A frum Israeli man filed a lawsuit against Burger King for a misleading sign that caused him to eat a non-kosher meal, Ynet reported.
The incident occurred at the Burger King branch in the Azrieli Hod HaSharon Mall. According to the plaintiff, after he saw that the fast-food store had a sign boasting a hechsher, he bought a cheeseburger that he thought was made with vegan cheese.
His meal tasted so good that he asked the staff how the cheese tasted so genuine and was shocked and distressed when they responded that the cheese was dairy. The staff then informed him that the branch was no longer kosher.
In response, Burger King Israel said that a decision was made in 2021 to turn the branch into a non-kosher one and the company asked the mall to remove the kashrus certificates. The chain claims that the mall management later informed them that they removed the signs but apparently they didn’t remove all of them.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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29 Responses
R”l
Burger King…lol..
Not that it matters, but why does a frum Yid need to have such a taavah for “treife style” foods? Are we not ב”ה blessed with such a cornucopia of delicious kosher food of all shapes and sizes that we need to imitate treife foods?
And just for the record, I’ve spoken to several geirim and non-Jews, and they all find kosher food to be more delicious than the non kosher food they were accustomed to.
So hopefully this fellow will take it as a lesson not to be a menuval b’rshus haTorah but rather to bentsch every day with extra kavana: SHELO ASANI GOY!!
Nu? The restaurant gave him the opportunity to eat a real cheeseburger BeShogeg, and he’s complaining? Maybe they can now give him one of their cows to offer as a chatas?
This is indeed very unfortunate, but is it really an international news item?
When in Israel, the law states that all eateries claiming to be kosher must have a teudah from the rabbanut. This ensures a consistent minimum level of kashrus. In this case, BK removed the kosher sign from their store, but another sign elsewhere in the mall (I believe the map of the mall) still hadn’t been updated.
The growing movement to use badatzim and private kashrus organizations without involving the rabbanut may save eateries some cash in the short run, but it undermines the rabbanut as a common standard. Sadly, this is becoming as frequent among the chareidim as it is among the more progressive – with a growing number of eateries not having a rabbanut and claiming to be kosher.
This devolution of kashrus standards will result in more kashrus errors.
Please, regardless of the hashgacha shown, insist that your local restaurants and caterers have a rabbanut. Otherwise, we are undermining the minimum standard by which so many managed to adhere.
Always check the business name, address, and date on the teudah. It takes 30 seconds.
Not that Burger King should be off the hook for fase advertising, I would have thought that the certificates were property of the certifying agency and that the certifying agency should have removed them.
From people shouldn’t be eating rabanut. Nothing more to be said
I feel sorry for that person, however in my opinion he is suing the wrong company, he is supposed to sue the BAL MACHSHER not BURGER KING, the burden is on the BAL MACHSHER to make sure that the MASHGIACH is on top of the stores he is supposed to supervise & even BURGER KING made there own decision to remove the HACSHSER the BAL MACHSHER should of sent someone down to make sure there is no sings left. & make a public announcement in the paper that they are no longer giving a HACSHER there.
Obviously, this was an error on the part of the Mall’s management and in any event was unintentional. Why is he suing the franchisee rather than the mall’s management firm
there shouldn’t be non-kosher restaurants or food stores anywhere in Israel in the first place
These kashrus certificates have expiry dates. The one he saw must have been long expired…so it’s his fault for not reading it properly.
Sounds like Burger King and the hechsher did nothing wrong but he needs to sue the mall!
BS: Yup….Require that 2 million Arabs and Christians living in EY eat only from Badatz hashgacha. A brilliant idea. Perhaps thats why squirrels are not considered to be the most intelligent rodents.
A foolish and am ha’aretz comment was posted above from Yossi Name Edited: “why does a frum Yid need to have such a taavah for “treife style” foods? Are we not ב”ה blessed with such a cornucopia of delicious kosher food of all shapes and sizes that we need to imitate treife foods?”
This comment is contrary to Torah hashkofos. Let’s learn a piece of Gemrah (Chulin 109b):
Yalta once said to her husband, Rabbi Nachman: “Now, let us see, whatever G‑d forbade us, He permitted us something corresponding. He forbade blood but permitted liver. . . . He forbade pork but permitted the brains of a shibuta.1 . . . I would like to eat something that has the taste of meat cooked with milk.” Rabbi Nachman ordered the chefs to skewer [cow] udders and roast them.
The commentaries explain (Chiddushei Aggadot of Maharsha and Maharal on Talmud, Chulin 109b) that for every forbidden food or act, G‑d provided another similar permitted food or act with the same pleasurable sensation as the forbidden one. Why? Because G‑d is not out to deny us the pleasure inherent in that food or act; rather, the sin itself is essentially forbidden.
So yes, a yid can enjoy treif-style and treif-tasting food, just as the Amoroim did in the Talmud cited above. If you have “complaints” about such conduct, address them to the Amoroim and point out the “error” of their ways. Either you are “frummer” than the Amoroim or your hashkofos are off.
