country would be blended with and sold as real honey."
In other words, if you thought you were getting a good deal on honey, it may not have been honey. Just a product cheap enough to undercut the price of local honey.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article3246321.ece
The Victorian period in England was the golden age of the food cheats, the high point of the “demon grocer” with his limitless tricks for fakery and selling short. It was the era of meat painting and food “polishing” (hiding the likes of rancid butter and cheese beneath a thin layer of the fresh stuff), of vegetables coloured with copper and sweets with lead and mercury, of milk diluted with dirty water and thickened with flour, and of coffee padded with chicory or even with powdered horse liver.
Food adulteration is nothing new. The Romans sweetened poor wine with lead, unaware that it was a toxin, possibly the reason why so many wealthy Romans were sterile. But, as Wilson convincingly demonstrates, the Victorian city provided the ideal conditions for corruption to flourish. Rapid industrialisation had led to the separation of the origins of food and its consumption, allowing for adulteration both deliberate and accidental. At the same time, the medieval guild system of protectionism and strict quality control had collapsed, replaced by a laissez-faire government in thrall to the free market. State interven-tionism of any kind was frowned upon. The burden to detect swindles fell to the buyer, except in those areas such as sugar, tea and coffee where Treasury revenue was affected. “There is not a country in the world where commercial roguery is so generally and successfully practised as in Great Britain,” complained an anonymous Englishman in 1855.
It was only when 20 people died in Bradford in 1858 from poison-laced lozenges that the government was finally forced to legislate against the adulterators. In America, too, a series of scandals forced a reluctant state to take action. The story of the 20th century is the story of the increasing commercialisation of food and the legislation to regulate it. Food laws are now legion. The fake-formula scandal that convulsed China in 2004, where 141 factories were discovered to be manufacturing a baby food made only of sugar and starch, could never happen here in the West.
Can you tell me why the bulk chicken that we have been getting from KIRYOS YOEL only comes with one simon? It comes with only the plastic around the box........no plumkes, no nothing inside the box!
For this we can order Reboshkin........no?
Am I missing something?
http://newsinlakewood.blogspot.com/2007/11/kosher-phone-launched-in-lakewood.html
This is too much to read, especially with stuff that is off topic, like the police excuse list.
I would rather limit this to Kasrus issues.
Five Towns Jewish Times
Dear Sir,
Your newspaper recently published an interview with the chief rabbi of
El Al Israel Airlines with much interesting material for the frum
traveler.
However, I would like to draw readers' attention to the rabbi's comment that El Al observes the laws of Shemita. When I traveled on an El Al flight a few weeks ago, the tag that came on my tray said that shemita was only observed according to those who relied on the Heter Mechira.
Those who travel on El Al should know that none of the major kashrus authorities in the United States permit products which rely on the Heter Mechira.
Best wishes,
Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein
Mehadrin Kashrus
mehadrin@aol.com
Dear R' Shain,
Remember the days when someone would convince and fellow jew to commit to eating cholov yisroel as opposed to stam. Back in the day the arguement went that for the same price, maybe a little more your dairy would be the highest quality of kashrus. Have you noticed how dairy prices have shot up? I did a quick price comparison with cholov stam products. you would think there was a proportional increase right?
Wrong!! Cholov yisroel is DOUBLE the price. Check it out for yourself - yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese. Some cases almost double, others more than double. what's going on here?
Kashrus Magazine is reporting in the new March issue that restaurants & caterers in Philly and South Jersey were buying a species of Vietnamese catfish filets that were presented by wholesalers as kosher grouper.
Did this fiasco extend to Lakewood?
R' Yudel, what do you know about the hashgocho of Rabbi Charlop from YU? I have heard that his standards are seemingly reliable and that the staff he has are most probably doing a good job. He is the certifier of Pepsi and is now negotiating to get Gatorade which was previously never kosher. Some people are wondering what kind of network Rabbi Charlop has as the Gatorade formula is made in Ireland. The OU also tried to get it but backed off when they found out about Rabbi Charlop being first. While the OU can very predatory, they know not to start up with a top figure at YU who has been in hashgochos for a very long time.
Rav Yudel:
CHAZAK! PLEASE KEEP UP YOUR IMPORTANT WORK!
UOJ
http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2007/07_dec/traveler.asp
A second congregation—Orthodox Beth Hamedrosh Hagadol (BMH)—was formed in 1897 at 1447 Larimer Street by shoe merchant Henry Plonsky. In 1996, BMH merged with the Orthodox Beth Joseph Synagogue to become BMH-BJ. Although the shul is a member of the Orthodox Union, it has mixed-seating services in its main sanctuary on Saturdays as well as a separate-seating minyan with a mehitza in its Adelman Chapel.
http://www.ou.org/index.php/synagogue_support/synagogue_single/26411
It seems that they are not officially an OU member shul, but the OU does recommend this mixed-seating "sanctuary" on their website.
http://www.bmh-bj.org/index.html
BMH-BJ does admit having mixed seating on their website. They speak of "vibrant prayer through multiple worship experiences" and when you click on the "Services" tab there is a subcategory with the minyan with the mechitzah.
This all fits in perfectly with the OU platform of Rubashkin, Le Marais, Catfish gefilte and treif bison.
"This all fits in perfectly with the OU platform of Rubashkin, Le Marais, Catfish gefilte and treif bison."
Don't confuse the issue with chazzerei. OU Kashrus Division has nothing to do with OU Synagogue Services and their lack of standards in a shul. It is like saying that a chosid that stored dagnerous chemicals in an abandoned sewing plant in Allentown, PA has something to do with all the othet chassidim that belong to an organization.
We are our own worst enemy.
The OU Synagogue division is controlled by the same executives & board who approve the cover ups at the Kashrus division. Rabbi Genack does not act alone. He has meetings with the higher ups and the President of the entire OU even signed the letter for the Le Marais cover up.
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=50816-millions-of-euros
Canadian researchers found that carcinogens PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and other environmental toxins are present at higher levels in farm-raised salmon than in their wild counterparts.
Last night in the supermarket I saw OU on fresh cucumbers (the label also said no waxes are used) and Vaad Hakashrus of Fairfield County CT on fresh sprouts.
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=68483-whey-preservative-vegetable
Whey permeate, a by-product of cheese production, could be a food preserver, suggests new research, as the industry looks to alternatives to chlorine solutions for preserving fresh-cut vegetables.
"These results suggest that whey permeate could be a promising alternative to chlorine for sanitising fresh-cut vegetables," said the researchers from Dublin Institute of Technology.
Cadbury UK is under the London Beis Din. Cadbury USA is under the OU.
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=79618-cadbury-fsa-tudor
In June Cadbury was fined £1m after pleaded guilty in a UK court to three breaches of the country's food and hygiene regulations, admitting it was responsible for allowing salmonella-contaminated chocolate to be sold on the market last year.
The company was forced to recall about one million chocolate bars after 37 people fell sick across the country due to salmonella. Cadbury was cited as failing at the time to follow new EU-wide hygiene rules, known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) analysis.
