New York…”Product recalls are just part of the business,” was the sentiment amongst a number of kosher food executives reached by KosherToday reacting to a number of kosher product recalls. While recalls have been generally rare in the kosher community, happening with less frequency than the general market, kosher purveyors today have acted swiftly and responsibly. Last week, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) blamed a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak from Schreiber Processing's "Kosher Broiled Chicken Livers" for illnesses in several states. But it turned out that the reason for the outbreak was the label in that consumers read “kosher broiled chicken liver” as meaning that it was ready to eat when in fact the livers are only partially cooked. On November 8, 2011, Schreiber (part of Alle Processing Corporation,  Maspeth, New York), announced a recall of an undetermined amount of its “kosher broiled chicken liver” products.

Bloch’s Best, which produces Laromme Vanilla Rugelach recalled the product because of a change in the product's packaging, omitting the presence of eggs as an ingredient, which can be a problem for people with allergies. One illness has been reported. Cheese shredded for Miller’s and World Cheese/Haolam brands were recalled when cheese from another manufacturer using the same plant turned out to have listeria. Despite not having any listeria in its products, Miller’s and Haolam recalled the cheese and quickly made arrangements to produce the cheese in another plant where they “controlled the production,” thus avoiding any prolonged gap in the supply of the cheese. Many food officials interviewed for this article lauded the manner “and seriousness with which the companies responded.”