The state of New Jersey plays a role in kosher certification through the Kosher Enforcement Bureau, part of New Jersey’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Led by Rabbi Yakov Dombroff, the bureau carried out 490 inspections of kosher restaurants and stores statewide in 2006 and collected $63,000 from fines levied from 50 violations.
The Kosher Enforcement Bureau requires general disclosures at every establishment in New Jersey claiming to be kosher.
The unit receives its authority from the state’s Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits misrepresentation in the sale or advertisement of consumer goods. While the bureau does not set standards for what is and is not kosher, it does monitor restaurants and supermarkets that advertise kosher goods to make sure they do not mislead consumers about the availability of kosher items.
According to the bureau’s mission statement, the bureau’s regulations are meant to “ensure that purchasers of kosher food which has been represented as such by the purveyor, get the product for which they are paying.”
(Sources: NJ Attorney Generals Website & NJ Jewish Standard)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
The state of kashrus in some of the smaller lesser known establishments in some of the smaller NJ communities leaves a lot to be desired
1. The’re often owned by non Jews who are looking to sneak cheaper substitute ingredients in behind the mashgiachs back.
2.The mashgichim are often paid directly by the food establishment and not through the hashgacha which diminishes their effectiveness as they fear losing their job.
3. There are a minimum of clear guidelines in terms of products and policy in writing.
4. Experienced trustworthy substitutes for the regular mashgiach are hard to come by. 5. Often the big national hashgacha will just come in and rubber stamp the local hashgacha which itself wasn’t great to begin with.
6.Many times the national hashgacha looks at the establishment as an account they don’t want to lose. So if the mashgiach makes a tumult they don’t stand behind him against the owner of the store.
7. ETC.
Who are we fooling…G-d???
The scandal in Monsey woke me up. I try harder now to purchase food at places that I know A) Has a good hechsher and B) The mashgiah was looked in to. It is a bit more expensive bit it will go a long way in the next world.
post # 1 comment 5 and 6 – not true! we all have seen cases where the “national” hashgacha has given up accounts b/c of different issues.
regarding other comments – I have seen in these small non-Jewish areas conservative and reform clergy affixing there good housekeeping seal of approval – anyone who is expecting there standards to = Torah standards is only fooling themselves
Mdlevine,
You obviously are not really involved in the kashrus world or you wouldn’t state emphatically “not true” to things which are going on all around you. Also I’m not refering to Conservative or Reform this goes on by Orthodox hashgachos as well.
rabbi dombroff’s staff is only allowed to check if the establishment follows what is written on the kosher law posters that they must post. for example, if the poster says “we serve milk and meat together”, they can do that. but if the poster says “no milk and meat”, and the inspector (who davened with me shacharit this morning) sees milk and meat together — thats a fine. (dont knpw how much — cant be too much)
one bakery i know (under the hisachdus) once got a fine because the poster says the rabbi comes in every week. guess what, the sign-in book showed once a month. that was a fine. (now, i know the owner; if he had no hashgacha, i would have no problem eating there, either.) but the poster says something, and the inspector’s job is just to enforce the poster.
by the way, a store can self-mashgiach too, as long as the poster says so.
so the state kosher enforcement is meaningless to us. (sorry rabbi dombroff, but its true)
similar in new york state under its (new)law.
if you want to have some fun, read some of these “conservative” posters. they’re laughable!but we must cry at the chillul ha-torah