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=65020-wheat-italy-contaminated
With the head of Europe's largest wheat mill under arrest, pasta makers are checking their supplies to see whether any came from a stock found to be contaminated with a cancer-causing toxin.
Francesco Casillo, the head of Molino Casillo, was arrested for allegedly adulterating stocks with contaminated wheat after a joint investigation by Italy's agricultural ministry and the fraud police.
The arrest follows the discovery that wheat imported from Canada was contaminated with ocratoxin, a carcinogenic substance. About 58,000 tonnes of durum wheat was confiscated at the port of Bari.
A statement by the minister of agriculture, Gianni Alemanno, says the case shows the need for stricter controls on tracing and tracking food imports. He said it also proved that Italy's system of safety inspections and tests was helping to keep contaminated food off the shelves.
"Once more foreign products have presented the greatest risk of counterfeiting and fraud, an episode that confirms the necessity of reinforcing label of origin guarantees on food products, to increase the protection both of consumers and producers who invest in quality," he stated in a press release today.
The ministry said Casillo had been arrested by customs police, who carried out an arrest warrant for a charge of tampering and counterfeiting of foodstuffs, as well as poisoning of foodstuffs.
The arrest warrant was issued by the preliminary investigative judge Michele Nardi. The judge is investigating the import from Canada of grain contaminated with cancer-causing toxins, which was shown to be over legal limits on an load seized last September onboard a ship in the port of Bari, according to a statement translated by AGI Online on behalf of the Italian government.
Italy's family-owned Molino Casillo is a group of four mills situated in southern Italy. The company says it is the European leader in the production of semolina for pasta and is the world's largest private buyer of durum wheat.
Molino Casillo buys about one million tonnes of durum wheat a year. and is one of the principal market makers in durum wheat and semolina.
A company spokesperson refused to speak to the media after contacted by FoodProductionDaily.com. He said someone would be available for comment this afternoon.
World production of durum wheat is forecast to fall to 35.4 million tonnes for the 2004 to 2005 growing season, down 5.8 million tonnes from the previous season.
Canada, one of the world's largest producers of durum wheat, sells about 40 per cent of its supply to Italy, according tow AWB Consultancy.
Italy's production the previous growing season fell by 33 per cent and is forecast to be unchanged or possibly lower this season, AWB stated.
Ocratoxin is produced by several fungi and occurs naturally in a variety of plant products such as cereals, coffee beans, beans, pulses and dried fruit.
It has been detected also in products such as coffee, wine, beer and grape juice.
Its presence depends on climatic conditions, abnormally long storage, transportation, wet or dry milling, roasting procedures and fermentation.
High concentrations in foods have been linked with damage to kidney function.
Gorton's is under Rabbi Safra from the 5 Towns. Not exactly a hashgocho that is taken seriously.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/02/29/fish.recall.ap/index.html
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Gorton's Inc. recalled about 1,000 cases of frozen fish in 10 states Friday after confirming a Pennsylvania customer found pills in her food.
Gorton's said it ordered the recall as a precaution while a laboratory works to determine the nature of the pills. Those tests should be complete early next week.
"Obviously product alteration is a very serious matter," said Jud Reis, vice president of marketing for the company, based in Gloucester, Massachusetts "We are conducting a full investigation into the source of the problem."
Tracy Rowan of New Freedom, Pennsylvania, called police after she bit into one of the pills Sunday and found another on her daughter's plate. On Friday, Reis said the material was some sort of pill, not compressed batter or bread crumbs.
Rowan described the pills as beige and aspirin-size.
R' Yudel, I know there have been problems with Tartikov but are some of his products innocent & simple enough that they are still ok? I'm wondering about the Rokeach marshmallows made in Israel which the ingredients say are from fish and only have Tartikov and NOT a 2nd hashgocho.
I have a similar question about candy canes under the hashgocho of Asher Yaakov Westheim. I know that you found tarfus in his candies with gelatin. Candy canes are not known to have gelatin but then again, these canes have no ingredients listed on them.
I don't go out of my way to buy these things but I found out that a haymishe supermarket has been giving complimentary nosh to kids who come into the store.
R' Yudel, I know there have been problems with Tartikov but are some of his products innocent & simple enough that they are still ok? NO!
I'm wondering about the Rokeach marshmallows made in Israel which the ingredients say are from fish and only have Tartikov and NOT a 2nd hashgocho.ALL GELATIN IS PROBLOMATIC INCLUDING THE FISH GELATIN (see R' Westheim)
I have a similar question about candy canes under the hashgocho of Asher Yaakov Westheim. I know that you found tarfus in his candies with gelatin. IF TREIF GELATIN CAN BE FOUND IN HIS CERTIFIED PRODUCTS, ALL OF HIS CERTIFICATIONS WOULD BE SUSPECT!
Candy canes are not known to have gelatin but then again, these canes have no ingredients listed on them.
I don't go out of my way to buy these things but I found out that a haymishe supermarket has been giving complimentary nosh to kids who come into the store.BUY YOUR OWN NOSH
Wed Mar 12, 08:53:00 AM 2008
What is the problem with unreliable hashgochos on fish gelatin? Is it because with global trading there is really beef & chazir gelatin getting mixed in? Is there an incentive to cheat because fish is more expensive?
fISH GELATIN IS A POOR CHOICE FOR COFECTIONARY (CANDIES)ITEMS AS IT MELTS AT 80F.
Therefore they will usually mix in beef gelatin etc.
Rokeach is owned by the big conglomerate RAB Foods. Even if you don't trust Tartikov, isn't there some kind of mirsas that they don't want to get caught cheating with beef or pork instead of fish?
Rav Yudel, I was very upset that in shul, my young child was given the Haribo gummies with Westheim's gelatin. I approached the rov who looked into it and responded as follows: he does not want to asser it unless I can get a copy of your lab report or if another rov vouches for the story because someone at the OU told him you are a "very controversial" person.
It's an outrage that those OU hypocrites are bashmutzing you but are you able to post the report here to silence your detractors?
I know you don't hold of R Steinmitz or bleich, are there any resturants in monsey you could recommend. It doesn't have to be very fancy,just kosher.
It sad to say but CHARLIE os very right, you can sell anything in Lakewood with the weakest hashgocha if it's CHEAP.
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/oop/click_ord/list.html?sid=4382&list=MM40
You just can't make this stuff up. Teichman's Heart-K hashgocho appears on this coffee from Uganda that is sold at Liberal synagogues around the country. It has an X-tian Cross and Muslim Crescent and a Magen Dovid. What's next? A rov that I showed this to was completely flabbergasted.
What happened to Essex on Nine? They were strong for a while and then disappeared. How good was their Kashrus?
Rubashkin boycott called for effective June 15. Why are they waiting until June 15?
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/108924.html
The're waiting for june 15 the same way KAJ waited for april 15, maybe because with a full moon, they can see better.
In any case, the'll probably continue using it after june 15, just like KAJ still uses it for meat.
The left wing modern orthodox of YCT just told one newspaper that June 15th was to give a chance to Rubashkin to give in their demands that independent monitors be allowed in Postville. Rubashkin has not yet agreed to anything but is talking to them.
