I am sure many of you have seen the half moon-K on many products and have been dismayed because someone undoubtedly has told you that like many other random symbols that always seem to appear on great products, it was not reliable, always casting it down to the iffy- Triangle-K status.
Around 6 months ago my LOR- local orthodox Rabbi informed me that Reb Zushe Blech- one of the leading kasharus experts was taking over the Half Moon-K to try and bring their standards up to par. Well I wanted to know for sure and I gave a bunch of Rabbis I knew in the hashgacha industry a call because I was tired of the maybes.
I also found this article on the reliability of Half Moon K dated from June summed up what everyone should have been informed of already. Here is the press release that Rabbi Zushe Blech and Rabbi Dovid Jenkins put out, but for some reason there is not too much information about it and many people still do not rely on this hechsher. Any information as to why folks are slow to change their databases on accepted hechsherim would be appreciated.
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I know two of the machshirim for the newly-reliable Half-Moon K. Rabbi Dovid Jenkins is the former Kashrus Administrator the Chicago Rabbinical Council, and Rabbi Simcha Smolensky (also formerly with the cRc) still lives here in Chicago but does worldwide supervision for HMK….including, to my great envy, a distillery in Scotland.
I’m waiting for LUCHOS K to finally be legit. Then there are those guys that just say that if the mashgiach keeps shabbos then its all good my babies! There is some standard and protocol that different hechsher companies adhere to.
But I’m sure we’ve all had a friend or two that didn’t keep the shabbos and whatnot that did some mashgiach work for a reliable hechsher.
Yo why the hell is Tablet-K on all fish and cheese products? It pisses me off that the only really kosher frozen fish stuff is always Jewish brands which never taste as good as Crotons or Vandekemp.
How about “Campbells condensed vegetarian vegetable soup” It was under the OU and changed to the half moon k” No one I know Eats it anymore. The Local Vaad here in MI, says Half moon k is still off limits!! Except on Kikkoman soy sauce.
Hesh How about a post on the Kaj jumping ship from Rubbashkin??
Or the fact that the black hat frummys still wont eat Empire?? Even though they got Kaj to certify them several years ago
Anyone know why??
Yes the KAJ story may be interesting and I was told by my LOR that chunky veggie soup is kosher now, t has 100% of your daily sodium per can though.
Yeah, the luchos k cheese products look mad good and they’re really affordable too
Hey everyone, stop and think. Who are the ones saying that various hasgachot are not reliable? Do they know anything about giving a commercial hasgacha? Have they ever been in a commercial food processing establishment (ie. that makes cheese or processed fish)? Do they have ties to other “national” hasgachot? Just because they appear to be an Orthodox Rabbi doesn’t mean that they know anything about the issue(s). There are Orthodox Rabbis who don’t “hold from” the OU. Do you (no rhyme intended)? Investigate for your selves. Do you know that the “suspect” Triangle K has never been caught with issues? Can the OU or OK make that claim? Yes they give hashgachot on non-glatt meat, so if your practice is to eat glatt (which may not really exist in the US) then don’t eat it but it is not any less reliable then any other “acceptable” hasgacha. There are more shitot on kashrut then there are certifying bodies. If you are really careful then stick to what you cook at home. Any only cook vegetables and fruit with out oil or shortening unless you render shortening from animals that you schecht yourself. BTW, did you ever think about what your grandparents ate? Did you eat in their homes? What did Shamai and Hillel eat? Rabbi Akiva and the other Tanaim who dined together?
maybe its legitimacy isn’t publicized at the shul level because many orthodox synagogues are affiliated with the OU? and not in newspapers or magazines if those publications have the OU on their rosters of advertisers.
what is up with the OV, though? it’s on the america’s choice version of raisin bran. is that even a hechsher?
The Rav Hmachshir of my town which works under the auspices of the OU and Chof-K is the one who confirmed that half moon- K was 100% kosher, but he cannot say why no one knows about it.
The O-V is the Vaad Hoeir of St Louis. According to their homepage at http://www.ovkosher.org “The kashrus standards of the Vaad Hoeir meet the requirements of the major leading Kosher organizations throughout the world. The Vaad Hoeir works closely with these organizations and conducts kosher inspections in the metropolitan St. Louis area on their behalf.”
