Silly Things said by Kosher Authorities

Proudly reported by the OK Kosher Laboratories.

​"Our Mashgiach [Kosher supervisor] observed ... the non-Jewish delivery driver had Kosher seals on the truck which he put on the boxes of meat. Of course we rejected the meat." SEE)

According to this report, there is no reliable Kosher meat in any establishment in the USA since any meat can be labelled by whoever is so inclined, to identify it as whichever standard or style of Kosher is preferred.

I have begged this agency to remove this ridiculous comment from their site, but it is still there years on.

I also asked them how they verify any meat delivery by the label? I am still waiting for a response.

But most troubling is that the Kosher agency has no fear that their readers will consider them foolish and/or inept. 

---

A history of kosher meat scandals Joe Winkler April 2013

In Los Angeles Doheny Glatt Kosher Meats sold non-Glatt meats (and possibly non-kosher meats) as Glatt, or premium Kosher. 
 
In 2006, wholesaler Shevach Meats of Monsey, N.Y. sold non-K at his Hatzlocha Grocery. This fraud remained undetected for at least 10 years, and prompted Kashrut organizations to claim they initiated tighter systems of checks, although we are unaware what precisely they might be.  

In 1928, a crowd of over 1,000 threatened to storm the Dubowsky restaurant in London, believing that they had been served non-Kosher meat. Police were required to restore order.  

In 1964, a French court sentenced two people for selling non-Kosher meat as Kosher however, the punishment was relatively minor, a paltry fine of 100 francs. However, it marked the first time that French Jews had obtained legal redress in a Kosher fraud case.

American courts have taken a stricter and more punitive stance on cases of Kosher fraud, although successful prosecution is extremely rare.

In 1986, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets levied a record civil penalty of $1,012,400 against Rachleff Kosher Provisions in Brooklyn, N.Y. The company had fraudulently labelled more than 33,000 lbs. of non-kosher tongue, 14,000 lbs. of treif brisket and 1,000 lbs. of non-kosher brisket and livers.

here is another illustration of the same thoughtless boasting - Rabbi Dr. Avrom Pollak, the president of Star K, a Kosher certifier in Baltimore, said that clients do try to cut corners and as a matter of fact, they recently caught a caterer trying to sell non-kosher turkey to clients.

How did they catch this deception?
And why did the caterer believe he could and would 'get away with it'?

“The rabbi remembered the kosher butchers in the area don’t kill turkeys that size,” Pollak said. “We asked to see the invoices and saw the top was torn off, so the name was not available.”

So here is the takeaway message - the Kosher supervisor never bothered checking the invoices, or if he did found it unsurprising that the invoices were untraceable.
https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/when-kosher-is-treif/

Here is another beauty - link

- I asked them if they had any grape juice at their plant and they answered, obviously, in the negative.

Later, when inspecting the warehouse, I didn’t find anything problematic at first. However, I did notice a slightly stained tote at the side of the warehouse. The label on it was hand written in Russian script, which is quite difficult to decipher and virtually illegible for those who are not familiar with Russian. Thankfully, I’m a native Russian speaker and could read it.

The tote label stated “grape juice 2018” (the year this visit was conducted)

So, let's analyse this - we are not relying on those people who lie, or who are incompetent and unable of providing accurate reports about their foods and ingredients - we rely rather upon a once a year visit by a Mashgiach, a Kosher supervisor, who may just happen to speak and read Russian and we must hope and pray that the manufacturers have forgotten to remove that label. [sarcasm alert]