Halal: NOT Equivalent to Kosher!

A little over a year ago, I noticed that the stuff at Holy Land had this little symbol on it. Since halal isn’t “equivalent to kosher,” I wondered exactly how legal it was–it’s illegal to imply something is kosher when it isn’t. In addition, kosher certification agencies generally freak out over misuse/misleading usage of their heschers, though that wouldn’t be the issue at stake here.

I hit up Shmarya after finding a post he made on the exact same thing, but he said that no rabbis seem concerned about it.

I had figured it was either a deliberate attempt at faking a kosher certification where there was none, or simply trying to poorly explain what “halal” is to people either too sheltered or too stupid to Google it for themselves, but assumed it was the latter.

Just recently, I noticed that the little symbol has changed from saying “equivalent to kosher” around it, to “certified since 1987.” I wonder if someone complained?