Shochtim (kosher slaughterers) examine kosher meat at Combelt in Detroit.

just look at the price,"
says Eugene Feldman of
Dexter-Davison Kosher
Meats. "They are going
away from it at the same
time that the goyim, for
health reasons, are corn-
ing into it. We couldn't
make it without the gen-
tiles now."
Adds Paul Worone, a
longtime kosher butcher
employed at Harvard
Row Kosher Meats,
"We've become a poultry
market." Both Harvard .
Row owner Johnny Katz
and Dexter-Davison's
Mr. Feldman estimate
that meat accounts for
less than half their busi-
ness these days.
Health concerns about
red meat have cut con-
sumption in the United -

.

States during the last
decade. Many are eating
far more poultry and far
less meat. According to
Mr. Flatt of Cornbelt, at
one time his company
slaughtered up to 500
head of cattle a day. On
one of his biggest days in
May, 137 cattle were
slaughtered. Some 120 a
day is now average.
In 1989, the Detroit
Area Jewish Population
Study conducted by the
Jewish Federation deter-
mined that some 96,000
persons in metropolitan
Detroit consider them-
selves Jewish. About 19
percent said they had
kosher dishes at home.
So the independent
kosher butchers are
fighting both the drop in

demand and the competi-
tion from Farmer Jack.
"We're ringing up sales,"
says Jack Cohen, "but by
the end of the week all
we're doing is making a
living. The light bill used
to be $89 or $99. Now it's
$500. The water bill is
now $200."
Morris
Flatt
of
Cornbelt has the same
complaint. "We paid as
much as 84 cents a
pound this year for live-
stock. At one time it was
16.5 cents." Mr. Flatt
says he makes money by
selling thousands of
pounds of kosher beef to
Chicago and East Coast
markets. Detroit, in corn-
parison, is a small shtetl
(village), he says.
"The butchers have a

problem," Mr. Flatt says.
"They sell a few pounds
of beef, chicken and veal
— nothing else. Now the
supermarket, on the
other hand, has many
more items to sell. They
can sell kosher meat
below cost and make
money back on other
items the customer
buys."
He said the two
"fronts" from a cow
weigh approximately 400
pounds. But only 250 of
the 400 is saleable. "The
butcher has to make all
his money on that 250
pounds," Mr. Flatt says,
"while Farmer Jack has
thousands of other items
to sell."
Meanwhile, Mr. Flatt
has his own costs. He

employs two kosher
slaughterers at Cornbelt,
religious men who are
properly trained and
supervised. But, when
kosher demand rises —
around the holidays — or
if a slaughterer is ill or
takes vacation, Mr. Flatt
imports a replacement
from Cleveland or
Chicago. He has to pay
travel and hotel expens-
es as well as salaries,
and that is reflected in
the price.
Bennett Feinman is
part of the family-owned, c"
non-kosher E & L Meats -
in southwest Detroit. A >_
""
Cornbelt customer, he --I
also points out some of
the problems.
"Cornbelt can only sell
the front portion to the

A