I’m waiting for someone to come up with the Chumra-K. They’ll have fourteen mashgichim teimidim supervising everything at every site, but it still won’t be up to their own standards so they won’t actually give a hashgacha…
Half-moon is good. R. Blech, a highly reputable rav hamachshir of reliably-kosher establishments in Monsey, is in charge of the half-moon. (Monsey is no proof, I guess, but still . . .) I was delighted to find this out when I wanted to buy a particular gourmet item.
The half moon wasn’t kosher? I guess I’m mixing it up with the COR or something. I would just like to share that I have been secretly eating Funyons for years even though it has a triangle K. It drives my husband mad–he knows most of my secrets. I feel that a Hechsher is innocent until proven guilty and nobody ever clearly explained the whole Ralbag thing to me. I read the ingredients and pray.
O-V is accepted by the cRc. I think it would just be nice to have one national hechsher…
half moon k, aka pregnant k.
thanks, michael and anon46, for the OV info. one would think that for something as black and white as kashrus there wouldn’t be 50 million different hechshers. at the same time, it’s hard for any one organization to be everywhere, so the multiple orgs have their purpose. I agree with lovethefunyans and apply that philosophy to the luchos K.
The luchos K gives places that are open on shabbos certification. But , so does the ou!! Nabisco Bakes Ores’ Fig newtons and chips ahoy etc… on Saturday? Entenmans does too? Herrs Chips does also. If you want to be sure NOT to eat things that arnt baked on Shabbos I guess you gotta stick with the Jewish brands.
Anyone who wants to read about the Kaj Jumping ship from Aarons, Im going to cut and paste:
What Really Happened At Rubashkin? 1/11 Issue Of The Jewish Star
January 9, 2008
Article by the Jewish Star: Khal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) fired AgriProcessors, the world’s largest producer of kosher meat and poultry, as a client last week, announcing that it would withdraw its kosher certification as of April 16.
The rabbinate of the venerable German-Jewish community based in upper Manhattan, and a second well-known kosher certifier, Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl, of Nitra-Monsey, were unable to find common ground on issues of kashruth control in the company’s plants. AgriProcessors’ founder Aron Abraham Rubashkin, Dr. Eric Erlbach, the president of KAJ, and Rabbi Weissmandl, each confirmed that version of events in separate telephone interviews on Monday with The Jewish Star.
“We tried to reach some kind of an understanding which would have given us control over the Aaron’s part of the shechitah, not the Supreme, which is Rabbi Weissmandl, but we were unable to reach any kind of agreement,” Dr. Erlbach said.
In paid advertisements and prepared press releases, AgriProcessors, of Postville, Iowa, which produces kosher meat and poultry under the Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best and Supreme Kosher brands, among others, had said that the company was consolidating its kashruth certifications for “marketing reasons.”
KAJ, together with the Orthodox Union, certifies the Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best brand. Supreme Kosher carries the Nitra-Monsey hechsher. All meat and poultry slaughtered in AgriProcessor plants, in Iowa, Nebraska, Chicago, or elsewhere, on or after April 16, 2008, is to carry that hechsher. Rabbi Weissmandl said the two brands would be consolidated and a joint label, Aaron’s Best/Supreme Kosher, phased in by mid-April.
“The [KAJ] demands were unacceptable,” said Rubashkin, who founded the company in 1953. “So what should I do? They had an understanding with Rav Weissmandl and they worked together. They had a disagreement about some gelatin or casings, but it had nothing to do with us.”
“They were going to produce casings in an outside plant and our rabbonim felt that they would be unwilling to give a hashgacha on that product and Rabbi Weissmandl was,” Erlbach said. “I’m not in a position to tell you who was right, but even if Rabbi Weissmandl was right it was an indication that we were not in a position to control what was going on.”
The disagreement over the casings boiled down to money, Rabbi Weissmandl suggested; a $35,000 annual kashruth fee versus considerably lower costs for the original product, also produced outside the plant, he said, under less reliable supervision. A minor issue, he emphasized, in any event.
“The basic demand was that they wanted a rabbi in place who reports only to KAJ,” Weissmandl said. “[It’s] completely not practicable with shechitah, with a staff of 70 people, to have two controllers, one working behind the back of the other.” Additionally, he charged, the supervisors the KAJ wanted to put in place at the Postville plant lacked the necessary experience.
