Stan & Pete scandal brings on total upgrade of kashrut supervision

NICOLA MILTZ

“We know that the mashgiach on duty was not trained enough to deal with the situation,” said a sorrowful Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag. “Our systems do not take into account the possibility of fraud and deception. We rely on trust. This is a failing on our part.”

While a mashgiach is well trained by the Beth Din, their training and supervision “is not adequate”, he admitted.

 The Beth Din was blindsided by the recent discovery of treif chickens in the kitchen of popular caterers Stan & Pete two weeks ago. It had heard rumours for some time but was unable to find evidence to corroborate them.

“We did not ignore the tip-off,” stressed Kurtstag. “How they got the chickens there in the first place is still being investigated. It was tricky and complicated. The mashgiach was not aware.”

The mashgiach on duty, Shmully Nudelman, declined to comment this week. His colleagues in the industry have come to his defence, describing him as “gentle”, “honourable”, “mild-mannered” and “easygoing”.

This week, the SA Jewish Report spoke to a number of mashgichim about their work, their training and their working conditions. All wished to remain anonymous to protect their jobs.

One mashgiach said: “The fault lies with the Beth Din. “The mashgiach was sidelined and deceived by people who knew he would not discover what they were doing. Those responsible at the company used him as a patsy and the Beth Din should not have placed him in that position in the first place.”

 Said a senior mashgiach: “I know what to look for because of my experience. But the average mashgiach is at a loss when it comes to knowing the difference between a kosher and non-kosher chicken because they have never been shown what to look for. The same applies for cuts in meat.”

He said the Beth Din needed to take some of the blame. “Many inspectors are in such a rush, they don’t do a thorough inspection. Some are better than others, but there is no consistency.”

 Acknowledging the inadequacies in the training of mashgichim, Kurtstag said the entire kosher supervision system was being overhauled.

Mashgichim will, from now on, be subjected to a grading system. This had already been implemented before the Stan & Pete saga, but will now be rigorously enforced.

“It is vital that mashgichim receive regular refresher training courses,” said one mashgiach.

There is a perception that the job of a mashgiach is reserved for those unable to do more mainstream careers. This has negatively affected the industry and the prospective calibre of candidate, and has had a knock-on effect in the way caterers and restaurants pay and treat kosher supervisors.

One mashgiach with many years’ experience said: “This incident only goes to show what vital work kosher supervision is, and the importance of the role of the mashgiach.”

Kurtstag said it was necessary to create a different perception and to make it more attractive for new, younger people. He admitted that mashgichim were underpaid.

“We work hard, long hours for peanuts and we get taken for granted,” said one mashgiach, who holds down two jobs.

One mashgicha said her full-time salary was roughly R16 500 a month, which worked out to about R10 900 after tax, medical aid and UIF contributions. She works nine hours a day.

Kurtstag said the Beth Din was considering a plan that would see one highly trained mashgiach being responsible for serving several establishments. They would get paid by the Beth Din, which would include this in the licence fees paid by each establishment.

We must change, we must upgrade and take a lesson from this for the future.” You can’t just blame the Beth Din or an individual. A crook planned, and we were not expecting a crook. We realise that our system is not prepared for crooks.”

Another mashgiach accuses the Beth Din of not being “in touch with the reality as it exists on the ground”.

“There needs to be a strict grading system of both mashgichim and establishments, similar to the health departments in America,” he says.

“Establishments should be graded on the standard of their compliance with kosher. If they resist kosher standards or give the mashgichim a hard time about enforcing what the Beis Din says, their grades go down.

Lawyer David Swartz called a meeting with the community and Kurtstag on Wednesday night.

He said: “Clearly, something went wrong. We can’t sit idly by. There is massive speculation and until the community knows exactly what happened and why, we can’t move on.”

One member of the audience called for the need to have an independent forensic investigation.

The meeting which was well attended left people feeling dissatisfied with many questions left unanswered.