The Kashrut Fraud Division of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has issued a special update revealing a series of serious deficiencies and misleading representations in basic consumer products imported and marketed in food chains.
The first case concerns long-life whole milk, 3.7% fat, in 1-liter cartons produced in Belgium by Solarec and imported by Euro Dairies Europe (Gold Frost) Ltd. of Yavne.
The milk packaging bears a kashrut claim of Chalav Yisrael under the supervision of Badatz Beit Yosef and with the approval of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. However, an inspection by the Rabbinate’s Import Department found that the product was never approved by them. As a result, the product must be removed from shelves and returned to the importer immediately.
At the same time, a significant issue was discovered with "100% smoked cod liver in fish oil," 115-gram packaging - produced in Iceland and imported by G. Willifood International Ltd. The product was labeled as kosher with the approval of the Rabbinate and under the supervision of the private kashrut body OU, despite the Import Department having rejected the approval request for production batches beginning in January 2025.
The Rabbinate stated that “the refusal to approve the fish product stems from a lack of essential details regarding parasite treatment, as well as the absence of clarification as to whether the required close supervision was maintained concerning bishul Yisrael."
In the meat sector, a labeling deficiency was found in frozen beef shank No. 8 produced by Marcovif of Argentina and imported and marketed by Tnuva. An on-site inspection revealed a misleading discrepancy between the outer red weighing label, which described the meat as kosher-chalak, and the stamp on the meat itself, which stated only kosher without the chalak designation.
“In light of this discrepancy, which constitutes misleading a consumer who is careful about a specific level of kashrut, the Rabbinate has instructed that these products be returned to Tnuva in order to prevent the continued halachic stumbling block of marketing meat that does not correspond to its external kashrut declaration," the Rabbinate said.
The Kosharot organization responded: “We call upon the general public and kashrut supervisors to pay attention to the details of the kashrut update and to remain vigilant when purchasing imported products marketed contrary to the kashrut procedures of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, in order to avoid, G-d forbid, any halachic mishap."