Liverpool loses its sole kosher meat supplier
MERSEYSIDE JEWRY’S kashrut crisis has deepened with the deli at its heart turning down the opportunity to restore rabbinical certification, in the aftermath of the discovery of orders of non-kosher meat.
In a notice made public on Tuesday, the Liverpool Kashrut Commission said that “following detailed guidance in conjunction with the Chief Rabbi and Dayan Gelley, head of London Beth Din, the LKC put forward several options to the owners of Rosemans Delicatessen to enable them to obtain a kashrut licence”.
In a separate statement, Dayan Gelley confirmed that the London Beth Din and the Chief Rabbi had been working “on finding a sustainable solution to ensure a reliable and adequate supply of kosher food for the Jewish community in Liverpool”, including an option “that would allow Rosemans to remain open as a fully kosher delicatessen”.
However, the Liverpool authority reported that the deli owners “have decided not to adopt any of those options and [will] run Rosemans as an unlicensed business. We are therefore required to advise the community that Rosemans is no longer under the supervision of LKC.”
As reported by the JC last month, the KLC had instituted emergency measures to provide kosher food for communal facilities after Rosemans, the city’s sole kosher meat supplier, was found to have received regular orders of nonkosher meat over a number of years.
The announcement was followed a day later by the sudden death of Robert Kaye, 43, Rosemans’ owner.
Merseyside Jewish Representative
Council president Howard Winik said there were now “several possibilities” going forward regarding the supply of kosher meat locally “and each needs to be considered carefully”.
There had been “expressions of interest from parties who are interested in helping us set up new, fully licensed facilities in Liverpool”, although nothing had been confirmed.
“While it would be preferable to have a formal retail outlet, we also have
regular, weekly deliveries from strictly kosher out of town suppliers and these could also increase, either in the interim, or, if need be, the longer term.”
Attempts were made to contact Rosemans for the deli’s response.
Following the Mersey crisis, kashrut authority representatives held an “unprecedented” meeting in London last week to review kashrut standards and consider how they might collectively strengthen the kashrut level of establishments under their supervision.
Representatives of the five main kashrut agencies in the capital — the Federation, Kedassia, KLBD, the
London Board for Shechita and SKA [Sephardi Kashrut Authority] met “in the light of serious breaches in kashrut which have befallen some Jewish communities around the world”.
According to a spokesperson, the focus was to “establish a joint policy of minimum requirements for all meaty restaurants and manufacturing premises and to consider how best to utilise technological advances, particularly in CCTV”. A joint statement described the meeting as having been held “in a spirit of achdut [communal unity] with the sole aim of learning from one another and improving kashrut standards”.