[Avodah] Kashrus of a Restaurant Under the Supervision of its Owner

[David Riceman]

R' Yitzchok Levine:
>> Is a person giving supervision on an establishment
>> that he owns a problem from a halachic standpoint?
>> Is this indeed a valid hashgacha, given that the
>> owner and kashrus supervisor are one and the same?
>>     
RAM:
>> According to my notes, about five years ago we had a discussion about how to apply "eid echad ne'eman" to modern real-world kashrus situations. R' Josh Backon suggested looking at the Aruch Hashulchan Yoreh Deah 119, specifically paragraphs #3, 9, and 11 there.
>>     
It depends, as RAM points out, on whether he has a hezkat kashrut.  It 
also may depend on whether there's ithazek issura (e.g. meat) or not.  
See AhSh YD 188:22 and follow the sources back.  I was brought up to be 
lenient like the AhSH, but I've known respectable people who are 
stringent like the Hayyei Adam.

If you are worried about financial interest, however, why not also worry 
that a paid mashgiah has a financial interest in the success of the 
business (or, as RAM worries, that his ne'emanus is questionable)? 
Someone who occasinally posts on this list, and who knows far more than 
I, has argued that at least one major Kashrut agency keeps its staff on 
salary to avoid this problem.

I think that's correct (I have a vague recollection that correct 
practice is to pay shochtim even for treifos to avoid this problem).  
Nonetheless it raises two concerns.  The first is that if an agency 
loses clients it loses revenue.  So being on salary may not make him 
worry about tomorrow's paycheck if he finds problems, but he may worry 
about next month's paycheck.

The second is more abstract.  Laws of agency (shlichus) in the US are 
very different than those in halacha.  So, for example, the firm of 
plumbers I employ is bonded, and I don't need to check each plumber 
individually for expertise and capacity to reimburse me for drastic 
errors.  But in halacha if he makes a mistake the head of the firm can 
simply shrug off the problem by saying to his employee "litkuni 
shdartich v'lo l'avtuni".  There is no practical way in halacha to run a 
large firm.  So the major kashrus agencies, with dozens of employees we 
don't know personally, can run only in a non-halachic legal system.

Anything that concerns you about an owner you don't know personally 
should also concern you about a mashgiah you don't know personally.  
I've known some prominent rabbis who eat meat only if they know the 
shohet personally (I'd guess only meat because of ithazek issura).

David Riceman