Many restaurants and butchers are terrified of the boycott and have contacted YCT to say they are no longer using Rubashkin.
I hope you get this message. What is the kashrus status in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine caffeteria. I understand that its under the OU. I am just wondering if you know anything more regarding that specific location, would help me a lot.
Thank you in advance.
Come with a camcorder and heckle them about Rubashkin
http://www.ou.org/ou/event_more/askou_mesorah_conference_iv
OU MESORA CONFERENCE on KEDUSHAS HA'ARETZ
"Issues Pertaining to the Holiness of the Land of Israel"
DATE: Sunday June 15
TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
PLACE: Lander College for Men
75-31 150th St.
Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
Men and Women are welcome.
The program is entitled "Kedushas Ha'Aretz and its Mitzvos." It will include a halachic, historic, and archeological perspective of Eretz Yisroel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, as well as the special mitzvos that are connected to the Holy Land when it involves kedushas ha'aretz.
Admission is $10 (free to members of the OU). An OU certified box lunch is available during the conference for an additional $10.
Pre-registration is required.
Contact: 212-613-8212
email to: kleina@ou.org
TOPICS and SPEAKERS:
Mitzvot Hatelyot Ba'aretz Bazman Hazeh, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky
Korbonos Today? Rabbi Menachem Genack
The Unique Halachot of Yerushalayim: A Mikdash Extension, Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky
The Shape of the Menorah and its Base, Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
The Heter Mechira of Shmita, Rabbi Menachem Genack
Seeing the Exact Boundaries of Eretz Yisroel Through Google, Dr. Shalom Kelman
Shmitas Kesofim, Rabbi Hershel Schachter
Kedushas Ha'aretz and Its Ramifications, Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum
Har Habayit - A Halachic and Archaeologic Tour, Dr. Ari Greenspan
The Precise Location of the Mizbeach HaChitzon, Rabbi Liebel Reznick
Unearthing Tanach - The Message of "Yerushalayim Shel Matah", Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky
Halachic Archaeology - "When I was in Rome I Saw the Menorah", Dr. Ari Greenspan
Schedule:
9:30 - 5:30 (doors open at 9 am)
All welcome.
Excrept from an interview with a Rubashkin mashgiach:
http://jcarrot.org/
Meanwhile their job is to keep things running smoothly and fill the orders. So everyone is under a lot of pressure. I can imagine things falling through the cracks in such a hectic environment
This statement alone speaks volumes. I wonder how many pounds of non-kosher meat "fell through the cracks" and was labeled kosher "in such a hectic environment", where "everyone is under a lot of pressure" to "fill the orders"?
How is one able to know that the meal-mart meat he is buying is not coming from s.america?
2. Does this problem in any way impact the ne'emonus of the Nirbater?
http://www.organicpastures.com/index.html
The company featured in the article doesn't claim to be kosher but points consumers in this direction if they want "kosher" raw milk:
To see if you have Kosher Raw Milk in your area, please call us at 1-877-RAW-MILK.
http://news.aol.com/health/story/_a/health-officials-crack-down-on/n20080611145809990022
Health officials crack down on unpasteurized milk
By PAUL ELIAS,AP
Posted: 2008-06-11 14:58:44
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Dairy owner Mark McAfee started selling raw milk in 2000, marketing it to customers who believe it contains beneficial microbes that treat everything from asthma to autism.
The unpasteurized milk swiftly caught on as part of the growing natural food movement. But the Food and Drug Administration considers McAfee a snake oil salesman and recently launched an investigation into whether his dairy illegally shipped raw milk across state lines. The agency even tried to recruit one of his employees to secretly record conversations with him.
The case against McAfee is part of a crackdown on raw milk by government health officials who are concerned about the spread of food-borne illnesses. Lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are stepping up efforts to keep unpasteurized milk out of reach, even as demand for the niche product grows.
McAfee, who was among the first in California to sell raw milk on a large scale, brushed off the investigation: "When you're a pioneer, you have to expect to take a few arrows."
Twenty-two states prohibit sales of raw milk for human consumption, and the rest allow it within their borders. The FDA bans cross-border sales.
In Pennsylvania, local officials recently busted two dairies unlawfully selling milk straight from the cow.
And in Maryland, health officials issued an emergency ban late last year on "cow-sharing" agreements, claiming they were aimed at skirting a ban on raw milk sales.
"Raw milk should not be consumed by anyone for any reason," said John Sheehan, head of the FDA's dairy office. "It is an inherently dangerous product."
But shutting down sales is tricky because the federal government has largely let states regulate the raw milk industry. The result is a hodgepodge of laws that confuse consumers, dairy farmers and regulators alike.
McAfee said he expects the FDA's criminal probe to be dropped without charges in a deal that will require him to guarantee his interstate shipments are for use only as pet food. The FDA declined to comment.
Raw milk proponents insist they are under siege by state and federal regulators intent on snuffing out the industry.
The popularity of raw milk is fueled by consumers' concerns about the chemicals and hormones used in traditional dairy farming, and a growing interest in unprocessed, organic foods.
Devotees of raw milk ascribe to it almost mythical healing powers. They feed it to babies, believing it strengthens the immune system and staves off digestive troubles. The heat used in pasteurization, they say, kills healthy natural proteins and enzymes.
"It's a magic food," said Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates consumption of natural foods.
The FDA insists pasteurization destroys harmful bacteria without significantly changing milk's nutritional value. The process also extends its shelf life.
Nevertheless, some consumers have formed cooperatives to support dairy farmers who offer raw milk. They also join "cow-sharing" programs in which farmers take care of cows that are "leased" by consumers.
Food safety officials say raw milk has sickened hundreds of people with salmonella, E. coli and other bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,000 people fell ill from raw milk between 1998 and 2005. Two died.
The FDA ban on cross-border sales of raw milk led to its criminal investigation of Organic Pastures, a Fresno dairy owned by McAfee that is California's largest raw milk supplier.
The agency ordered two of McAfee's employees to testify before a grand jury and offered to pay one of them to surreptitiously record her conversations with McAfee, according to the worker.
"The main issue was selling our products outside the state of California," said dairy worker Amanda Hall, who refused to wear the wire. The two workers' grand jury appearances were canceled last month.
Even if McAfee avoids criminal charges, he still faces lawsuits filed by the families of five children who claim his raw milk made them seriously ill.
He denies the allegations and said testing at his dairy did not detect the strain of E. coli that sickened some of the children.
McAfee also is challenging a new California law requiring lower bacteria levels in raw milk. He fears the change will put him out of business. A judge in San Benito County last month ruled for the state, but McAfee appealed the decision on Thursday. Also, a state senator plans to introduce a bill to repeal the law.
Whole Foods Co. lobbied for a law that ensure raw milk dairies can stay in business.
"It is a growing piece of our business," said Walter Robb, the company's co-president. "We want to protect consumer choice."
He and other raw milk proponents argue that the FDA should spend its time working on other agricultural practices that jeopardize food safety, such as the way large farms confine animals.
But parents like Melissa Herzog strongly disagree.
