Reuven Blau, writer for the NY Post must have thought himself very clever when he wrote about the horrendous hot dog scandal.
I honestly believe that more women should be working as kosher food supervisors. Men certainly aren't as careful as they should be.
To keep a totally strictly kosher kitchen, you must be at least slightly paranoid. Always suspect that something may be wrong. Check every label very carefully.
According to the Post, a non-Jewish worker was sent to a kosher supermarket to buy more hot dogs. I wonder if he was given cash. When he returned, the hot dogs were cooked, and none of the other workers even bothered looking at the packaging or receipt.
Luckily a customer noticed that it didn't seem to be the usual hot dog, and he began checking. When the mistake/trick/scandal was discovered, the customers went berserk. And the guy behind the counter, who had cooked the traif hot dogs reacted in a threatening way.
Yes, that's him.
I think all the workers involved should be fired. This isn't simple mislabeling.
5 comments:
That's horrible. Yes, the should be fired. It's no different from restaurant workers who put their bodily fluids into customers' food as a "joke."
Can you imagine the reactions if the situation involved Muslims thinking they were eating halal beef hot dogs than contained pork? There'd be riots.
Shalom!
Keli Ata you assume that the non-Jewish worker who purchased the hot-dogs, and the other workers who didn't check had malicious intent. Is that true? He may have been negligent, lazy, misread a label or even grabbed the wrong package by mistake. There are reasons for the strict limits on non-Jews handling food - double seals for wine and meat, for instance. If hassidim eat at the restaurant there must be a mashgiah tamid on the premises. What was he doing?
Batya, I mentioned some time ago the problems with women being kashrut supervisors, however if the cook had been a woman she NEVER would have opened a package of hot-dogs and thrown them into a pot without looking at the label. I agree with you about firing the employees. At best this is a case of gross negligence. I hope the kashrut organization certifying the restaurant throughly investigates to determine if the incident was really a one-time event.
Hadassa
P.S. I think that the guy behind the counter was protecting his life. A mob of 100 livid, albeit rightfully so, hassidim is not something to sneeze at. The punishment for serving a Jew traif should be carried out in an organized manner by a Beit Din, not a mob.
Keli and Hadassa, true, good points from both of you.
Yes, that man's life was in danger.
Yes, one that is not careful can be so again in such a situation. His response was not what one should expect when the error is exposed. He should be placed in a position of less responsibility since he was so very lax or fired since there is no heart for the matter at hand. I am sorrowed they had to go through this event of negligence.
Shalom
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