Food fight

Nonkosher meat at Peres Indep. fete?

Suspicion that a panicked caterer replaced spoiled meat with unapproved substitute on morning of event

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres at the ceremony for outstanding soldiers at the President's Residence in Jerusalem last week (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres at the ceremony for outstanding soldiers at the President's Residence in Jerusalem last week (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The President’s Residence is investigating claims that a catering company served nonkosher meat during a presidential Independence Day banquet.

The event, attended by President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and government ministers, as well as 120 outstanding soldiers and hundreds of others, was held at the president’s official residence in Jerusalem last Thursday.

According to Maariv, the Pri Haaretz catering company bought 80 kilograms of meat on the morning of the event to replace a large amount of meat that had spoiled the day before.

Sources said a representative of the company arrived in a state of panic on Thursday morning at the non-kosher Ataliz Isawiya restaurant in the village of Abu Ghosh, asking not only to buy meat but to also cook it in the restaurant’s kitchen.

Pri Haaretz confirmed to Maariv that it bought meat in Abu Ghosh to replace spoiled products, but insisted that the meat served at the president’s event came from its own kosher kitchens in Kibbutz Givat Haim.

After receiving information from Maariv, the President’s Residence launched an investigation to find out exactly which meat was served at the banquet.

Questions are being asked about the meat served at the President's Independence Day banquet. (illustration photo credit: Liron Almog/FLASH90(
Questions are being asked about the meat served at the President's Independence Day banquet. (illustrative photo credit: Liron Almog/FLASH90(

Peres’s spokesperson said all catered events at the residence must have a kosher certification from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. The official said that all the required documentation authorizing the meat at the Independence Day feast had been provided by the kashrut supervisor when requested.

Event manager at Pri Haaretz Ofer ben Yaakov told Maariv that the day before the banquet it was discovered that the meat to be grilled was spoiled and that the company brought replacement meat from its central kitchens on the kibbutz.

“It is impossible that any non-kosher meat was brought here [to the President’s Residence] because our kashrut supervisor checks every package and every cut of meat that arrives,” ben Yaakov said.

Peres’s spokesperson said that if it became apparent that the catering company acted in violation of kosher regulations, the President’s Residence would employ the full force of the law against it.

 

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