Herzog, whose 10-year-old daughter spent two months in the hospital after her kidneys failed because of E. coli poisoning, is one of the families suing Organic Pastures over the 2006 outbreak that health officials determined was probably caused by raw milk from the dairy.
"I don't have anything good to say about raw milk," she said. "It was a horrible experience."
I would like to discuss a blog that was posted previously and is no longer available. I do not see a contact email to speak with you. If you could please provide me with contact information. You can reach me at zela00@comcast.net. Please respond as soon as possible as this is an important matter.
Yehuda Shain, a rabbi who runs the group Kosher Consumers Union, said he already avoided the company's meat before the raid, mainly because of concerns about its kosher certification.
Shain said Agriprocessors has undercut its competitors' prices, mainly by paying low wages to its workers. The company's market dominance has grown for years, despite serious questions about its practices, he said. "Price is price," he said.
But the pattern could change, Shain said. "Now that their costs are going to go up considerably, they're no longer going to be able to play that game." He said Agriprocessors probably will be forced to pay higher wages and more closely follow government and kosher-agency regulations.
Rav Yudel, were you really serious? Do you really think that they will now follow "kosher agency regulations"? Who's regulations? Weissmandl? According to him they are already l'mhadrin min ham'hadrin. You must have meant that tongue-in-cheek.
Whose chicken/meat does Renaissance Ballroom Catering use?
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/35457/format/html/displaystory.html
Kosher to eat is not the same as kosher to buy
by rabbi shlomo levin
Is meat produced at Agriprocessor’s plant in Postville, Iowa, really kosher?
In spite of it bearing the Orthodox Union’s kosher symbol, that question has been on many of our minds since U.S. immigration authorities raided the plant May 12 and arrested 390 illegal immigrant workers.
The raid also raised allegations that workers were paid less than the minimum wage and subjected to forms of abuse.
What does “kosher” really mean? As used in Jewish law, the definition of kosher is “fit for a certain purpose.”
For example, one could ask whether a dried out lulav is kosher to wave on Sukkot, or whether a cracked shofar is kosher to blow on Rosh Hashanah.
With regard to food, kosher means “fit for a Jewish person to eat.” As most of us know, the Jewish tradition includes intricate rules for food.
But there is no rule that if an illegal immigrant manufactures a food, or if workers producing food are abused or not paid, the food itself then becomes forbidden to eat.
Consider, for example, someone who hosts an extravagant wedding but then never settles the food bill. Even though this would be theft, the wedding guests have not retroactively eaten traif. Pots and pans used to cook the meal don’t need to be kashered.
The rules regarding whether food is kosher and how we conduct our financial affairs are two different things.
However, I don’t think whether the meat produced by Agriprocessors is kosher to eat or not is really our concern. We don’t want to know if it is kosher to eat. We want to know if it is kosher to buy.
Why would meat from Agriprocessors not be kosher to buy? A legal discussion in the Talmud (Shabbat 3a) provides a reason:
On the Sabbath it is forbidden to pick up an object in the public domain and put it down in a private domain. If someone picks something up in a public domain and puts it into the hands of a second person standing in a private domain, the first person has violated the Sabbath and the second person has not.
The Tosfot commentary on the Talmud questions whether it is really possible for this second person to be completely in the clear. After all, he is a party to violating the Sabbath.
So Tosfot explains that while this person has not violated the law of carrying on the Sabbath, he has violated a different prohibition: the prohibition of being part of an activity that involves wrongdoing.
This is the way many of us may come to feel with regard to Agriprocessors if the allegations turn out to be true. When we buy the meat, even though as consumers our role in perpetrating the alleged violations is passive, we nevertheless associate ourselves with doing something wrong.
The Orthodox Union states clearly that its supervision relates only to whether food is permitted to be eaten. It does not consider labor issues, animal cruelty, environmental impact or anything else of this nature and has no plans to start doing so. Why not? For many reasons.
The list of potential issues to include in expanded supervision is nearly endless. The government already regulates some of these matters; the O.U. lacks the required resources and expertise.
And many of these concerns are not uniquely Jewish, while the O.U.’s purpose is to serve the special needs of the Jewish community.
There is nothing wrong with the O.U. conducting itself in this manner, as long as we understand what the O.U. symbol means. A product is kosher to eat, but whether the company manufacturing that product is kosher to do business with is unknown.
What we need is not a replacement for the current kosher supervision system, but an addition to it.
Since how a business treats its workers, the environment and its animals is important, we need another mechanism by which consumers can receive that information.
The Conservative movement has taken some steps to form a “hechsher tzedek” kosher certification focused on the above issues. Some other small, independent groups have done the same.
The Orthodox kashrut establishment, however, due to its large existing infrastructure of supervisors, would be able to produce a new certification with the greatest ease, efficiency and speed.
As kosher consumers, let’s make clear that we want them to do so. Only if we as consumers make known that we will base our purchasing decisions on the presence or absence of such a new symbol is it likely that substantial action will be taken.
Rabbi Shlomo Levin is spiritual leader of Milwaukee’s Modern Orthodox Lake Park Synagogue.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0613biz-kosher0612.html
If the company can maintain production at the plant, its prices may still rise as it hires documented workers, said Joe Regenstein, a food-sciences professor at Cornell University.
"I suspect prices will rise disproportionately as the real costs of production will have to get factored in," Regenstein said. "The particular competitive advantage of Agri is likely to be lost. If they end up in further trouble, there could be a shortage of (kosher) meat sometime over the summer."
Kosher companies are also smaller than many other meat producers, so they lack economies of scale in marketing and logistics, Cornell's Regenstein said.
A handful of meat producers, including Agriprocessors, Alle Processing and Aurora Packing Company Inc., dominate the North American kosher-beef industry, giving the few players pricing power.
The poultry market is similar: Empire Kosher Inc. and Marvid Poultry Canada are the top chicken sellers.
Marvid raised wholesale prices for a pound of regular chicken from $1.30 to $1.62 in mid-May as the U.S. dollar remained weak against the Canadian currency.
Does R' Yudel hold of this shechita from Texas? I was wondering where California Delight gets their meat from. A&B may be buying from them but they also buy from Rubashkin.
http://www.texasjewishpost.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=2891&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1128&hn=texasjewishpost&he=.com
By Deb Silverthorn
From the Galveston coast to Dallas, by way of New York, Rabbi Yaakov Rosenblatt is living the tenet of l’dor v’dor, generation to generation. Continuing in the footsteps, or meat cleavers, of his great-grandfather Rabbi Abraham David Rosenblatt and his grandfather Max, the Dallas-based rabbi has taken the family business, A.D. Rosenblatt Meats, a kosher meat supplier to a whole new level.
More than 750 pounds of glatt kosher meat was delivered last week to the Preston/Forest Tom Thumb store with orders for the Coit/Campbell store in negotiations. In Houston, the meat is available at Randalls.
The 400 undocumented workers arrested at the Agriprocessors plant in the May 12 raid and their families are living in limbo, out of work and facing deportation. But now the fallout is beginning to extend beyond those most directly impacted.
