[RBS] a thought on supermarket meat counters...

[Riva Pomerantz]

Yesterday, I was in Shefa Shuk later in the evening when it was very quiet.
The meat counter was absent of regular personnel save for some cleaning
people who were chatting freely behind it. There is a large quantity of meat
sitting behind the glass, most of it without "plumbot" meaning it bears no
siman and no real identifying hechsher. I am wondering if there is a
question of "basar shenis'aleim min ha'ayin" in situations like these, where
there is no hashgacha/pikuach and the workers may very well have been
gentile. This is aside from the fact that the only official hechsher on the
meat counter is a Rabbanut so if you buy unwrapped, unmarked meat from the
showcase you are relying on the word of the person who sells it to you that
it is Mehadrin (and it is my understanding that the principle of eid echad
ne'eman b'issurim does not apply to a proprieter or someone with negiyus-not
sure what the status is of the individual selling meat behind a counter who
is not the ba'al habayit, but it would probably be a good idea to ask your
local Orthodox rabbi!). 

 

I am not in any way maligning the Rabbanut hechsher; I just think there may
be Mehadrin consumers, especially those are new to Israel, who may not be
aware of the fact that most supermarket meat counters operate under a
Rabbanut teudah.

 

Riva

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