Metro
Kosher Controversy
Media join fray over kosher plant,
but are consumers paying attention?
Chanan Tigay
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Philadelphia
A
rlene Holtz grew up
right behind her
grandfather's kosher
butcher shop in downtown
Philadelphia. But when news
broke that the killing practices
at the Agriprocessors plant in
Iowa, America's largest kosher
slaughterhouse, may have been
less than ideal — even, some
have claimed, less than kosher —
Holtz began to think twice about
her fidelity to kosher meat.
"I believe the ideas behind
kashrut are good," says Holtz, 59.
Strictures on what sorts of meat
can be eaten and how the ani-
mals must be killed were intend-
ed to ensure humane treatment
of the animals, she says. But what
if it turns out they're not always
treated so well?
"If I eat that meat, then what
am I saying, that it's OK?" she
asks. "It's not OK. That's not
kosher meat — even if, by the
letter of the law, it is?'
(Agriprocessors is the main
source of both fresh and frozen
kosher meat in the Detroit area.
Its brands are Rubashkin and
Aaron's Best. Alle Packing in New
York City provides Meal Mart
and Schreibers brands, accord-
ing to Rabbi Joseph D. Krupnik,
kashrut director for the Council
of Orthodox rabbis of Greater
Detroit. He said Agriprocessors
and Alle are the two major sourc-
es of kosher meat for the entire
United States.)
Some 18 months after an ani-
mal rights group's video showed
Agriprocessors using a contro-
versial method for slaughtering
cattle — turning the animal
upside down and pulling out its
trachea after its throat had been
slit — the Forward reported
that workers at the plant are
underpaid, undertrained and
exploited. Two Orthodox publica-
tions, Hamodia and the Jewish
Press, then ran pieces slamming
the Forward's reporting.
The Forward responded to
the criticism in an editorial.
Agriprocessors itself took out
an ad in the Forward defending
its practices. And Steven I. Weiss
weighed in on his www.Canonist.
com blog, calling part of the
Jewish Press' coverage "hilari-
ous" and labeling the Forward's
editorial "ridiculous."
The Conservative movement
has established a joint commit-
tee of the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism and the
Rabbinical Assembly to investi-
gate the complaints about work-
ing conditions at Agriprocessors.
For Holtz, the issue has forced
a change: After more than half
a century keeping kosher, the
butcher's granddaughter has
stopped eating kosher meat and
begun buying beef at Whole
Foods, where she's more con-
fident the animals have been
treated well and slaughtered
quickly. "It was a very, very seri-
ous decision that I made," Holtz
says. "I try to be mindful of the
mitzvot and do them, but not to
be blindly mindful?'
The Postville, Iowa-based
Agriprocessors has been in the
news since the animal-rights
group PETA sent an undercover
activist to videotape conditions
at its plant. Investigators with
the U.S. Agriculture Department
later determined that some plant
employees violated humane
slaughter regulations. The recent
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Forward report about working
conditions at the plant just added
fuel to the fire.
But are kosher diners paying
attention?
"In large part, they're not,"
Weiss says. "The average kosher
consumer — like the average
consumer in general — just
doesn't give very much thought
to the ethical provenance of the
products they buy."
Last week, an expert in
slaughtering practices visited
the Agriprocessors plant after
more than a year and a half of
pressure from PETA and found
it had "made a lot of improve-
ments." The plant, whose kosher
practices are monitored by the
Orthodox Union, has instituted
a quality-assurance lab, built a
room for processing meat and
has improved its handling of
animals, Temple Grandin said.
"What we have to do is make
sure we keep them that way:'
said Grandin, a professor of
animal science at Colorado State
University.
The O.U. is hoping Grandin's
findings will put some of the
complaints to bed. "I don't know
if people know about this yet, but
I hope those who were concerned
will be satisfied with that. They
should be," said Rabbi Menachem
Genack, rabbinic administrator
of the O.U.'s kosher division, who
took part in Grandin's visit.
Some observers say Grandin's
findings may, indeed, take the
wind out of PETA's sails. Further,
they say, the fact that many who
keep kosher aren't even aware
of the situation — and that
for many of them there's little
alternative to this meat — may
deflate the controversy.
The O.U. says the practice of
removing the trachea after the
initial cut has been discontinued
and insists that all the meat that
left the plant was kosher.
A spokeswoman for the
Reform movement said that,
while the movement has
guidelines regarding the ethi-
cal treatment of animals, the
movement has not been involved
in any efforts relating to
Agriprocessors.
❑
JTA Foreign Editor Peter Ephross
and Jewish News Associate Editor
Alan Hitsky contributed to this
report.
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