New Kosher Inspections Seen As Better Than Nothing

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kosherAdam Dickter reports: As New York State begins training food safety inspectors to replace kosher law enforcement staff, reaction in the Jewish community is mixed.

Some are skeptical that the 85 inspectors, who are in charge of checking sanitary conditions at bakeries, warehouses, slaughterhouses and other facilities will be able to effectively police compliance with the state’s laws regarding disclosure of kosher certification standards.

In a joint statement, the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of American and the Rabbinical Alliance expressed appreciation that the inspections will continue but said they will “continue to monitor the effectiveness of the new enforcement program during the next few months to assure that like all consumers, kosher consumers can be assured that what is represented as kosher certified is indeed kosher.”

In an interview Tuesday, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president at Agudah, said, “Clearly this will be one small slice of a much larger pie that these inspectors will have to worry about. You wonder how effective it will be. On the other hand it’s better than not doing anything.”

Gov. David Paterson, who stepped down on Jan. 1, terminated the state’s kosher inspectors last month as part of budget cuts. His successor, Andrew Cuomo, ordered the safety inspectors to be trained to take on their work by Rabbi Luzer Weiss, director of the kosher law enforcement division of the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Rabbi Yosef Wikler, editor of Kashrus magazine, said the new system is “a futile attempt to confuse the public that something is being done. When you take a safety inspector and add another job onto his workload you won’t get the same commitment.”

Read more at The Jewish Week.

{The Jewish Week/Matzav.com}


3 COMMENTS

  1. I would say that we as Yidden and we want strictly kosher food wold be to buy our food at our kosher supermarkets, groceries, takeout stores. They have a Hasgochas and they must get inspected by their Hashgocha regularly so that we know when we purchase something and it says it is Glatt Kosher, we know we are getting just that. If the store sells Cholov Yisroel and Cholv Stam , then there should be large signs stating that fact and the consumers will learn to be their own advocates to what they want to purchase. There is no more NYS Kosher Law Enforcement and that means that we have to find a new solution to make sure that we eat kosher.

  2. Kosher Law Enforcement does not exist to give hashgachos. It doesn’t. They oversee the kosher certifying agencies. They are checking to see if the kosher certification is valid, if the consumer is getting what he is paying for. They are also there to prevent consumer fraud, which means if a crooked businessman is selling treif meat as glatt kosher, the meats can be confiscated and the crook arrested. No hashgocho has that authority. That is why we need a strong Kosher Law Enforcement agency. Sadly, that’s not what we have right now because of the budget. A groundswell effort has to be directed at convincing the State Government that the office must be fully restored.

  3. I believe this law is covering to make sure that someone claiming have a hashgacha has that hashgacha, as well as explaining what that means. These are the print outs you see in many store windows from the city with the kashrus certification information form. I have used these forms many times to research some of the newer hashgachos you see in Manhattan, it’s a great service!

    You can’t count on the city as your mashgiach, but having them clarify who is the mashgiach can really be helpful.

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