Comments on: Pork With ‘Shechita Bais Yosef’ Sold In Queens Supermarket

By: yehudayona

yehudayona — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:07:30 +0000

I just looked at that other website (the one that begins with a v), and found that my surmise that the labeler was bought used was correct. The misspellings are probably just a reflection of the poor spelling that’s found all over these days (especially in comments on websites like this!)

By: yehudayona

yehudayona — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:57:51 +0000

Sunnyside is not exactly a hotbed of Yiddishkeit. I doubt if anyone who knows what Beit Yosef shechita is would shop for it in a random supermarket in Sunnyside. The mystery is how the misspelled Hebrew ended up on the labels. Perhaps the store bought a used labeler from a kosher retailer.

A convenience store in Far Rockaway opened as halal, but apparently changed hands. The new owners kept the neon sign in the window that I’m assuming said halal in Arabic (it was a random squiggle to me). They also had a sign advertising their BLT. The squiggle’s gone now.

By: charliehall

charliehall — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:36:19 +0000

“Are there not enough Jewish retailers that could sell Kosher meat?”

No. In many small communities, there are no frum retailers. By your standard, Jews in most of the world would need to become vegetarians. As has been pointed out in a recent chatroom thread, even the numerous rabbis who support being vegetarians agree that there is no halachic preference for being a vegetarian in our time. We are NOT supposed to take it on as a stringency because of the questionable kashrut of much of today’s meat.

“That means no buying in supermarkets that also carry treife products, and not buying in store that appear to be heimish but whose proprietors do not agree to allow a mashgiach the strictest controls of supervision.”

A similar argument applies here. Even a mashgiach tamidi would allow mislabled chicken to pass, as he would assume that the label is valid.

By: dcgruen

dcgruen — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:40:02 +0000

This reminds me of my father a’h who was a Rav and how he used to laugh at the people who bought glatt chickens.

By: wellmeaning busybody

wellmeaning busybody — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:19:05 +0000

`Bais Yosef is even more strict than Glatt’ A shochet friend told me that שחיטת בית יוסף makes as much sense as Glatt chicken. In hilchos Shechita the Bais Yosef is the מיקל It is in Hilchos treifas where he is machmir

By: AhvasChinom

AhvasChinom — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:03:18 +0000

“But I don’t think even the Sephardim would accept that,” inplies to the casual observer that their (and Briskers’) standard for Shechita is a kula (leniency). In fact, it’s more stringent. As for the mistaken letters, it might arouse some suspicion, but incorrect letters, in the absence of anything other danger sign, could easily be overlooked. I can think of examples of incorrect Hebrew lettering, some really laughable, on product labels from at least two reputable companies, under reliable hashgacha, that were probably not even noticed by most people buying them.

By: kako

kako — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:52:01 +0000

I can’t believe he said “… I don’t think even the Sephardim would accept that”

1) It is obviously derogatory to Sephardim

2) Bais Yosef is even more strict than Glatt

Terrible comment!

By: wollenberg

wollenberg — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:51:56 +0000

“But I don’t think even the Sephardim would accept that.” For further information he referred to the head of Kosher-law enforcement for New York State, Rabbi Luzer Weiss (“but he’s a winner in my book,” Katzenstein said)”

I thought this was a Purim joke. Is this guy serious? What a laughing stop (Luzer’s a winner…) and the comment not even the Sephardim would accept that is downright offensive to Sephardim. What a terrible PR spokesman…

And the comment – even though it’s a joke – about the price being right. Chachamim hizharu bedivrechem That quote will be quoted without the “only joking” part in the name of the OU! All the OU certified companies will wonder why they bother if it’s all a big joke…

By: ZachKessin

ZachKessin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:17:19 +0000

Mark Levin: It did note that as soon as it was brought to their attention they pulled all the product from the shelves within an hour or two.

Guess what in business sometimes people mess up, even the best places do. The measure of a place should not be that they never mess up but that they fix it quickly when they do.

By: Moose613

Moose613 — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:28:50 +0000

Give credit where credit is due. Associated took immediate action. How the Bais Yosef (or whatever it said) got there in the first place is still a muystery.
It reminds me of the time I saw a stock clerk in another major super market pasting Kosher for Pesach labeel on bottle of soda already on the shelves.