The production slowdown at the Postville plant has finally hit the nation’s kosher markets and, by extension, kosher consumers. Retailers from coast to coast are reporting trouble having their orders filled. Many are hiking prices, although they are generally vague about whether the increases are coming from Agriprocessors or competing suppliers.
Bottom line is, there is less kosher meat, and it’s costing more.
Some retailers aren’t even bothering to order from Agriprocessors, which has scrambled in recent weeks to bolster its depleted work force.
For A.D. Rosenblatt, the delay and availability of meats from Agriprocessors has opened a door at area markets. While Tom Thumb says the store is waiting on poultry deliveries, they have not been affected in beef receipts per the recent raid, yet the store is happy to be working with an additional distributor. ”People are happy and they are buying it with no complaints,” said Andy Flores, Meat Market manager at the Preston/Forest store. ”In this case, no news from the customer is good news.”
Not to leave the tradition of teaching led by his father Zev behind, Rabbi Rosenblatt and his wife Suri first came to Dallas in 2000 to learn and to teach with the Dallas Area Torah Association. The couple started DATA’s Plano branch.
In 2004 Rabbi Rosenblatt left DATA, interested in starting a business. ”This was my family’s business; Rosenblatts had been koshering and selling meat since the 1870s. My grandfather was a shochet and ritual director in Galveston early in the last century and it was my turn.” One of 11 children, Rabbi Rosenblatt is joined in business by his brother, Abraham David, who represents the company in sales.
Rabbi Rosenblatt started small; at a plant in Coke, Texas. There, they slaughtered four cattle – all unkosher. His second attempt also failed to provide any kosher meat. ”I knew that only about 30 to 35 percent of all meat is kosher but it was still pretty discouraging,” he said. ”I then first moved to a plant near Hillsborough, and then to Omaha, Neb. where we were able to net 30 kosher animals every other week.”
In March of this year, A.D. Rosenblatt started basing the majority of its business, about 200 cattle a week, from a plant in Harper, Kan. Available cuts include boneless chuck, chuck tender, chuck flanken, minute roast, whole, export and bone-in navel ribs, marrow and neck bones, skirt steaks and tongue.
Glatt, which literally means smooth, means the animal’s lungs contain no questionable adhesions. The term is commonly used to describe a higher level of Kosher supervision. “There is a strong demand for this level of kashrut and we’re proud of what we are able to provide,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt. The company also produces Beit Yosef meat, “absolutely pristine,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt.
The company is supervised by the OU, Orthodox Union, CRC, the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and Star K. In addition to the A.D. Rosenblatt label, the meat is sold under the Abeless & Heymann and California Delight labels.
At the Harper plant, A.D. Rosenblatt installed a new slaughter pen, designed by Dr. Temple Grandin, of the University of Colorado. “Dr. Grandin is a brilliant woman, an expert on humane treatment of animals,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt. ”The expense of kosher meat comes from the production line; the manpower, the inspections, the many steps in the process.”
In addition to the cattle, the company is also distributing lamb, about 300 a week, from a plant in Iowa. ”The success rate for a kosher lamb is greater than that of the cattle because their lungs are generally healthier,” Rabbi Rosenblatt said. ”We have rack of lamb, chuck, breast and the shank cuts being shipped,” ”We’ve gone from 15 animals a week to between 200 and 300 a week.”
“The meat is so fresh and you can tell that it’s just days from processing to our table,” said frequent, and now loyal customer, Travis Katz who most enjoys slicing down the minute roast for fajitas with his wife Ceci and their family. ”They are very tender and lean cuts, absolutely delicious, and I’m telling you, the quality is wonderful.”
Rabbi Rosenblatt, A.D. Rosenblatt’s COO, is joined in business by his partner of three years, Bob Feinberg, CFO, with whom he speaks by telephone, “maybe 15 times a day. We’re a great team.” “I had a fire in me to continue as an entrepreneur and Rabbi Rosenblatt and I connected at the right time,” said Feinberg who had previously sold his 20-year-old vending machine company. ”My wife took on the directorship of the Levine Academy preschool and one of us retired wasn’t a good thing. Rabbi asked for help and, while it was an uphill battle, and we have a long way to go, we are now seeing the fruits of our labor, we’re known, and we’re respected.”
“I feel very connected to this business and hope my ancestors would be proud,” said Rabbi Rosenblatt, setting an example for the next generation; Yehuda, Batya, Rivka, and Yisroel Yitzchak. ”I didn’t know my great-grandfather, but I definitely feel his inspiration.”
“We’ve exceeded our wildest dreams and we’re now in a great situation,” Feinberg said. ”But we’re here to stay.”
http://data.desmoinesregister.com/flooding/flooddata.php
Today's map from the National Weather Service shows the closest major river to Rubashkin (and by extension it's tributaries) still have not reached flood stage. The treif & rotting meat may soon get very soggy.
Why did YCT push off the deadline for Rubashkin to cooperate by 8 days?
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/109089.html
A Modern Orthodox social justice group launched a boycott of the kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors.
Uri L'tzedek, an initiative started by students at the liberal Orthodox rabbinical seminary Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York City, set Monday as the date it would stop patronizing Agriprocessors if the company did not agree to abide by certain ethical labor standards.
Organizers say some 1,300 people, including several leading Jewish figures, have signed the group's petition asking the company to establish a transparent department to ensure compliance with both Jewish and U.S. legal requirements regarding worker treatment.
Representatives of Uri L'tzedek met last week with several company officials in New York, including members of the extended Rubashkin family, which owns the company. The group was promised a statement of the company's position on worker rights within 48 hours, but the document had not materialized as of Tuesday morning.
The representatives also spoke with Jim Martin, a former federal prosecutor who was hired recently as the company's compliance officer. The group submitted written questions to Martin regarding the parameters of his role; they are awaiting a response.
"In the interests of fully restoring consumer confidence, we have asked that the company be transparent about Mr. Martin's findings, recommendations, and new policies instituted," said a statement Tuesday from the group. "We are also looking forward to receiving the document that Agriprocessors has promised to provide that will detail Agriprocessors' policy towards the rights of its workers. Provided that Agriprocessors supplies the information that is has promised to provide and is willing to make Mr. Martin's reports and conclusions available to the public, we are hopeful that we can resolve these issues positively for the workers at Agriprocessors, the Rubashkin family, kosher consumers, and klal yisrael."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested nearly 400 Agriprocessors workers in a raid last month on the firm's plant in Postville, Iowa. Employees since the raid have complained of working long hours without being paid and being sexually harassed.
Agriprocessors spokesmen have not responded to JTA requests for comment.
"A&B may be buying from them but they also buy from Rubashkin."
I meant to say A&H as in Abeles & Heymann.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-te.md.kosher06jun06,0,6295302,full.story
At Baltimore's largest kosher grocery store, meat manager Chaim Fishman has learned to order twice as much poultry from his chief supplier as he used to. He knows that however much he orders, the company will ship half.
Three weeks after federal immigration agents raided the AgriProcessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, and detained almost half of its work force, Baltimore's kosher markets and caterers are finding ways to satisfy one of the nation's most dedicated clienteles.
