In the slipped through the cracks department… last week The Washington Jewish Week reported on the local Vaad’s decision to shut "the JCC Cafe, a kosher dining fixture in the District for more than a decade, has been shut down due to a ‘very blatant’ violation of kashrut standards that employees had tried to cover up."
According to [Rabbi Binyamin Sanders], the incident occurred when the cafe was running low on steak. A tray of about five nonkosher sirloin steaks that had been purchased from a nearby Safeway supermarket were then brought into the cafe, apparently to make up for the shortage.
When the Vaad’s on-site mashgiach, or kashrut supervisor, briefly glimpsed an employee carrying a Safeway bag, he suspected that something was wrong.
At one point, according to Sanders, some cafe employees attempted to shield the mashgiach’s view or otherwise create a "diversion" that was intended to draw attention away from the unkosher meat.
The mashgiach, who could not be reached for comment, quickly doubled back to the room the meat had been brought to.
Read the full story.
