Chocolatine loses certification

Popular Melbourne kosher patisserie, Chocolatine, has lost its certification after Kosher Australia discovered what it described as “clandestine and intentional breaches of Kashrus” at the business’s new Glenhuntly Road factory.

The business has denied the breaches and made the accusation that the regulatory body “didn’t play fair”.

In a statement last week, Kosher Australia said it was alerted to concerns of possible improper activity at the factory and conducted a thorough inspection on Monday that it said confirmed the allegations.

“Following this discovery, the proprietors of Chocolatine were instructed to close their doors without delay,” the certifying body stated.

Kosher Australia mandated the removal of certification and advised consumers that all existing products should be discarded.

The organisation described the incident as constituting “a grave breach of the trust upon which Kashrus certification is built,” adding that “the required measures for responsible Kashrus supervision were deliberately circumvented.”

Chocolatine, which has operated in Melbourne for seven years and has been popular with Orthodox Jewish customers, disputed the findings in an open letter to the community, claiming the matter arose from a misunderstanding.

“From the very beginning, our foundation has been built on the highest standards of Kashrut,” the Chocolatine team wrote.

“We have always only used Chalav Yisrael, and we have never introduced non-kosher ingredients into our food.”

The patisserie maintained it had always ensured clear separation of dairy and parve equipment, utensils, and preparation spaces and had never knowingly compromised on these standards.

In their statement, Chocolatine thanked “the incredible Melbourne community for your unwavering support over the past seven years” and expressed hope to continue to serve them once “this difficult and painful episode is behind us.”

The business asked Kosher Australia to “re-engage” and apologised for “the pain and confusion” caused.

However, the statement also suggested broader issues, with Chocolatine noting “there is a bit of politics, disagreement, Kosher Australia didn’t play fair with us”.

Kosher Australia said it was implementing additional processes to further strengthen their oversight following a full review of the matter.

The certifying body acknowledged that “even with the best safeguards, conditions of certification enforced by the most reliable agencies have sometimes been breached by uncooperative licensees, making immediate corrective action necessary.”

The AJN has contacted Kosher Australia and Chocolatine for comment.