By Aryeh Levin, COLlive reporter
The removal of supervision given to AgriStar poultry and meat plant in Postville, Iowa, (formerly Agriprocessors) has put the Kosher industry in a frenzy.
Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl, leader of the Nitra community in Monsey and an authority on kashrus, terminated his certification in a public letter this past Wednesday.
“As of this Friday, Erev Shabbos Parshas Mishpotim, my Kosher certification will no longer be in force and I take no further responsibly for its Kashrus. The public should take note,” he wrote.
Those include products that are packaged under the “Aaron’s Best,” “Supreme Kosher” and “Agri Star” labels.
The company, founded by the Lubavitch Rubashkin family, is now owned by Hershey Friedman, president of Montreal-based Polystar plastic packaging.
But CHK – Vaad Hakashrus of Crown Heights said Friday their certification on the Shor Habor label by AgriStar remains the same.
“No changes have been made, since there are no Kashrus problems,” Rabbi Berel Levertov, Kashrus Coordinator for CHK, wrote in a letter sent to COLlive.com on Friday.
“It seems that another Hechsher will be replacing Rav Weissmandl (and this is the only reason for the change,” he explained.
He said that Shor Habor products are per the guidelines set by Rabbi Avraham Osdoba and the late Crown Heights Rabbi Kalman Yehuda Marlow OBM.
“Those who eat Aaron’s Best or Supreme Kosher have to reexamine their standards if they will continue to eat OU glatt without a chareidi hechsher,” Levertov noted.
Lubavitchers are stringent to eat chicken and meat only from Lubavitch shochtim who are G-d fearing and learn Chassidus.
CHK also provides supervision to David Elliot, Wise organic, Heartland kosher and Ezra, assuring that their staff “must necessarily be Lubavitchers (and not just Chassidim who learn Chabad Chassidus,” the letter specified.
(1) The plain reading of #5 “I try my best to use OK or Chof-K when using simple mass market products that are OK” makes clear that the comment was for ANY product. Therefore he needs to know that what he considers “baseline kosher, basically those of Modern Orthodoxy” is the standard used by all hechsherim, since they rely on OU ingredients. (2) Meat or poultry have less kashrus complications than many other products. Once the shchita and melicha is al pi halacha, there is very little need to rely on kulas or hetairim which are resorted to when making… Read more »
I think you misunderstood #5. He or she is referring to glatt fleishig products. Although, I have never seen a glatt OU product without another Chareidi hechsher, I would not trust meat if it has ony a OU hechsher, and I am not Lubavitch.
Keep eating the OK or Chof-K or mehadrin hechsherim, but be aware that the hechsherim always rely on the OU for the ingerdients – so at the end of the day, you ARE eating OU. No point keeping your head buried in the sand.
OU is NOT Charedi. It is a mass market hechsher with standards that are baseline kosher, basically those of Modern Orthodoxy. Its “posek” is the mecharcher riv Belsky. I try my best to use OK or Chof-K when using simple mass market products that are OK without a mehadrin hechsher in the US.
not Charedi, OU is Charedi…
please correct
Problem is – that the truth is that people ate Rubashkin not because of Badatz, but rather because Weissmandal and KAJ were good Hechshareim.
There are people that DAVKA to NOT eat Badatz.
its good to know that all the meat under the chk are shechted by LUBAVITCH shochtim i think this is the first and main lye tyhat is being told the the comunity who think carse about lubavutch shechita.
please tell me who is in uragury shechting all the coe=ws that come to the us under chk?????
and who was the shochtim that r shechcthing for lubavitch now in iowa.
to bemighty honest if you r godd fearing dont eat meat for i cant beleive that alkl this meat coming under the chk is actually shechted by a lubavutcher.
is he trying to say that the people that shechy for the chk in agristar are lubavitchers (and not just people that learn chassidus)????
when i was there last year it wasnt like that so did it change???