Ogdensburg, NY – The owner of food distribution plants in New York City has acquired the troubled kosher cheese operations in Ogdensburg and Lowville.
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Toobro LLC, owned by Menachem and Schneur Bistritzky, last week purchased the assets of Ahava Food Corp., which produces cholov yisroel cheese and milk. Toobro has prepared and distributed kosher snacks and meals for several airlines and schools for more than three decades.
“It was an opportunity to take a good business and make it into a great business,” Schneur Bistritzky said Wednesday. “It has had some difficult issues, financially, but we looked at it as we could save the business. It has great potential in the kosher world.”
The Bistritzky brothers have focused their attention on repairing and upgrading the Ogdensburg plant. The state Department of Agriculture and Markets on Friday shut down the Ogdensburg plant for producing contaminated food that “could pose a serious danger to the public’s health, safety and welfare.”
The state agency seized 25,000 pounds of cheese after inspectors found “excessive levels” of bacteria and coliform in the products as well as “non-food-grade oil” during a Feb. 10 to 12 visit. The cheese is sold only in bulk.
The Bistritzky brothers have spent more than $100,000 in the last week upgrading the Ogdensburg plant, including fixing the roof, steam pipes and floor drains, city officials said.
“We’re working closely with the state Agriculture and Markets to get this facility back open. We want to minimize the down time,” Ogdensburg City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra said. “The brothers really want to make this a thriving business.”
No date has been set for state Department of Agriculture and Markets inspectors to revisit the plant. A new management team has been installed at the plant to correct the problems inspectors found.
“We’re updating the facility,” Schneur Bistritzky said. “Our intention from day one has been to keep the plant open.”
State officials said inspectors cited the plant for several issues, including leaking roofs in nonproduction areas, such as the laboratory and offices; shorted lights and extra condensation on equipment because of leaks, and a malfunctioning pasteurizer. Some issues were corrected, while others, such as the pasteurizer, languished.
Andrew Moesel, a spokesperson for Toobro, said that any product that was contaminated has been thrown out. The company also dumped an additional 65,000 gallons of non-contaminated milk as a precaution. No product that was shipped out at any time has had any kind of problem.
The bacteria contamination in the Ogdensburg facility was caused by a leaky roof, which has since been fixed. A new roof was installed at the cost of $77,000. The plant currently is closed for updates and additional renovations.
All product being produced at the moment is being made its other plant in Lowsville, which will continue to be the case until the Ogdensburg plant is completely finished. Toobro is working with the state to address all their concerns and to reopen the plant as soon as possible.
The Lowville plant, which produces bottled milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream, employs about 50 people. The Ogdensburg plant had about 30 workers before the shutdown.
“Our goal and outlook is to maximize both locations to its utmost potential,” Schneur Bistritzky said. “The facilities can handle more production, along with the market.”
The city, which owns the plant and some cheese-making equipment, had planned to evict Ahava of California from its Main Street building March 10 because the company owed $90,000 in rent and $618,138 in utility payments.
The Bistritzky brothers initially expressed interest in December in acquiring the troubled facilities. They were prepared to place a bid of $3.5 million for the assets of Ahava of California through a federal bankruptcy auction, which never occurred.
The Bistritzky brothers acquired the Lowville and Ogdensburg facilities through two financial institutions, which had liens on Ahava.
Mr. Sciorra said he continues negotiating a deal for the plant, along with looking to settle outstanding bills, with the new owners. The City Council will have to approve the deal.
I don’ts ee anything in this article relating to Golden Flow. Unless you’re just a plain nisht farginer who just can’t stomach the fact that Golden Flow has the best milk. And if you would please explain what rip us off means. It seems that my grocery store charges the same for all milk. So I’m nots ure who is “ripping” us all off. At any rate, you sure are a kruma whatever.
Why is the first reacton to any article on VIN about a new or changed ownership of kosher food processing facility a kvetch about the “rip-off” of kosher milk or meat customers. yes the prices are high but thats the price of hashgacha. Also, the new ownership here might inspire more confidence than the prior management where the mashgiach was listed with Z’l after his name. Most of us prefer our mashgichim to be among the living.
When a pasturizer is broken that means that bad bacteria is active in the milk product and can cause sicknesses that can be dangerous to many especialy children, older people or people with low imune sysytems. Why was this not fixed?