May 2, 2022

Mistakes happen, even to the Eida Hachareidis

Sometimes I hear people say they will not eat this or that hechsher and they will point to a mistake that had been made as the reason, saying that it shows they are unreliable. I always respond that mistakes happen with all the hechshers, and just because a mistake happened is not a reason to avoid any specific hechsher, but perhaps if there are many mistakes in one hechsher, or their response to the mistake and what they do to fix the fault is inadequate, that would be a reason, but the fact that a mistake happened isnt a good reason on its own.

The food production industry is in a flux right now. The Strauss recalls due to salmonella have led to further recalls by other companies for a variety of reasons. 

A product with the kashrut certification of the Eida Hachareidis and labeled as pareve has been discovered to actually contain minor amounts of dairy substances. 

This is not just an allergen warning that some people worry about and does not actually affect the halachic status of the food item. This is the opposite of that. They found actual dairy in the product, and there was not even an allergen warning about minute traces, let alone significant amounts. I heard the amounts discovered are still not enough to affect the pareve status of the food, but people with allergies to dairy/lactose should be careful. 

Mistakes happen. Hopefully nobody allergic was adversely affected by this mistake, but mistakes happen, even to the "best" of hechshers.






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1 comment:

  1. "Sometimes I hear people say they will not eat this or that hechsher and they will point to a mistake that had been made as the reason, saying that it shows they are unreliable."

    People who say that are simply ignorant. As you say, every hasgocha can have mistakes.
    The reasons not to rely on a particular hasgocha are (a) they may hold of hetterim that you or your rav do not rely upon or (b) they are generally loose or careless in their supervision of the businesses they are supposed to supervise. Note that the two are not the same thing; there is an excellent hasgocha in the US that nevertheless relies on certain hetterim that many do not.

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