By COLlive reporter
The Rabbinical Council of California (RCC) says it has implemented tough kashrus standards in the Los Angeles Jewish community following last year’s kashrus breach at the former Doheny Kosher Meat Market.
Among the new procedures are increased levels of supervision and ongoing training for in-store mashgichim, written protocols with precise instructions for mashgichim in each establishment, and increased inspections by RCC professional staff.
Rabbi Mayer May, President of the RCC, thanked the Orthodox Union (OU) and local rabbonim “for helping us usher in a new era of transparency and commitment to the highest standards of kashrus in our community.”
Additional staff were hired to accommodate the need and allow for crisscross inspections of a team, as opposed to individuals, the RCC said.
Doheny on Pico Boulevard, now under new ownership and called Beverly Hills Kosher, sold treif meats repacked in Kosher meat boxes. They were under the certification of the RCC.
Rabbi Moshe Elefant, CCO of the Kashrus Division of the OU, spoke at a gathering of some 250 people at an OU Kashrus Forum on January 1 and complimented the RCC for the extremely high kashrus standards that are now in place in RCC certified establishments.
Rabbi Elefant noted that every kashrus agency would benefit from this type of review, which in the case of the RCC led to the creation of the Kashrut Vaad of LA (KVLA), a non-partisan oversight committee of local Rabbonim and Bnei Torah.
The KVLA inspects local facilities on a regular basis to insure that kashrus standards are appropriately maintained. The OU has also instructed a number of its local mashgichim to perform ongoing inspections of RCC establishments and to file reports on their findings.
Rabbi Yaakov Luban, Executive Rabbinic Coordinator for the OU and who conducted an independent audit of RCC’s kashrus systems, said: “I am pleased to state that in my last two visits to Los Angeles, I inspected almost every RCC retail outlet and found that my recommendations were implemented across the board. This is a major achievement, and the RCC deserves to be highly commended for this effort.”
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LIKE ORGANIC,GRASS FED?
Until companies like the RCC realize kashrus is a G-dly mission and not a business nothing can be fixed. Money has corrupted this industry…especially in LA
What are the standards? Is there a list?
I wish all kashrus organizations would do the same . Were you ever in a restaurant and the mashgiach was an israeli bachur form kivutzah ( and might not be so “frum ” ) ? or how many mashgichim are getting paid directly from the owner ? and are being bossed around by the owner ? i would like the O.K. to follow suit .