A decision was ultimately made to bring in a plant kashruth supervisor from Israel. Rabbi Chaim Leizer Meisels was recruited, at great expense, from a top position with the Edah HaCharedis. Nitra and KAJ signed a contract to jointly pay him, but before that arrangement could take effect the relationship between KAJ and Rubashkin unraveled. Rabbi Weissmandl confirmed that it was the KAJ that decided to pull the plug.
“Definitely, it was not Rubashkin that fired them,” Weissmandl said. “Mr. Rubashkin pays kashrus fees for certifications that he doesn’t have anymore — rabbis who are too old to provide certifications, but he pays them their fees. He’s a very, very loyal person.”
Erlbach, of KAJ, emphasized that there is not, and never was, a problem with the Rubashkin hashgacha, although he demurred when asked if he, personally, would eat the Rubashkin brands after April 16; he cited uncertainty about the nature of the future kashruth supervision. The KAJ community is actively seeking another source of kosher meat, he said.
Efforts to portray the parting of ways as a simple marketing decision by AgriProcessors persisted into Monday when a kashruth industry newsletter, Kosher Today, neglected to mention that it was KAJ’s decision to end the relationship. The editor, Menachem Lubinsky, told The Jewish Star that he had not heard that. He strongly denied that his paid work for Rubashkin, crafting the press release that announced the breakup, had played any role in his editorial decision. The article did not mention his paid role with AgriProcessors, but Lubinsky said he stood by his story as “balanced.” He has written in the past about the “number of hats” he wears as a kashruth industry expert, he said, and “I don’t have to say it every day and every time.”
KAJ’s Erlbach believes his community’s way of doing kashruth business tends not to lend itself to potential conflicts of interest.
Most hashgachas consist of a slaughterhouse, let’s say, which hires a rabbi to do their certification and that rabbi certifies it for them. They pay that rabbi for it. As a result this is a relationship based on mutual profits. I don’t mean this in a negative way,” he stressed.
“Someone who does this is entitled to be paid. [But] our congregation is different. None of our rabbis who do this get paid [by the client]. They are paid by the congregation and are under no undue pressure, so to say, to help out the owner. You’re more likely to get a kosher product if the profit motive isn’t there.”
A principal in one of the major Five Towns-area supermarkets, who asked to remain anonymous, said KAJ is a brand name hechsher often sought out by consumers, particularly by consumers of German descent. “Come Pesach time, there are people who are very machmir about their parents’ hashgacha,” he said. “Also, baalei teshuva,” he added. “Someone told them that KAJ is the best hashgacha and that’s what they buy.”
Rabbi Weissmandl spoke admiringly of the KAJ community’s respect for its leaders. “Most of the members of the KAJ board probably disagree with this decision [to end the relationship with Rubashkin],” he said. “[Still,] it’s a known tradition to the German community to give respect to a rabbi till the very end. Whatever a rav says, they raise their hands. There is a level of respect that the KAJ community has for a rabbi — it is probably the only place today where you see that.”
(Note: The Jewish Star covers the Five Towns and other orthodox communities of the South Shore of Long Island, and Far Rockaway.)
By Menachem Lubinsky: So who fired whom? Believe it or not this is what preoccupied at least one Jewish newspaper writer and several blogs who reprinted the article. They were referring to the news reported here last week that ‘Agriprocessor announced that it was consolidating its kashrus supervision behind the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Menachem Meir Weissmandl of Monsey, NY.’ Not true’, said the article in a small Jewish newspaper that was reprinted in several Orthodox Jewish blogs. ‘Khal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) fired AgriProcessors.’ In the process, I was accused of misrepresenting the facts and even hiding the fact that my 23-year old marketing firm handles many kosher clients, including on occasion Agri. I have on numerous occasions throughout my long career crafted statements for kosher companies and used parts of it to bring readers the full story in KosherToday.
