Monsey Grocer Accuses Federal Officials of Discrimination
A kosher grocery in Rockland County claims that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack is discriminating against Jewish stores.
New Mottys Supermarket, of Monsey, accused Vilsack of violating its civil rights, in a complaint filed April 8 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
The Department of Agriculture uses Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program criteria that “disproportionally target retailers serving minority and immigrant communities such as the Jewish community in Monsey,” the complaint states, “because their communities’ shopping habits and household demographics do not conform to what the agency believes the average SNAP household’s habits and composition are.”
On Jan. 31, the Department of Agriculture charged Mottys with trafficking in SNAP benefits from April 2023 to September 2023. An analysis of the store’s characteristics, food stock and pricing had revealed “clear and repetitive patterns of unusual, irregular and inexplicable activity,” according to a notification letter.
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