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Introduce an Alternative Kosher Certificate - and be fined Israel today

2021-01-18T20:23:08.561Z


| Jewish News The court in Haifa ruled that a business that presented itself as kosher by an alternative certificate violated the law • Even alternative wordings, the judge noted, may mislead the innocent consumer Kosher certificate Photography:  Illustration image In a ruling handed down today (Monday), Haifa Magistrate's Court Judge Shlomo Banjo ruled that a business that presented itself as kosher throu


The court in Haifa ruled that a business that presented itself as kosher by an alternative certificate violated the law • Even alternative wordings, the judge noted, may mislead the innocent consumer

  • Kosher certificate

    Photography: 

    Illustration image

In a ruling handed down today (Monday), Haifa Magistrate's Court Judge Shlomo Banjo ruled that a business that presented itself as kosher through an alternative kosher certificate violated the Kosher Fraud Prohibition Law.

This is a precedent-setting ruling, in part because for the first time it is the Chief Rabbinate that serves as the prosecutor and not the State Attorney's Office.

About a year ago, it was reported in "Israel Today" that the rabbinate had received permission to sue business owners directly. 

"There are many similarities between the certificate that was hung and the kosher certificate," the judge wrote in the ruling regarding the business, a Haifa-owned Muslim shawarma that was fined by the Chief Rabbinate's kosher fraud department, after presenting a certificate from the Israel Rabbinical Association headed by Meir Rafael Chai Bitton. It has the potential to cause deception and deception. "

"The use of the words 'Association of Rabbis in Israel,'" the judge added, "is not true. This is not an association of Israeli rabbis, but a small group of rabbis ...".

The judge ruled that the reservation written in small letters on the certificate, according to which "this certificate is not a kosher certificate from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel", is insufficient, as it seems that its authors "did not seek to emphasize the fact that it is not a kosher certificate."

As previously stated in the Gini High Court ruling, the Kosher Fraud Prohibition Law is intended to protect those seeking to consume kosher food, lest they be misled and consume non-kosher food that was presented to them as kosher; in this central ruling, given after Jerusalem restaurant owners sought to present themselves as kosher They have a certificate from the rabbinate, it was decided that a restaurant that does not have a kosher certificate should be prevented from presenting a presentation that includes the use of the term "kosher" in all its inflections. "To overcome the Gini rule," Judge Banjo wrote, "these concepts have been replaced with other alternative terms." "Mashgiach has become 'inspector', 'kosher' has become 'elegant supervision', with everything wrapped in the envelope of a certificate that presupposes in its form, in its caption, the rabbinate's kosher certificate, along with the (correct) fact that all products are kosher with the chief rabbinate's kosher."

The judge ruled that the alternative wording could also mislead the innocent consumer, since "the reasonable kosher consumer does not go in to dine and start rummaging through certificates, and does not examine the wording of the ads. Once he notices the certificate that is predicted to be kosher, he notices the food announcing it. "Kosher, in various biases and wordings, a presentation was made to him that the restaurant is kosher and not just the products are kosher. This is a clear misrepresentation and false presentation by the kosher keeper, even if done unintentionally," and therefore convicted the business of two kosher fraud offenses.

The organization "Kosherot", which works to increase awareness of kosher food, said in response: "We are pleased to hear about the ruling that takes into account the best interests of customers who do not differentiate between different and peppered kosher presentations. This precedent opens the door to law enforcement in kosher fraud." Supervision by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. "

The Chief Rabbinate stated: "This is a significant turnaround in the enforcement system against kosher offenders and the recognition by the court of the vitality of the Chief Rabbinate's enforcement work in order to act for the benefit of kosher consumers and prevent their failure. Many other criminal proceedings are currently underway by the Chief Rabbinate. Against violators of the law. "

Raphael Yochai - Director of the Enforcement Unit at the Chief Rabbinate stated that "During enforcement operations in other centers in Israel, businesses were found that assisted the Rabbinical Association in Israel while failing the public after some found serious kosher defects. The Chief Rabbinate will continue to use all tools at its disposal. The public. "

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-01-18

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