By Menachem Lubinsky: So who fired whom? Believe it or not this is what preoccupied at least one Jewish newspaper writer and several blogs who reprinted the article. They were referring to the news reported here last week that ‘Agriprocessor announced that it was consolidating its kashrus supervision behind the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl of Monsey, NY.’ Not true’, said the article in a small Jewish newspaper that was reprinted in several Orthodox Jewish blogs. ‘Khal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) fired AgriProcessors.’  In the process, I was accused of misrepresenting the facts and even hiding the fact that my 23-year old marketing firm handles many kosher clients, including on occasion Agri. I have on numerous occasions throughout my long career crafted statements for kosher companies and used parts of it to bring readers the full story in KosherToday.

As far as KosherToday is concerned, the only story that matters is that the world’s largest producer of kosher meat and poultry, particularly its Aaron’s Best brand is no longer or perhaps as of April 16th will no longer be under the supervision of K’hal Adath Jeshurun, a highly respected hechsher. It remains under the certification of the Orthodox Union (OU) and Rabbi Weissmandl. In fact, the writer clearly notes that ‘Dr. Eric Erlbach, of KAJ, emphasized that there is not and never was a problem with the Rubashkin hashgacha.’ Agri will essentially follow the model of some of its competitors like Alle and International that have both the OU and a Chasidic rabbi as their certifiers.

So now that we got the main story out of the way in that there is no kashrus issue here, which is the only concern as far as KosherToday, an on-line trade newsletter, is concerned, let’s try to get to the bottom of the story of who fired whom lest it becomes the subject of a major investigation. Remember the line, ‘you can’t fire me, I quit?’ Well, that’s approximately what happened here.

In certifying Agri’s Kosher Supreme Brand and other kashrus aspects for the past 3 years at the Agri plant in Postville, Rabbi Weissmandl did not see eye to eye with the KAJ certifiers. So in October, KAJ dashed off a letter to Agri that unless it agreed to a set of demands it would pull its hechsher as of April 16th. Agri said NO to those demands and so it triggered the KAJ action, as their letter noted. If you are keeping score, here’s what happened: One of Agri’s main certifiers has perhaps become too assertive, rubbing the KAJ the wrong way. KAJ threatens to fire Agri unless its demands are met, and Agri says, No. KAJ walks (as of April 16th). I wrote the release that said that Agri announced that the company was consolidating its kashrus certifications for ‘marketing reasons,’ which it did. It decided to remain with the two other certifications, which it felt kept its high kosher standards and satisfied its diverse clientele, and opt out of its KAJ certification.

Disputes between rabbis or sometimes rabbis with management are a daily occurrence in the kosher food industry, but the writer insisted that this was different because Agri is the largest meat and poultry producer in the world. Granted that it is a great sensational story, especially when the target is Agri – a convenient punching bag for many a disgruntled writer – it is not a kashrus story beyond the announcement. Oh by the way, thanks to all those who took the time to write and compliment the integrity that I have brought to covering the kosher food industry.

[Reprinted with permission from Kosher Today where this article appeared – January 14, 2008]