The cheese and meat is the least of the problem what about treif meat!?
It is the style of the times
We want to be good but like women
Want kosher but it’s trief
Want to look like goyim and democrats but it doesn’t help
Want to look stupid but have religion
Who thought that it was not real chometz or treif food a lemed vav
Gadol, there shouldn’t be christians or muslims in E.Y. at all
Doreish HaEmes makes a valid point, there is no issue of bassar b’chalav in non-kosher meat. One may cook non-kosher meat with milk and derive benefits from it. Here the issur is the treif meat (and the treif cheese).
” And just for the record, I’ve spoken to several geirim and non-Jews, and they all find kosher food to be more delicious than the non kosher food they were accustomed to..”
Yusselah: There is nothing inherently “delicious” about kosher food versus treifus. It all depends on the quality and freshness of the ingredients and the skills of the chef who prepares the food. There are multiple treife restaurants who seek to emulate the ta’am of iconic foods from “kosher delis” but rarely achieve anything that closely resembles the original tastes we all remember. Alternatively, one could argue that the trend in kosher restaurants to offer healthier menu options with lower levels of fat, sodium and carbs and not overcooking meats and seafood originally evolved among the treife restauants.
So is a cheeseburger good tasting or not?! Tachlis!!
So he can’t sue the mashgich company as they weren’t on the restaurant anymore. You’re going to sue them cuz a sign that won’t get you anywhere. It seems he was dying to eat a cheeseburger everyone knows to check and make sure if it’s kosher and it smells like cheese and you can see it’s so stringy calm on. There is no way he didn’t know while he was eating it he can’t taste cheese it’s his first time?? There is so many proofs here that it’s his fault nothing to sue and he’s at fault a 💯 !
JFP: There is a story whether it is true or not I don’t know that a restaurant was under Rav Machpud, and they decided to drop the hasgacha. Their sign still had a picture of the Machpud Hashgacha on it and Rav Machpud himself drove over and painted over the picture of his hasgacha. That is unique, but BTW also not legal…
The actual Teudah is the property of the hechshers up until and only up until the date of expiration. They can remove it at, at any point during that time. But for example if the restaurant puts up a sign (many do) saying their hasgacha that is the property of the restaurant and if the masgiach tears it down that is not actually permitted. Same would go for a sign in the mall. The hasgacha could and I dare say should file a lawsuit for trademark violations but that never happens.
Lesson. However is very simple. Almost nobody actually pays attention to this simple rule though. If you walk into a restaurant the FIRST thing you should do is check the teudah. Check the date! Check the location, check the name of the store etc!
JDB I think missed the point. I am strongly guessing this restaurant was under the local rabbanut once upon a time. Failing to check a teudah is honestly on the person who ate the food. I have no problem if a restaurant has a valid Badatz “Ishur” (yes it won’t say the word kosher), or a valid Rav Rubin Ishur. I’m at the end of the day not relying on the rabbanut. But if they have nothing that is on me.
As for “private hasgachas” (which includes the Mehadrin hashgachas) they can’t say they are kosher. And just because some who knows who gave a nice looking teudah doesn’t mean anything. We the consumer might just want to make sure that we actually trust the hashgacha. If it is from an organization I know and choose to trust I’ll eat there. If it is from somebody I have never heard of sorry it doesn’t actually mean anything to me. Some of them are valid (what their standards are of course you need to determine), some of them are in no way valid. Even if it is “valid” the Rav who gives it might or might not know enough about how a kitchen/restaurant runs that I would want to rely on it even though he might be an undeniable expert on the halachos of kashrus.
He’s just looking to make a buck (shekel) pretty sure someone who orders a cheeseburger at a mall( nothing wrong),is not that upset that his accidentally eating non kosher is so devastating to his neshama that suing is the only way he can rectify the stain on his otherwise pure pristine neshama. Just inform the hashgacha and move on,maybe take on a taanis if your rabbi approves to fix your neshama whatever, but don’t act like your righteous indignation is compelling you to sue for your souls rectification
We all know that bossar b’chalav is ossur b’ha’nah.
Assume that the meat and cheese were kosher (as required to be captured under the rubic of bossar b’cholov).
In such a case (which might very well apply here), is it even permitted to sue, and if successful, earn money from the bossar b’cholov?
Would that not be considered having ha’na’ah from bossar b’chalav which is ossur min haTorah?
Would that not compound the issurim – of not just eating the bossar b’cholov, but now also retrospectively getting ha’na’ah from the bpssar b’cholov?
“Just inform the hashgacha and move on…”
Why “move on” when you can create a broigas and SUE!! This ehrhliche yid’s pure neshamah has been irrevocably harmed and he deserves compensation. (I would think he shouldn’t settle for less than an year’s worth of unlimited Cheeseburgers at the other Burger King locations in EY who retain a good Chassideshe hashgacha and are using cholov yisroel cheese on their Big Macs).
It’s the hashgocha certifier that is responsible, not burger King!!
Gadol
If he eats 59 kosher cheeseburgers, it will be batel B’shishim