Beth Din orders recall of Pesach tuna with tampered expiry date

NICOLA MILTZ

Adam International tuna – on the shelves at Kosher World, Pick n Pay, Checkers and other retailers that stock Kosher le Pesach goods – had a sell-by date of March 2019.

The Beth Din discovered, on close inspection, that the real expiry date was March 2018.

These tins of tuna are believed to have been produced in the Philippines in 2015 with a shelf life of three years. It had an original sell-by date of 2 March 2018, which means the product would have expired by Pesach. The Beth Din became aware of the problem last Thursday, according to Rosh Beth Din Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag.

In a product recall alert on Tuesday, the Beth Din said: “We have identified the following products that have been recalled. Please note this is not a kashrut alert but a food safety alert.”

It warned the public to return Adam International Tuna Chunks in Brine, 170g or Kedem Grape Juice, 947ml with an expiry date in 2019, for a full refund.

According Kurtstag, the expiry date had been tampered with and changed. “This is about business honesty, not kashrut,” he said.

Kurtstag said it was important that the community appreciated the fact that the Beth Din identified the problem and made sure to alert suppliers as soon as possible. He said the Beth Din still had to discuss and deal with the matter appropriately and was considering the way forward.

“We had to tell people about it and recall it for health safety purposes.”

This new kosher scandal follows fresh on the heels of the Stan & Pete saga, throwing the spotlight once again on the Beth Din and kashrut standards. And all this against the backdrop of the listeriosis food scare that has gripped the country.

Kurtstag said the priority was to alert the community about this problem as soon as the Beth Din knew about it.

Retailers have been forced to return the products with only two weeks to go before Pesach, leaving very little time to find replacement products. The potential loss of profits from the sale of the popular items is also of concern, said some retailers, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Most importantly, the concern was for the consumer as only a few tins had been returned following stock takes. This raised concern that there might be communication gaps in the product recall alert.

Adam International released this statement to the SA Jewish Report on Wednesday: “We hereby assure all of our customers that there is no compromise whatsoever with regard to these, or any other, products in our range. These items are perfectly fit for human consumption without any concerns regarding food safety, kashrut or otherwise.”

It further said that the product recall alert was “as a result of confusion that arose regarding batch codes and labelling”.

As a precaution and to avoid any “misunderstandings”, the company decided to withdraw the products from store shelves and offer its customers a full refund or to swop it out with the correct product.

The company’s statement ended with an assurance to its customers of Adam International’s “highest quality in our delicious and trusted brands”.

Adam International was founded in 1976. The company specialises in the importation and distribution of kosher wines, various kosher products, clothing and other goods. Some of its biggest resellers include Dis-Chem, Pick n Pay, Spar and Checkers.