K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Israeli Chief Rabbinate concedes kosher supervision industry needs ‘fixing’

January 17, 2017: From Times of Israel and Arutz 7:

"Moshe Dagan, Director-General of Israel's Chief Rabbinate, said yesterday that the Rabbinate is not happy with the current situation in which "every local regional rabbinate has its own Kashrut policy."
MKs Rachel Azariah (Kulanu) "has submitted a bill that would render the Rabbinate a "Kashrut regulator" instead of a "Kashrut provider." The Rabbinate would provide licenses to private kashrut providers, which would operate according to their own standards.
"The Rabbinate's Dagan said that Chief Rabbi David Lau has established a committee that is to present recommendations, two months from now, for the improvement of kashrut in Israel. He acknowledged that there was no need for "double and triple kashrut certifications" on the same product – caused by private "Badatzim" (private haredi kashrut certifications) that do not accept the Chief Rabbinate's kashrut standards. "There should be two standards," he said: "Basic and mehadrin."
"The Hotam plan, supported also by the Kosharot organization – widely trusted by the religious-Zionist public to evaluate the various kashrut certifications – recommends three different standards: regular, mehadrin, and something in between. The organizations say that this will prevent the confusion that now reigns as to how stringent, or lenient, each local rabbinate is."
"Rabbi Moshe Katz of Kosharot also recommends the establishment of a national kashrut company that will operate according to kashrut rules set by the Chief Rabbinate, but will be responsible for actually employing the kashrut supervisors according to clear criteria that will be available to the public."