It turned out that the owner of the factory was literally just playing a game. “Sure, come look at the ingredients… You want to turn on the oven, sure… no problem.” But really, he was as crooked as they come. He’d prepared a truckload of baguettes under no supervision and labeled them with our hashgachah.

I don’t know how he’d planned to get away with that one, but I’m sure glad he didn’t. And of course, he lost his opportunity to work with us.

Another time, a mashgiach I know was traveling to China to supervise a Pesach product. In general, Pesach production is more complicated than chometz production. Plus, Chinese factories are more complicated to supervise than US factories. And one of the chumras the supervising Rebbe wanted in this case was for the mashgiach to be the one to shell the nuts. It was important to him; it was the way the Rebbe did it himself, at home, and he felt that a food that would bear his hashgachah should be done the way he would do it at home. It was so important that it was stipulated clearly in the contract.

But when the mashgiach arrived at the Chinese factory, he found all the nuts already shelled and waiting. Of course, he called the Rebbe. The instructions were clear: Turn around and go home. You cannot work with people who are trying to be tricky and clever and get out of something written clearly in the contract.

You simply cannot trust people like that.

Fun Fact

Baguettes are a serious business, especially in France! There’s even a law (The Bread Decree, 1993) that protects this very special bread (for example, it prohibits freezing baguettes or adding ingredients besides flour, water, yeast and salt!).

There are dozens of types of nuts people can eat and enjoy, and many of them have lots of health benefits! But there are also nuts that are inedible and even poisonous, so never eat a random nut without checking with an adult. (And remember that nuts are a choking hazard for children under 5!)

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 882)