The Rabbinical Alliance of America, on Orthodox group, declared today that “unscrupulous storekeepers” were charging “exorbitant prices” for Passover foods and urged Jewish housewives to worn such food merchants they would stop patronizing them both for Passover and year-round products if they continued ” these un Jewish and unkosher practices.”
In a related statement, New York Governor Hugh Carey declared that the state’s Kosher Law Enforcement Division was strictly enforcing state Kosher-For-Passover food labeling laws. He said the state had the nation’s largest market for Passover products, with an estimated one million consumers of kosher products.
The Rabbinical Alliance statement was mode by its president, Rabbi Abraham Hecht, who issued “a stem warning” to food merchants selling Passover products to “desist” from the practice “of raising the prices” of such products to “exaggerated” levels.
Hecht said that because the majority of observant Jewish shoppers are limited in their choice of products by adherence to “careful and exacting” standards in such purchases, “unscrupulous store keepers one charging exorbitant prices which cannot be economically justified since there is no appreciable additional expense involved in the handling of Kosher-For-Passover products.”
He said the Rabbinical Alliance urged Jewish merchants “to conform to Jewish Low,” which he said requires “that a fair price be charged and that no undue profit be made” from the sale of Kosher-For-Passover products, and not to cause “additional burdens” for the observant shopper.
STATE REGULATIONS ON PACKAGING
Carey said that the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets; through its Kosher Low Enforcement Division, works to ensure that “unscrupulous entrepreneurs” do not misrepresent kosher products. Under state regulations, he said, any food commodity in packaged form marked “Kosher-For-Passover” cannot be offered for sale unless the producer registers the name of the certifying rabbi or organization with the deportment 30 days prior to marketing the product.
Carey said that only the manufacturer of such products may affix a Kosher-for-Passover label off the package. Storekeepers may not affix labels to Passover products. Loose Kosher For-Passover-Labels in possession of any person or company other than the original manufacturer is a violation of state low.
The Governor also said that restaurants which display a matzoh or offer a “Passover menu” must prepare their Passover food in accordance with Orthodox religious requirements for Passover. Any hotel or restaurant, in or outside New York State, which advertises “under rabbinical supervision” in the state must identify the certifying rabbi or organization.
Rabbi Schulem Rubin, director of the Kosher Low Enforcement Division, said penalties for violation range up to $200 for each misrepresented item. He added that his division is concerned with misrepresentation of products and does not certify the kashruth of any product.
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