"I'm ordering much more because I know they're going to halve me," said Fishman, sitting in an office above the Seven Mile Market in Pikesville.
"I'm getting about 25 percent of my supply from them. It used to be 75 percent."
Some customers loyal to Rubashkin - perhaps the best known label marketed by AgriProcessors - are buying, and in some cases hoarding, what they can find on shelves.
Outside Seven Mile Market, some customers said they have found enough kosher meat to feed their families, and they seemed to be reserving judgment about AgriProcessors' employment practices.
"I need to see both sides," said Stan Hochman, who lives nearby. "When I hear these things, there's always a tainted side. I just don't know."
Rabbi Shlomo Porter, director of the Etz Chaim Center, which eduates adult Jews about religious practices, said AgriProcessors should not be blamed for employees who supplied false documentation.
"I think there has been a slant to try to make a negative picture of kosher slaughtering," said Porter. "If the government felt Rubashkin had done anything wrong, they would have indicted Rubashkin."
(Senior Federal agents have told the Washington Post that a case is being built against the Rubashkins but that white collar cases take years to produce indictments)
http://www.jewishpress.com/displaycontent_new.cfm?contentid=32849&contentname=What%20Price%20Kashrus?§ionid=13&mode=a&recnum=0
When the consuming of “glatt” kosher took off like a rocket in the 1980’s, a prominent West Coast journalist who was also a qualified kashrus supervisor took me aside after davening one Shabbos morning and asked, “Do you really think that you are eating glatt kosher meat all the time, even though the label says so?”
Before I could utter a response, the journalist/kashrus supervisor revealed, “There’s no doubt you are eating kosher meat but it’s physically impossible to check everything thoroughly, especially the lungs, because of time constraints and the demand to move things along. At the slaughterhouse, the mashgichim from the different kashrusagencies have specific time slots on the line that must be kept. If you are eating glatt meat 50 percent of the time, that’s good.”
RAV YUDEL, YOUR ARE PERSONALLY INVITED:
AN INVITATION
You are invited to join a select group of community leaders at an
URGENT LEADERSHIP MEETING on
THE REALITIES AT POSTVILLE
A. What is the truth behind the troubles at Agriprocessors?
B. Is there a potential for a kosher meat crisis in America?
C. What steps were taken at Agriprocessors following the raid on May 5th?
D. What can be done to stop the slander and vilifications against Agriprocessors?
On Tuesday Evening June 24th at
4:45 p.m.
At the Bnai Zion
136 East 39th Street
(corner Lexington Avenue)
Manhattan
The briefers will include:
Nathan Lewin Esq.
Menachem Lubinsky
Rabbi Menachem M. Weissmandl
Local community activists from Postville
Kosher food industry leaders
IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE
TRUTH ABOUT AGRIPROCESSORS!
Please RSVP: Eda at LUBICOM Marketing Consulting 718.854.4450,
Or e-mail eda@lubicom.com
The "briefers" are looking forward to seeing you. I will have Sholom Rubashkin send you a private limo.
It seems that the "briefers" are realy a "diaper" in disguise asifa.
Who are they intending to address?
Why did Rubashkin/ Weismandel pay off Zev Brenner not to allow me any more on the radio?
Sholom Rubashkin would love to see me in a limo "supine".
I have an obligation to publicize the facts as the Rambam says....
That is not the proper platform for the truth.
As you can see I pretty much stayed out of the whole raid stories...
A diaper can cover just so much...there is some leakage & an odor....
STEVE: Why isn't Sue Fishkoff writing about what she knows...
I'm sorry I can't give any more details.
Dear Mr. Shain,
I forwarded your request and was asked to let you know that only people who have received invitations will be able to attend. Also, that this session is a briefing and not an open discussion. Since you have received an invitation, you will be the only one to be admitted.
Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
Eda Kram
Lubicom Marketing Consulting
1428 36th St. Suite 219
Brooklyn, NY 11218
T:(718) 854-4450 ext. 100
F:(718) 854-4474
Email: eda@lubicom.com
Dear Mr. Shain,
Thank you for your email and reservations. I have forwarded your request
for a a time slot of 12 minutes.
All the best,
Eda Kram
Lubicom Marketing Consulting
Here's "the rest" of this story:
http://www.texasjewishpost.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=2891&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1128&hn=texasjewishpost&he=.com
Rosenblatt in Texas was the subject of much interest from Breuer's. Before they were finally forced to dump Rubashkin, they had approached Rosenblatt about making him the new source for KAJ meat. Rosenblatt refused because of cheshbonos that boiled down to money. A rov tells me he was sworn to secrecy about the exact reason and anyway forgot how it works but that Rosenblatt was afraid of negative repurcussions from certain corners if he went with KAJ.
The KAJ have since been encouraged by people to try approaching Rosenblatt again.
The 12 minutes is all they are allowing Rabbi Shain to attend or is that for guests being brought along?
Leib Tropper also tries to maintain a very controlled guest list at his Eternal Jewish Fraud events.
What is the status of ox tail?
I ask because A to Z Supermarket in Queens, who claims to be exclusively "Beis Yosef glatt" and to have stopped buying any Rubashkin product after Pesach, is selling ox tail as of last week.
According to another butcher, R' Moishe Feinstein zl signed a kol korei assering anything from the achorayim of cattle, including ox tail.
Rubashkin was the first one to be poretz geder.
The only other meat supplier who sells ox tail is Royal, a small time operation that most people never heard of. Royal is under the OU and some wishy-washy Bucharian hashgocho.
People were complaining that A to Z was sold out of other meats so after they put ox tail in their cholent, it completely fell apart.
AN INVITATION
You are invited to join a select group of community leaders at an
URGENT LEADERSHIP MEETING on
THE REALITIES AT POSTVILLE
A. What is the truth behind the troubles at Agriprocessors?
B. Is there a potential for a kosher meat crisis in America?
C. What steps were taken at Agriprocessors following the raid on May 5th?
D. What can be done to stop the slander and vilifications against Agriprocessors?
On Tuesday Evening June 24th at
4:45 p.m.
At the Bnai Zion-
136 East 39th Street
(corner Lexington Avenue)NYC
The briefers will include:
Nathan Lewin Esq.
Menachem Lubinsky
Rabbi Menachem M. Weissmandl
Local community activists from Postville-Kosher food industry leaders
IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE
TRUTH ABOUT AGRIPROCESSORS!
Please RSVP: Eda at LUBICOM Marketing Consulting 718.854.4450,
Or e-mail eda@lubicom.com
The "briefers" are looking forward to seeing you.
Rubashkin's Crime Family run, meat business, is an astonishing criminal enterprise.
What you know is only the tip of iceberg.
Rubashkin Meat Scandal is much worse than you think.
http://projectusa.org/2008/05/18/biggest-immig-raid-ever-much-worse-than-you-think/
http://projectusa.org/2008/05/18/biggest-immig-raid-ever-much-worse-than-you-think/
A MUST READ!
