Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uk. Show all posts

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Kashrus Issues in the UK: Pigs and Kosher Meat

The JC. Com has an interesting article concerning vans that were delivering meat to a kosher butcher shop known as Super Glatt. Pictures taken showed a pigs carcase sitting right next to kosher meat that was under strict Kosher supervision by a London Kashrus authority. A Rabbi who did not want to be named said halachcily there is no real issue as the meat is cleaned and salted before consumption.

David Rose, executive director of the London Board of Shechita, the largest shechitah board in the UK, said: "This does not happen with our meat. Our abattoirs do not put pig carcasses on the lorries with kosher carcasses."We inspect our meat when the lorries are delivered. I have spoken to a senior inspector and he has never seen anything like this with our lorries.

"I can't speak for other shechitah boards."A statement from the Union of Hebrew Orthodox Congregations, which oversees Kedassia, said that transporting kosher with non-kosher meat saved costs."The Union rabbinate is aware of the delivery of both raw kosher and non-kosher carcases in the same vehicle," it said."This raises no halachic problems."The kosher meat bears two clearly identifiable kashrus seals [metal tags], and is checked by Kedassia's full time mashgichim [supervisors] upon arrival at the butchers' shops."The abattoir processes both kosher and non-kosher animals at different times but delivery in the same vehicle saves on considerable transport costs."The 'aesthetics' of the photos plays no part in the halachic permissibility of the delivery of such meat in the same vehicle."

Friday, December 28, 2007

Kosher : Not Synonymous With Clean...

An article in the Jewish Chronicle points out that there has been a significant increase in kosher restaurants in the UK. The problem is that evidently kosher does not mean a clean environment.The JC conducted an investigation and found that half of kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries inspected by local authorities are rated “very poor” or “poor” — including some of our most trendy hang-outs. And only two restaurants — out of 59 — are given top marks.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Hechsher Wars in the UK

There is a very interesting article in the JC regarding hechshairim (supervision companies) in the UK. Among some of the most well known hechshairim is that of the Manchester Beth Din. The story is that a dayan from the Beth Din, Rabbi Osher Westheim broke off from the Beth Din to start his own hechsher (you may have seen it on those Wrigley wrappers manufactured in Poland).The drop in revenue that the Beth Din has seen has been devastating and it has been attempted to broker a deal between it's old employee of 28 yrs. as recently as last week. Talks however did not seem to go well as the Dayan told the Beth Din that any “drop in revenue” was largely the responsibility of the Manchester Beth Din itself. The article claims that Rabbi Westheim has brought Manchester international fame for excellence in Kashrus that is had never had before.


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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Jewish Schools Need More Security in the UK

As antisemitism increases in the UK and Europe, Jewish schools in the Britain have been worried about the increasing risk to their security. The government has agreed to allow these schools to apply for aid to update their security measures. With these new funds available, schools will be able to install security fencing, CCTV and swipe-card entry systems. It's nice to hear the government is taking action but sad that it's become a necessity.