Video: Non-Kosher Deeds in Kosher Food Warehouse

A shocking video has been causing a stir on social media, showing a worker in a Brooklyn kosher food warehouse who was hired to switch the expiration dates on packages of soon-to-expire goods and repackage them for sale.

20 Comments

  • Just a minute...

    There is nothing unethical or illegal about moving back the expiration date, AS LONG AS, the price is discounted.

    • Nope!

      A store can sell short or out of date stuff IF the fact is disclosed on the package and/or display. Switching dates and then selling to store or people as fresh is as kosher as pig

    • Nope!

      The article says it’s a warehouse, which usually means an independent distributor, not the manufacturer

    • Milhouse

      “Nope!”, you are wrong. There is no need to disclose the changed date. This is black letter law. A use-by date is just the manufacturer’s suggestion, and has no force of law.

  • declasse' intellectual

    #1 & #2 Get real. This practice has been done since the first day that the expiration date appeared. I t is a practice that occurs across the board from the big stores to the small one. What can be save and recycled will be saved and recycled. Some stuff cannot, but there are tricks to get the extra day or two out of products even in the local homemade items.
    I have been in the food supervision business for quite a few years–so good morning and what else is new?

  • WAIT!

    Did anyone contact the company for their side? I heard that this is a scam to spread anti-semitism, and not legit!!

  • yikes!

    Of course this is unethical, and probably illegal too. The expiration date is there for a reason. Who wants to buy stale food? It’s certainly not truth in advertising, i.e. printing the expiration date. As a Jew, I’m embarrassed! We are a reflection of more than just our selfish selves.

    • Milhouse

      You have no idea what you’re talking about. It is not unethical, and it’s certainly not illegal. On the contrary, the law is clear that it’s perfectly legal. See US v Farinella.

      It is not an expiration date, it’s a “best by” date. It is put there by the manufacturer, because he wants people to buy new products. There is no reason to assume it means anything. In the case I cited, the prosecutor got in serious trouble because she called it an “expiration” date. The appeals court called that “false and misleading”.

  • Proofreader

    Who says that it’s happening in the Haddar warehouse? It might be a middleman’s warehouse. Maybe the middleman purchased too much of the product and doesn’t want to take a loss. (I’m not saying that that’s ok. I’m just saying that maybe Haddar is not to blame). We need more info before we accuse anyone of doing anything (wrong or otherwise).

  • Milhouse

    Rabbosai, this exact issue has already been before the courts, and the decision was clear: not only is this perfectly legal, but a prosecutor who brought such a case got in trouble for dragging an honest businessman through gehennom for no reason. US v Farinella.

  • What if?

    A. He did NOT say they were being restamped he was just removing the date.

    B. the expiration date is not the date mold starts growing, it’s an estimate and IF they extended the expiration date to another week that is definitely OK.

    Don’t assume that the re stamping is for an extra year!

    • Milhouse

      As the appeals court said in the case I cited above, an “expiration date” means that you shouldn’t eat the product after that date. But the date on this product (just like the one in that case) is not an expiration date, it’s a “best before” date, which is an entirely different creature. The prosecutor in that case got in big trouble for referring to it as an expiration date, and thus influencing the jury to think that the guy was selling something unsafe to eat.

  • LIebers Pretzels

    So, next time I open a bag of Lieber’s Pretzels, i’ll know why they are rancid, since the best by date has been removed or altered. huzzah!