As far as KosherToday is concerned, the only story that matters is that the world’s largest producer of kosher meat and poultry, particularly its Aaron’s Best brand is no longer or perhaps as of April 16th will no longer be under the supervision of K’hal Adath Jeshurun, a highly respected hechsher. It remains under the certification of the Orthodox Union (OU) and Rabbi Weissmandl. In fact, the writer clearly notes that ‘Dr. Eric Erlbach, of KAJ, emphasized that there is not and never was a problem with the Rubashkin hashgacha.’ Agri will essentially follow the model of some of its competitors like Alle and International that have both the OU and a Chasidic rabbi as their certifiers.
So now that we got the main story out of the way in that there is no kashrus issue here, which is the only concern as far as KosherToday, an on-line trade newsletter, is concerned, let’s try to get to the bottom of the story of who fired whom lest it becomes the subject of a major investigation. Remember the line, ‘you can’t fire me, I quit?’ Well, that’s approximately what happened here.
In certifying Agri’s Kosher Supreme Brand and other kashrus aspects for the past 3 years at the Agri plant in Postville, Rabbi Weissmandl did not see eye to eye with the KAJ certifiers. So in October, KAJ dashed off a letter to Agri that unless it agreed to a set of demands it would pull its hechsher as of April 16th. Agri said NO to those demands and so it triggered the KAJ action, as their letter noted. If you are keeping score, here’s what happened: One of Agri’s main certifiers has perhaps become too assertive, rubbing the KAJ the wrong way. KAJ threatens to fire Agri unless its demands are met, and Agri says, No. KAJ walks (as of April 16th). I wrote the release that said that Agri announced that the company was consolidating its kashrus certifications for ‘marketing reasons,’ which it did. It decided to remain with the two other certifications, which it felt kept its high kosher standards and satisfied its diverse clientele, and opt out of its KAJ certification.
Disputes between rabbis or sometimes rabbis with management are a daily occurrence in the kosher food industry, but the writer insisted that this was different because Agri is the largest meat and poultry producer in the world. Granted that it is a great sensational story, especially when the target is Agri – a convenient punching bag for many a disgruntled writer – it is not a kashrus story beyond the announcement. Oh by the way, thanks to all those who took the time to write and compliment the integrity that I have brought to covering the kosher food industry.
That may get the award for the longest comment ever posted here!
Is there a time warp here? It is 1135 pm central time (1235 eastern) 1/27/08 and I’m reading posts from 2:18 AM 1/28/08. Where are you people? In the Atlantic?
nah a lot of blogs have totally whack time stamps
thanks, anonymous.
tablet k.
do google on saffra, kicked out of his ?shul in gotti territory.
his bais din [for kashruth+] are his sons the doctor and the lawyer.
there is no hasgacha, except on grants picture.
its a shame that jewish shops stock him and have people being nichshol.
Remember when Terra chips were under the triangle-k?
I know the person who ran the factory after it was bought by another company. He’s the one that got the Chof-K to supervise there. He said that the previous owners said that in 7 years of having the triangle-K “supervise” — they never STEPPED FOOT in the factory. Perhaps they are never caught having problems because no one really know what they do — or rather — don’t do.
If you talk to many mashgichim they do not eat at the places they supervise its kind of oxymoronic if you ask me. Oh and Terra chips rock da hizzle.
Humph, you’ve changed my mind! Your arguments are convincing indeed. Despite I’m not a person who is easy to be convinced.
I agree with everybody else: awesome story.! Much food for thought… It really made my day. Thank you.
Sounds great! Your blog is one of my most favorite now
. You have hit the nail on the head, just like you always do.
Dude. The Jewish world/blogosphere is too small.
I found this post as one of the top results in a google search about what the effing F this crescent K heksher is. I found a bottle of marinara sauce in my basement and I wasn’t sure if this was even a heksher or maybe some organic symbol!
I decided to eat it. As someone who used to eat Cheesy Beefy Gordita Crunches at Taco Bell, anything with a heksher on it is a big improvement to me
I just saw a new one the Cucumber K – does anybody know anything about this?
was it on an adult novelty item?
my brother in law works for the OU and he told me the OU is taking it over, and it is ok to eat. Just make sure to confirm this with you LOR before purchasing it.
I know for a fact that there have been non shomer shabbos, drug using mashgichim from “Legit” Kashrut organizations, so if I went by the rule of shomer shabbos mashgichim, there would be well known kosher restaurants I could never eat at.