I don't see many details about this story online except for some tweets. I wonder why, since this story has been cooking (pun intended) for nearly two weeks.
The story:
A poultry slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania, G&G, received a delivery of live chickens. After the owner exchanged pleasantries with the driver, the driver remarked that he has to leave soon to deliver ducks to the KJ (Kiryas Joel) slaughterhouse.
Hearing this, the owner told that he's had a hard time finding ducks for himself as well, and he promptly ordered some ducks himself, to be delivered at a later date.
When the ducks arrived, he immediately noticed that they seemed irregular. He asked his mashgiach, who verified that they are indeed not kosher. It was initially thought that the problem was with mesorah. It later turned out that the ducks were indeed not kosher at all, since this bird is doreis.
The mashgiach called the KJ slaughterhouse and asked them what kind of duck they used. They hemmed and hawed but gave no clear answer.
The mashgiach then raised a hue and cry and the affected poultry was immediately pulled from store shelves.
Its important to note that KJ poultry is widely used in the Tri-State area, in Kiryas Joel, Williamsburg, Borough Park, and especially in Lakewood. It was widely regarded as possibly the best shechitah around.
The story still doesn't end.
Las week, The Blatt, the official mouthpiece of Rabbi Aarons Teitelbaum's faction of Satmar, and hence the KJ shechita as well, offered up a deliciously different story.
According to them, it was the mashgiach of G&G, Rabbi Stein, who called them for kashrus information since he received a delivery of ducks and he was unsure of their kashrus status.
They immediately and unequivocally stated that it may not be used. He (Rabbi Stein) then hemmed and hawed in order to find a heter, but they stood firm. In the end it turned out that they were right (sic) and he actually called them to thank them for saving him from this michshol.
However, one issue still remained. Why then, did KJ poultry remove their duck from the store shelves?
This week, The Blatt wrote a new version of their story. Here, they write that indeed there is no problem with their ducks, but a relatively small issue has been raised regarding the mesorah status of their ducks, and that they are taking the initiative and are proactively recalling all ducks just in case there may be an issue.
This is where the story stands now. More is sure to follow. In any case KJ's sterling reputation has been severely tarnished.
0 comments:
Post a Comment