A kosher-food supervisor at an Upper East Side store was fired after complaining about insect-infested food to his boss, who told him, “Don’t worry, it’s protein,” a new lawsuit charges.
Moshe Iskhakov, who worked as a mashgiach at Park East Kosher starting in December 2013, alleges in his Manhattan federal-court lawsuit that conditions at the Jewish butcher were far from kosher — bugs covered the vegetables, rats ran rampant and meat returned by customers was resold.
When Iskhakov complained, his supervisor told him to just “wash the insects off of the vegetables” while store owner Michael Kane quipped, “Don’t worry, it’s protein,” the suit says. The bosses then retaliated, making him dispose of dead rats and refusing him paid vacation and sick time, he alleges.
Iskhakov, fired in 2014, is suing Park East and KOF-K Kosher, which oversees the store, for allegedly violating the federal Food Safety Modernization Act.
“We have no knowledge of this,” said a store manager before hanging up.
New Jersey-based KOF-K Kosher didn’t return messages seeking comment.