Rabbi Mendel Samuels writes about a visit Rabbi Seth Mandel, the head of shechita for the OU, paid to Hartford, Connecticut this week:
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Yitzchok Adler for taking the initiative by bringing Rabbi Seth Mandell of the OU, to our community, to clear up any and all issues regarding Rubashkin Meat. Rabbi Mandell assured us that the many articles were “Loshen Harah” by people who are looking, for personal reasons, to hurt and damage the Rubashkin Name, and that the OU stands by and maintains that they continue to have the highest standards of Kashrus.
Ben Harris, who posted the above email on his JTA blog a few minutes ago, asked Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of OU Kosher, about Mandel's visit and his reported statements. According to Harris, Genack told him:
…[T]he “people” Mandel was probably referring to is PETA, which first drew unwanted attention to the company in 2004 with an undercover video shot in the plant, and the food workers’ union, which has waged a long and still unsuccessful campaign to organizers Agri’s workers. As for the “any and all issues” comment, Genack says that’s not the OU’s position. He declined to be more specific on the record about the OU’s outstanding issues with the way the plant has been run, though he said, as he has repeatedly throughout, that the kashrut of the meat is not in question.
In any case, the impression Mandel appears to have left, and that Samuels is pushing, is that there’s no reason to be concerned about Rubashkin’s — the meat is kosher, the allegations are unproven, and, anyway, those folks who are making them have an agenda.…
Who is Rabbi Seth Mandel?
He's the rabbi who claimed Rubashkin was not using a meat hook to probe the open shechita wounds of fully conscious cattle.
Rabbi Seth Mandel was lying.
And that is some of the "lashon hara" Seth Mandel doesn't want you to see or hear.