And Rav MM/W thought he figured how to make "Mucho Dolares", The Rubashkins put him to shame...big time.
Star-K tells people that KVH packaged products are acceptable. I guess that means that Star-K also allows Jewish owned factories to produce on Shabbos. This Conservative baal habos is complaining it's hypocrisy that KVH is now forcing his retail bakery to close on Shabbos when wholesale businesses can be mechalel Shabbos.
The bagels are kosher, but not the Saturday hours
By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff | May 30, 2008
SWAMPSCOTT - Kosher or not kosher?
For Bernard Newman, whose family has owned a seaside kosher bakery for 43 years, the debate over upholding Jewish law has reached Talmudic proportions in recent days. Even though Newman has kept kosher all of his life, and has always used kosher ingredients in his bakery, the primary Jewish organization in the state that recognizes kosher establishments says that for now, Newman's bakehouse is not kosher.
Newman's Bakery holds a special distinction in the region: It is the last Jewish-owned bakery in the state that holds a kosher approval rating by the Rabbinical Council of Massachusetts despite being open for business on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The council had granted approval to some kosher bakeries decades ago, but they've all either closed or changed their business hours.
Last week, though, the council changed its policy and gave Newman's an ultimatum: Close on Saturdays or lose kosher approval.
"God said you should keep the Sabbath, you know, and we felt that with the store being open on Shabbos, we just didn't want to continue on," explained Rabbi Abraham Halbfinger, director of the council, using the Hebrew word for Sabbath.
But Newman insists the dictum is inconsistent with a ruling that the same group made more than a half a century ago, and says he'll continue to keep his bakery open on the Sabbath with their kosher approval or not. "It's hypocrisy," Newman said. "How can we be kosher one day and not kosher the next day?"
The dispute centers on whether the bakery can honor two commandments: keeping kosher and not working on the Sabbath. Newman wants to stay open on Saturdays and still keep the kosher designation, because he needs the business.
To meet kosher law, the bakery does not serve meat and uses only kosher ingredients in its bagels, pastries, and dairy treats. Under the council's policy, trained inspectors enter Jewish eateries and review all products and ingredients to make sure they are kosher.
The order to shutter Newman's on Saturday, or lose its kosher designation, has caused a stir among Newman's customers, and angered Newman, who drives a Toyota with the license plate CHALE - a nod to the bread eaten by Jews on the Sabbath.
Rabbi Baruch HaLevi of Swampscott's Conservative Congregation Shirat Hayam criticized the council's decision, saying it's part of a cultural shift by observant Jews. "Traditional Judaism is moving so far to the right that it's making it virtually impossible to have good quality, accessible kosher products," said HaLevi, who will continue to allow Newman's food to be served in his synagogue.
"It comes down to loopholes and politics, power, and money, and it's a shame," HaLevi said.
Newman acknowledged that he could lose up to 10 percent of his business, which comes from local Jewish organizations in this heavily Jewish town on the North Shore, if he loses kosher approval.
Halbfinger, who has run the council for 29 years, said he could not explain the group's decades-old ruling. But Rabbi Mordechai Twersky, a Boston-area kosher-supervisor, said the decision to allow bakeries to open on the Sabbath occurred after union bakers balked at working a seven-day week and chose to work on Saturdays instead of Sunday. Others have a different recollection: They say the Rabbinical Council cited a loophole that allowed bakeries that could not afford to lose their Saturday business to stay open.
"I can't answer what was done before; I can only answer what we're doing now," Halbfinger said.
Newman said he could accept the council's ruling if the area's Jewish-owned kosher food manufacturers that make muffins, cakes, and cookies were also forced to close on Saturday.
When asked the logic behind that ruling, Halbfinger declined to explain the council's decision. "The laws are a lot different there, and maybe we'll reach that point someday also, but right now we're dealing with shops like this here, and this is the last one," Halbfinger said.
More than 60 years ago, dozens of Boston-area Jewish-owned kosher bakeries remained open on the Jewish Sabbath, and included Dorchester bakeries such as Kasanoff's and Eagerman's. After World War II, Newman's father, Joseph, learned the trade in Malden and Boston, and in the 1960s opened his small bakery across from picturesque Fishermen's Beach. At that time, kosher butchers and bakers dotted the streets of Lynn and Swampscott, but by the 1980s Newman's was one of the few kosher alternatives on the North Shore.
Newman's father, who is retired, said he understands the commandment of keeping the Sabbath, but questioned why the council allowed his bakery to stay open for 43 years on Saturdays.
"It's a disservice to the community," Joseph Newman said. "We played a role in people's daily lives and served them kosher food."
Over the years, the bakery became a magnet for local politicians and gadflies. Today, the sparsely decorated bakery has the same look and feel it had 30 years ago.
Bernard Newman, who is 59, worked as a paramedic but decided to follow his father and grandfather into the baking business. Newman, who often bakes while listening to talk radio, said there is a mystical aspect to making kosher food.
"I believe that kashrus [keeping kosher] is a discipline, it enriches you and makes you more holy. It's respect for the law, for Torah, for God," said Bernard Newman, whose customers have included Joan Kennedy, Johnny Pesky, and the late governor John Volpe.
At 6 a.m. he opens the bakery's doors, and by 7 he leaves to pray at a local synagogue. When he returns, he talks to the same customers who have been schmoozing in the bakery for years.
"I feel very good coming in here. The Newman's exemplify kosher food," said Marion Garfinkel of Swampscott, who has been shopping there for 41 years. Garfinkel urged the council to reconsider its decision.
But Halbfinger defended the ruling and said the council corrected a wrong. "We're doing a right thing. We're not extreme; Shabbos is not extreme," he said. "We're trying to keep tradition."
Steven Rosenberg can be reached at rosenberg@globe.com
If one has a choice of Chaburah or Empire poultry, which is prefered?
If all of the cards are the same- Price, Availability, other choices, location etc.
Well Chaburah is an Empire product with some additional concerns, so Empire should be your choice-albeit there are better choices but not if price is your kashrus emblem to be relied upon.
and if you have a larger variety (everything being the same) Empire, Chaburah, hebrew national (btw-they were just announced as the top-hot-dog)Rubashkin / Weiss Mandel....?
Don't be an oiber-chuchem. (BTW-your order of preference was on target)
"order of preference was on target"
Actually, I would put the goyishe brands like Purdue, Hormel, Oscar Meyer, etc, after Hebrew National. They have less salmonella and other health hazards than Rubashkin.
In the order of kashrus standards, it was on target
Excellent info.
Maybe Rubashkin should also make a new chabura style product, and lubinsky could market it as the most mehudar product on the market.
Why should Lubinsky need a new label? He already acts as if the regular Rubashkin is the most mehudar thing around.
R' Yudel and readers,
Our child was recently admitted to Schneider's Children Hospital (division of Long Island Jewish). The kosher food plan is under the Heinemann caterer Abe's of Allentown PA. The meat they use might be Rubashkin. The hospital itself has no reliable hashgocho and mixes up the tray items with things under no hashgocho whatsoever - including a dole fruit cup that was colored pink with cochineal, derived from crushed beetles.
