Did the Heimish hashgochas improve our options.

https://dusiznies.blogspot.com/2022/12/why-are-kosher-food-vendors-ripping-off.html

The Heimish Hashgochas have come into play in the past 20+ years. How have they (or
have they) improved the kosher consumer's options? There are various standards in kashrus; some will be satisfactory for the general public, while others are looking for something better, e.g., a mehadrin standard.

The larger or some communal kosher certifier's goal was "basic kosher" for the general public. The kosher consumers looking for a mehadrin standard made many of their food from raw ingredients and did away with all of the other items available to the general public.

Along came the Heimish Hashgochas to fill the gap and provide to the consumers that want the mehadrin standard some of those items that were not yet available to them. It was a new market that was developing. A much larger market than the Yoshon market.

As time went more Heimish certifiers appeared on the market, and more Heimish distributors seemed that be catering to this new market. Competition grew from the distributors and the certifiers.

The larger or some communal kosher certifiers had no interest or rather no need to cater to this new market, as the Heimish distributors & certifiers were doing that already. If they had realized the size of this niche in the market, they would have attempted to get their share of this mehadrin market.

As time went on, the new market's distributors were looking for more products, and the consumers of that market were glad that they could obtain more of the items without compromising their kashrus standards.

The one item that changed over time was the Orthodox Union, aka OU, started certifying only Glatt kosher meat and stopped approving kosher meat that is not glatt.

Little does the consumer realize that he is not getting what he is being led to believe that he is getting.

The Heimish hashgochas were used only to produce the mehadrin product in a facility that was inherently kosher but not mehadrin ingredients or the presence of a full-time mashgiach. They would still do a kosherization, change the boiler water, change the bishul akum oil, and have a bishul Yisroel for the product.

Now the Heimish hashgochas are produced in non-kosher treif facilities, and the kosherization and production are sometimes compromised somewhat. 

The Mashgichim inspectors are g-d-fearing individuals but need to be trained and fluent in reading, writing, operation complexities, etc. Many of them are family members, so there is an inevitable conflict at least.

The heimish certifiers may consider accepting a certified olive oil or any other product that does not meet the mehadrin standards and affix their distributor & heimish certification to the product unbeknown to the mehadrin consumer.

The select few educated Mehadrin consumers would approach the larger International certifiers to provide the mehadrin consumer with a mehadrin standard product. The response they receive is, "we are geared to the general public only; go to your heimish certifiers-they are your standard." The sad fact is we are getting the raw end of the stick.

We are paying a dear premium for a mehadrin product, and we are getting an inferior mehadrin product at times inferior to the International kosher certifier's standards.