Schwartz Bakery, a kosher bakery and caterer with six retail locations across Los Angeles, has dropped the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC) as its kosher certifier. The bakery announced on its Facebook page on May 20 that all of its locations are now being supervised by a competing kosher agency, Kehilla Kosher.
According to its Web site, Schwartz is “the first kosher bakery in Los Angeles.” It is the third kosher establishment to leave the RCC in recent weeks, and the second to join the businesses supervised by Kehilla.
On May 23, two Schwartz locations were still listed in the directory of RCC-certified businesses the kosher certifier's Web site.
The RCC has been under intense pressure since March, when video footage emerged that showed the owner of Doheny Glatt Kosher Meat, the largest meat distributor under RCC supervision, allegedly bringing unidentified animal products into his store at a time when the kosher overseer was absent.
Schwartz is likely the largest business to leave the RCC to date. Founded in 1954, the family-owned business also caters events, sells packaged baked goods to retailers across the Southland and runs the lunch program at Yeshivat Yavneh, an Orthodox day school near Hancock Park.
Marc Hecht, Schwartz Bakery’s owner, and RCC President Rabbi Meyer May could not be reached immediately on Thursday for comment.
