Troubles at meat plants prompt fears of kosher shortage

By Ben Harris · November 3, 2008

Photos

Related Links

NEW YORK (JTA) -- With the kosher meat producer Agriprocessors facing mounting financial problems, and a fire-related shutdown at another major kosher producer, industry insiders say major supply disruptions are inevitable and kosher consumers should brace themselves for some rough times.

Agriprocessors in the past week or so has endured a cascade of awful news. First, Iowa’s labor commissioner hit the company with nearly $10 million in fines for alleged wage violations. Then, the son of the company’s founder was arrested on charges that he helped purchase fake identification for the company’s illegal workers. And on Oct. 31, news broke that a St. Louis bank had initiated foreclosure proceedings after Agriprocessors and its owners defaulted on a $35 million loan.

Kosher industry insiders are predicting that the company will not pull through. Company officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Meanwhile, production at the nation’s third-largest slaughterhouse, North Star Beef in Minnesota, has ground to a halt after a fire, the Forward reported Monday. Also according to the newspaper, a smaller Agriprocessors plant in Gordon, Neb., stopped operating in October.

Short-term disruptions in the supply of kosher meat, particularly kosher and glatt kosher beef, are now virtually guaranteed. Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of kosher supervision for the Orthodox Union, said he already has heard from communities that have no supply.

“There is going to be a sharp decline in availability immediately,” said Genack, adding that the company is trying to survive but that the situation is grim.

Agriprocessors representatives have had virtually nothing to say publicly over the past week as they faced a succession of ominous developments. But Bernard Feldman, the New York tax attorney hired in September as the company’s new chief executive officer, offered one stark prediction to the Des Moines Register.

“I don’t believe we’re going to have substantial production of any kind in the near future,” Feldman said in Monday’s edition.

Agriprocessors has been reeling since May 12, when federal authorities conducted what at the time was the largest immigration raid in U.S. history in Postville, arresting nearly half the company’s workforce. The company’s troubles have only intensified in the last week and several industry observers said they believe the company cannot possibly recover.

In addition to the foreclosure by First Bank of St. Louis and the arrest of Sholom Rubashkin, the staffing company responsible for approximately half of the labor at the Postville plant suspended its contract. Beef production has been shut down for several days. And reports out of Postville suggest that the company lacks the resources to slaughter and process the chickens in its possession, though some chicken slaughtering reportedly is taking place.

A federal judge placed the company in temporary receivership after First Bank filed a lawsuit alleging that Agriprocessors and its owners defaulted on a $35 million loan. The lawsuit demands the return of the bank’s collateral—a category that includes “virtually all” of the owners’ personal property as well as the company’s accounts receivable, inventory and proceeds.

Agriprocessors also has received a power disconnect notice, the Des Moines Register reported. The company’s electric utility, Alliant Energy, reportedly is working with the company to work out a payment plan. Meanwhile, a relative of the company’s owners has issued a call for the Jewish community to donate funds to help save the company.

Kosher industry insiders, including Agriprocessors’ competitors, uniformly believe that the company’s collapse would be a disaster for the country’s kosher meat supply. Agriprocessors has been a pioneer in the the industrial-scale production of kosher beef, and in many smaller Jewish communities its products are the only kosher ones available.

“For the kosher marketplace, there’s no question there’s going to be short-term shortages of kosher and glatt kosher meat and poultry,” said Elie Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Empire Kosher, a poultry producer. “The industry overnight cannot pick up the decreased level of volume that Agriprocessors has been doing over the last couple of months.”

Rosenfeld said his client continues to see growing demand for its product, but he would not comment on reports that Empire has been exploring opportunities to begin producing kosher beef.

Discussions About this Article Elsewhere

Trackback URL: http://jta.org/trackback/1000722/

No trackbacks have been created for this article, be the first to create one.

Comments RSS Feed Reader Comments

Carol

11/04/08 01:12 AM

This difficulty can actually be viewed as a great opportunity for the Jewish community to eat healthier and more financially affordable...more plant based meals, more fish meals. I hope that this will come to pass.

Alan J. Weisbard

11/04/08 07:02 PM

Agriprocessors does not deserve to survive. It has been a continuing source of shame to the Jewish world. May those responsible be held to account by the civil authorities, since unfortunately the powers that be in the Orthodox world have largely abdicated their responsibilities.

One may hope that more responsible producers in the kosher food world will step forward (perhaps purchasing the facilities left barren by Agriprocessors) to restore production to necessary levels while adhering to legal requirements and ethical standards of the sort proposed by the hekhsher tzedek initiative.

And I agree that it would not be a tragedy for those affected to move to a less meat-centric diet, which would benefit both personal health and the health of the planet. --The Wise Bard

no image specified

Brian Keith Anderson

11/04/08 11:47 PM

As an adherer to a unique code of health (albeit non-Kosher), I have sympathy for this situation. As the son of a fifth generation livestock producer in my region, I’m watching herds reduce at an astonishing rate (moreso than at any other period since NAFTA). While substitutes make some sense, it should be noted that meats are without peer in times of famine. While I’m not predicting a Dutch Hunger Winter (1944-5), there is wisdom in having a reserve herd. Also, under proper management, the land is actually improved by cattle and other rotations.

yehuda shain

11/09/08 10:20 PM

The kosher Meat Shortage in the USA

Solution:
1- The average of a Shechita in the USA is as follows:
Glatt- 12-18%
Non-glatt 25-30%

2- Additional personnel required for the non-glatt production is 1-2 additional Boidkim or inspectors. Of course the non-glatt would require additional time & personnel for the deveining (treiboring) and salting.
3- Kosher Consumers in the USA are 30-35% glatt, 65-70% non-glatt.
4- At the current glatt productions it would be very economical to utilize the additional 25-30% of the non-glatt.
5- This would alleviate the meat shortage in a very short period of time of 2-3 weeks.
6- This would also cause a glut in the kosher beef, which would bring down the price of beef to the kosher consumer.
7- The Orthodox Union aka “OU” till a few years ago also certified non-glatt beef.
8- It would be advantageous for the Supermarket chains across the USA to besiege the “OU” to step up to the plate and bring the cost of beef to the kosher consumer to a market more in line with other beef.
9- The consumer in general is facing economic pressures at this time in being able to afford their basic shopping needs.
10- The “OU” can do this on their own and they owe it to the kosher consumer.
http://www.Kosherconsumer.org

Yehuda shain-732-364-8046