Community Magazine Februafy 2009

40 Community magazine W hile various kosher agencies establish different policies regarding kosher standards and how they are enforced, nearly all agencies take their job – protect- ing the spiritual well-being of their commu- nities – seriously. But when a disreputable restaurant, manufacturer or caterer tries some culinary monkey business, even the most responsible agency can make mis- takes, or worse you, the customer, can be duped. We are not talking only about high-pro- file scandals, but also about little-noticed incidents that never make headlines. In every case, the consumer gets burned. As illustrated by the stories that follow, a good mashgiah must be one part watchdog, one part sleuth… and the consumer must be ever vigilant. Bottomless Pitfalls Some sneaky tricks are so common in kosher commercial kitchens, they’ve become almost cliché, and good mashgihim are alert for them. One such trick could be called the “bottomless pit” of kosher ingre- dients. Take a case where a restaurant mash- giah tries to check the lettuce for bugs a few times a day so the chef will always have enough checked lettuce to use. Yet, the chef somehow always has enough checked let- tuce, even when the mashgiah falls behind in his checking. Most likely, this chef has his own secret stash of (unchecked) lettuce that he dips into when the mashgiah turns his head. Yes… that chef has enough lettuce whether the mashgiah is around or not! Similarly, some mashgihim stumble upon bottomless pits of meat, cold cuts, oil and just about everything else. In one well-reported case, a mashgiah in a Manhattan restaurant noticed what seemed like an endless supply of beef in the refrigerator. He searched high and low for a hidden stash, but couldn’t find one… until one day, he caught the owner open- ing a door marked, “Do not open. Alarm will sound.” Alarming indeed: behind the door was a hidden refrigerator with a hefty supply of discount kosher meat that did not have the approval of the certifying agency. Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Flatbush’s Kashrus Information Center says such prob- lems are common, and emphasizes that the keys to the kitchen should be in full control of the agency – not the owner. Through the Back Door In a comparable case, a kosher-certified Chinese restaurant in Gravesend Brooklyn ARYEH ZEV NARROW S ince when do trucks deliveratmidnight?” he wondered, but remained quietly in his car. It was just the latest in a series of oddities. Utensils that had been washed the night before were found dirty in the sink the next morning. Production num- bers seem to exceed what he witnessed on the factory floor. But the mystery was unraveling in front of his eyes. The driver parked his rig and knocked on the rear delivery door. A moment later, the owner opened the delivery gate, and the driver started unloading. As the first side of beef was brought inside the packing house, the mashgiah knew his stake-out had paid off—and that this meat packer was kosher no more.