The Kashrus Fraud Division of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has issued a severe alert Tuesday detailing a series of serious deficiencies and misleading representations discovered in imported dairy, fish, and meat products currently marketed in major food chains.

The latest update warns the public of several imported items that misrepresent their level of kashrus or falsely claim approval from supervisory bodies.

The first alarming discovery involves 1-liter cartons of long-life whole milk (3.7% fat). The product, manufactured in Belgium by Solarec and imported by Euro Dairies Europe (Gold Frost) Ltd. of Yavne, bears packaging that claims it is Cholov Yisroel under the supervision of Badatz Beit Yosef, alongside the purported approval of the Chief Rabbinate. However, a thorough inspection by the Rabbinate’s Import Department revealed that the product was never authorized by them. Consequently, a directive has been issued for the immediate removal of these products from store shelves and for their return to the importer.

Simultaneously, a severe kashrus issue was identified regarding 115-gram packages of “100% smoked cod liver in fish oil.” Produced in Iceland and imported by G. Willifood International Ltd., the product was labeled as kosher with the approval of the Rabbinate and under the supervision of the OU. The Import Department clarified that they had specifically rejected the approval request for production batches beginning in January 2025.

The Rabbinate stated that the refusal to grant approval for the fish stems from “a lack of essential details regarding parasite treatment, as well as the absence of clarification as to whether the required close supervision was maintained concerning bishul Yisroel.”

In the meat sector, inspectors uncovered a deceptive labeling discrepancy involving frozen beef shank No. 8, produced by Marcovif in Argentina and imported and marketed by Tnuva.

An on-site inspection revealed a serious contradiction: the outer red weighing label described the meat as kosher-chalak, but the stamp directly on the meat itself stated only kosher, notably omitting the chalak designation.
“In light of this discrepancy, which constitutes misleading a consumer who is careful about a specific level of kashrus, the Rabbinate has instructed that these products be returned to Tnuva in order to prevent the continued halachic stumbling block of marketing meat that does not correspond to its external kashrus declaration,” the Rabbinate noted.