There are some Boro Park / Williamsburg Yidden who leave food with heimish hashgochos in a chesed room for people who have a Shabbos / Yomtov emergency. The room is difficult to find without help and the hospital staff will not guide you there because of politically correct meshugassin. People should seek out the help of the rov at the nearby Young Israel of New Hyde Park for assistance. We were afraid to use any crock pots / microwaves etc in the chesed room. Even though you have to read Yiddish to use the combination, we still don't know what kind of food people could have cooked in there.
The so called rov of the hospital, the 85 year old Rabbi Moseson, claims to be "orthodox" even though he led a Conservative temple for decades and does not seem to be particularly sensitive to frum needs. The hospital is right on the border with some buildings in Queens and some buildings in Nassau County. Rabbonim have tried to find out whose water they are using because of the shrotzim. The "Jewish" hospital will not cooperate and "Rabbi" Moseson refuses to even discuss it with the excuse that cholim can eat shrotzim. He does not answer when asked about relatives of patients who are not ill.
Next door to Schneider's is a luxury hotel (for $25 a night) that parents of Schneider's patients can stay at, subsidized by the McDonald's Foundation and other corporate donors & wealthy individuals. There are special rooms to accomodate Shomer Shabbos guests. Anyone staying there should be aware of possible chilul Hashem, as the "House" as it is called has complained to the Young Israel about frum guests who leave the rooms in a very messy state. There is a "kosher" kitchen at the House where again we were afraid people may have brought in improper food. The regular kitchen provides all kinds of gourmet treif food for free - a real fresser's delight. The House gives each guest 2 free bottles of water a day. The water is Dasani (Coca Cola) brand which usually has a hashgocho but these particular bottles were bottled specifically for McDonald's restaurants and have no hashgocho. Dasani water is filtered tap water fortified with vitamins which may pose a kashrus issue. A rov informs me that the vehicle to load the vitamins may be non-kosher but he believes it is bottul.
I am surprised to see that Chug Chasam Sofer has a dairy company called "Givat" in Cheektowaga (Buffalo, NY area).
I hope this isn't another scam by Ahava that the Chug isn't even aware of.
In case anyone needed anymore proof that Babad-Tartikov's standards are questionable, I was shocked to see he has stooped so low as to take on "Cholon" on Kings Highway.
Cholon was under Dovid Katz because these freye Israelis needed a "standard" where anything goes. A rosh yeshiva refers to this class of gesheften on Kings Highway as the chevrah of "basar shenisaleim min haayin". I don't know if Babad is giving on more than the pastries from Cholon that I see being sold elsewhere, but at least the last time I checked, they are made in the same place where they cook the meat.
There are two Tartikovs in Boro Park giving hashgocho. The 2nd one has very few establishments and is known as the beis din. Are they reliable?
Tartikov has the Yechiel Babad one which is a Star-K with Chasidk Garb.
The Tartikov Bais-Din Minchas Chinuch is newer gaining experience, definitly on the more reliable list.
I heard that Rabbi Spiegel from Monsey has opened up his own shechita. do you know anything about it?
Rabbis Spiegel & Steinmetz only know how to supervise & set-up treifis, bishul-akum, bosor-she'nisalem etc
What's this about Rabbi Speigel leaving rubashkin? It must be pretty bad if even he left them.
Rabbi Weismandel says there isn't enough dollars for spiegel (& to give treifas-I don't need him, I can do it alone-) regards to Rav Gornish.
someone should make a list of all Rabonim and hechshers who have left Agri since they started.
http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8669024
G. Willi-Food Announces That its U.S. Subsidiary - WF Kosher Food Distributors Ltd. - Closes Doors of its Operations; WF Files Complaint for $10M Against Seller of U.S. Operations
YAVNE, Israel, July 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- G. Willi-Food International Ltd. (the "Company" or "Willi Food"), one of Israel's largest food importers and a single-source supplier of one of the world's most extensive range of quality kosher food products, today announced that its U.S. subsidiary - WF Kosher Food Distributors Ltd. ("WF") - has ceased the activities of its operations effective immediately. WF has filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court against the seller to WF of the operations and assets of Laish Israeli Food Products Ltd. ("Laish") for losses incurred resulting from inaccurate representations made by the seller in connection with the sale of Laish assets to WF, and from the seller's malicious interference with the U.S. operations of WF after the sale of the operations to WF.
WF also intends to file a complaint against certain Israeli vendors that provided it with products not in accordance with the agreed upon terms.
I am from Canada and am travelling to N.Y. to be with my ill sister. I would like to know what are the reliable hechsheirim and in particular in regards to basar. BTW...there is a bagel/pizza shop on York Ave (manhattan) near Sloan Kettering under a hechsher i never heard of...New York Kosher..the teudah is signed by a R. yaakov Neiman (i think) the address given i believe is a post office box..any ideas
I have been reading your blog for quite some time..i enjoy and learn much from what you post...
Meat; Alle- North American beef & veal.
Poultry; Kiryas Joel, G&G Natures Best, Vineland, Marvid w/ CRC.
Ny kosher's phone is diconnected. BTW We never heard of this Rabbi.
Re; products in the USA-
Mishpacha
Glick & Hadar w/ KAJ
Eden
Gefen
Tuna/salmon-King of the Sea, Dagim, Mishpacha, Gefen, eden.
Frozen strawberries-Fairmont & eden only
Frozen brocolli, cauliflower, spinach etc NONE
shredded cabbage-Bodek, Dole w/KAJ
Shredded icerburg lettuce-Bodek
Dairy-J&J, Mehadrin, Norman's, haolam.
Olive oil-Glick & Hadar w KAJ.
Nothing w/ fish gelatin.
From Kashrus Magazine
"New York Kosher. Rabbi Yaakov Neiman received semicha from Yeshivas Ner Yisrael. He has over 25 years experience with kashrus vaadim and retail establishments, and is a member of the Igud HaRabanim. He recently started New York Kosher, which currently certifies several companies".
Rabbi Neiman is a Rav living in Flatbush. He used to work with the Midtown Board of Kashrus. I am pretty certain that there are items sold under his hashgocha that are NOT cholov yisroael.
"Nothing w/ fish gelatin"
ARe you saying there is NO reliable source for this?
Regarding olive oil, Rav Marmorstein checked out Fairway from Italy with an OU. Fairway takes a lot of precautions to ensure it's not adulterated, doing the job that the OU neglects.
This is currently the only olive oil we buy at home.
Rabbi Westheims "fish gelatin" Lab report claims the following:
out of 8 sealed packages-
6 were definetly Beef
1 was fish
1 was a mix inconclusive.
Fish gelatin is generally not used for confectionary items for at least 2 reasons; it melts at to low of a temperature 80F +-, also it has a yellowish color.
I hope they are doing not just the basic lab test as it would not show 2% adulteration...
BTW Shishim would be 1.6666667 +-
There is fish gelatin used in non-confectionary items.
There are confections that are colored so that yellowing is not noticeable and where the gelatin is a tiny amount that would be unaffected by melting.
What about in these scenarios?
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