Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), Chair of the Finance Committee, wrote to Governor Paterson today opposing the plan to cut the two remaining inspectors from the state’s kosher inspection division, leaving just an administrator in place to monitor the enforcement of kosher food laws throughout the state.
Sen. Kruger spoke out against previous cuts that reduced the number of kosher inspectors from 10 to two. He called the additional cuts a “de facto elimination of the kosher inspection division.” The state Department of Agriculture and Markets operates the kosher division.
The text of the letter to Gov. Paterson follows.
Dear Governor Paterson:
“As New York State’s Jewish community continues to grow, and kosher food businesses struggle increasingly to cope with the realities of the economic downturn by cutting corners in whatever way they can, enforcement of our state’s kosher food laws becomes even more important than ever.
While I grudgingly accepted the recent drastic cuts to the kosher inspection division from 10 inspectors to just two, I must put on record my strong opposition to the plan to reduce the kosher division even further. To leave an administrative director without any staff amounts to the de facto elimination of the entire division. Let’s just admit it: You’re closing the kosher inspection division. That you’re doing so despite the growing need is particularly disturbing.
In 1879, seeking to serve its then already robust and growing Jewish population, the State of New York formulated the very first kosher food law in the United States. According to the new book “Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America’s Food Answers to a Higher Authority,” the kosher food industry is worth $200 billion annually, up from $32 billion
a mere two decades ago — and some 86 percent of the nation’s 11.2 million kosher consumers shop with health and food safety rather than Halacha, Jewish law, in mind.
The vigilance of the state’s kosher enforcement division helps to preserve the kosher integrity of the state as well as of its food purveyors. Leaving a bare bones department with no staff will lead potentially to decreased sales of kosher products and decreased revenues, which we clearly do not want to see in this time of economic recession. I urge you to reconsider this ill-conceived plan.”
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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9 Responses
This is ridiculous. Does anyone here know even a single person who relies on the hashgacha of the New York Kosher Inspection Service? What a waste of tax money!
The fact of the matter is this program is a total waste of money wether it is tax money or not. The program is just a waste and does nothing to protect the kosher consumer.
One of the kosher inspectors admitted to me that he gets threatened by store owners if he opens his mouth about violations. (Violations as in tarfus or other lesser serious issues.) If a person has a job of being a state inspector and has no power to change something for the klal then what is the point?
Nothing will ever cgange when it comes to kashrus. kashris from the state or kashrus from certain kashris companies remains the same.
has anything ever changed since the monsey scandal? Nothing. many promises of state of the art protection that would not have had an effect on the price of products are still not being used.
I guess you think that a catastrophe we had in Monsey that the propritor decided to sell treif chicken in his so called ultra kosher poultry store and cused hundreds if not thousands of yiden to eat treif and make all their keilim stoves and ovens treif.With a government agency
Looking carefully at all and with the risk of government fines and prison a person that is a faker and pretends to be frum and reliable will think twice or more before doing such terrible things. We need to have this agency or we’ll be in grave danger of these incidences happening much more often.
They cannot legally enforce any definition of kosher.
Their enforcement is limited to making sure that if you say its kosher that you have a little sign saying what your criteria of kosher is.
Its a waste of an agency, and its a patronage job for Rabbi Weiss and his friend from the 5 towns.
I have been involved in Kashrus for decades and have met some of the State Inspectors. They, at the ones I have met, are erlicha Yiddfen. None the less, if we run our Kashrus Agencies properly, I fail to see the need for outside,Government regulators.
Please, my fellow Shomrei Mitzos, let us not expend our limited political capital on this.
I guess those who are against government overseeing are Chayev the same as the lunatic Chayeh that brought trief chicken for sale in his butcher shop. I think that their Am Haretzes is showing very well. The Chaye that had the disgusting nerve to make all those people eat treif and was not concerned of the Hashgocha approving his establishment that they would do more than shut him down and maybe embbarass him. They would throw him into prison and hit him with a stiff fine. I do think their needs to be additional deterents. Those who don’t think so should pay higher taxes to support other causes that they get nothing out of and may even be causes that they wish did not exist. They should also be customers at establishments that feed them treif without them knowing that it is treif.
No one frum relies on Mr. Patterson or Mr. Cuomo for a hecksher. And allowing the government to give a hecksher crates the danger that they’ll decide that a non-frum “rabbi” is a valid source for what standard to apply.
Frum people should rely on our own rabbanim, and as tax payers we should object to the government meddling in an inherently internal matter of our community.
Its too bad the you people simply have no concept or understanding of what the state agency does. It does NOT give a hashgacha of any type to any business. It DOES force a business that claims to be kosher to at least say to a consumer where their hashgacha comes from. Its up to the consumer to then decide which hashgacha they accept or do not accept. It also provides for some enforcement capabilties that do not otherwise exist.
very nice for all of you to give your opinions without knowing much about the department. you should only know how many hundreds of disasters were averted by the inspectors. also its very insensitive of all of you to be so quick to agree that the department should be disbanded. are you ready to give jobs to all the inspectors so they can continue to pay their bills?!?!?!