[Image missing from the archive (was hotlinked from another site)]Press Release: May 16, 2012 Village Valley, CA.
Valley police broke up a home-based business in the Valley Glen section of town that sold counterfeit parve chocolate chips to unsuspecting kollel wives in the greater LA area. Five women were arrested and charged with trafficking stolen goods and evading taxes. Eighteen boxes of dairy chips were seized in the raid. However police indicated that only 12 boxes are currently accounted for.
Officers responded to a home in the 12000 block of Burbank Boulevard at about 8:45 p.m. after receiving a call saying there was drug deal of some sort in progress, Sgt. Joe Tradys said.
Instead of entering the home, police officers said they could hear the deal going on in the minivan parked in the driveway. Women were seen carrying shopping bags from the van all day long, Sgt. Tradys said.
Police smelled a “strong odor” of chocolate coming from the area, and after getting search warrants, Tradys said they found the boxes of chips along with empty chocolate chip bags, a label machine, and a bag sealer. The group is alleged to have acquired regular dairy chocolate chips and then repackaged them into an old stock of stolen chip bags from Trader Joe’s. The counterfeit product was made to look like parve chips, and apparently sold for upwards of $10 per bag.
Ten men were arrested inside the home for being present during the raid, and additional charges were pending, Tradys said. However a spokesman for the men claimed they were performing a ritual called “Maaahriv with Tehilim” — a prayer for the restoration of parve foods.
The investigation is ongoing.
Local informants told our crime-hotline that illegal sales of parve food items are on the rise after the OU and OK kosher organizations declared their so-called “War on Parve.” Professor Willow Branchlover of UC Berkley tells us this is an expected reaction. When the power brokers and special interest groups try to limit freedom, the people will revolt. And they have. Making parve illegal has resulted in wasting millions of dollars in public funds. It has resulted in nothing more than criminalizing those who bake parve with dairy equipment.
A spokesman for the OK declined to comment on this matter, but documents found in the trash bins near the OU offices indicate distress over the failure of the OU-DE warning label.
In a surprise alliance with the Jewish community, activists from the Lactose Intolerant Skinheads of America said they support the Jews on this matter.
This can’t be true.
No really it is. I swear to the OU and everything sacred about the kashrut industry that it is a real press release about a real story. Nothing in LA is fake.
He speaks truth. My brother in law lives there and has spoken of the veracity of said black market activities.
I think you should leave the satire to Heshy.
Yours hurts to read.
Why would somebody sell fake pareve chocolate chips? Don’t they realize that people will use the dairy ones thinking it was parve?
“RabbiJason’s” blog has some helpful information about the back story that is causing the run on TJ’s chips. It also has a shout out to Dani Klein who was trying to be helpful regarding this matter. I’m sure his good deeds in this matter will be punished by some frumosphere commentors.
I was just in a Trader Joes yesterday in Metro-Detroit and I was told that members of the Jewish community are ordering 100 count cases of the parve chocolate chips.
I saw an eBay auction for a case of Trafer Jews “pareve” chocolate chips… auction ends sunset erev shavous. Bidding was already up over $100 for the case!
Trafer Joes