World

Kosher Beef

A month after raid on Agriprocessors, meat is in shorter supply.

Sue Fishkoff
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

acqueline Lankry doesn't know
how she's going to fill her orders.
The owner of a kosher cater-
ing firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Lankry
orders a box of meat and poultry every
week from Agriprocessors, which runs the
nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse.
But production there has slowed to a
crawl since a federal immigration raid
last month at its plant in Postville, Iowa.
Lankry learned June 4 that this week's
box isn't coming. "They told me they have
no merchandise," she said. "I'm closed for
business today. I'm going from store to
store looking for meat to fill my orders."
Instead of buying wholesale chopped
meat for $2.19 a pound, Lankry is paying
$6.99 to buy it retail.
Lankry doesn't know about the raid,
problems with the workers or allegations
by the People for Ethical Treatment of
Animals of inhumane slaughter methods.
She just knows that if Agriprocessors
shuts down, she and many others will be
out of business.
The 400 undocumented workers arrest-
ed in the May 12 raid and their families
are living in limbo, out of work and facing
deportation. Now the production slow-
down at the Postville plant has hit the
nation's kosher markets.
Retailers report trouble having their
orders filled. Many are hiking prices
although they are generally vague about
whether the increases are coming from
Agriprocessors or competing suppliers.
Bottom line: There is less kosher meat
and it's costing more.
Some retailers aren't even bothering
to order from Agriprocessors, which has
scrambled in recent weeks to bolster
its depleted work force. Labor Ready, a

till

Local Beef Supplies Mixed

Johnny Katz, owner of Harvard Row
Kosher Meats in West Bloomfield,
relies on Agriprocessors for his kosher
beef and lamb.
Since the mid-May U.S. raid which
arrested nearly half of the 800
Agriprocessors employees in Postville,
Iowa, as illegal aliens, Katz has been

Rubashkin's butcher shop in Brooklyn was still well-stocked last week, but its
Postville plant was limiting supplies elsewhere.

Waterloo, Iowa, non-skilled labor supplier,
at the end of May pulled its 150 workers
out of the Postville plant after 10 days.
A spokesman for Labor Ready said
field managers were concerned about "the
safety and care afforded to our workers:'
The Chicago Tribune reported at the
same time that the Iowa Division of Labor
Services had reduced fines levied against
Agriprocessors in March for 39 violations
of workplace safety rules. The $182,000
in fines were dropped to $42,750 after
the company went through a standard
procedure of meeting with inspectors and
explaining how it had fixed problems.
The violations included improper
storage and use of hazardous chemicals,
improper labeling of emergency exits
and alarms that were inaudible, failure
to develop emergency response plans,
and improper programs for blood-borne
pathogens and use of respirators.
In addition, nearly 75 percent of the
389 workers arrested at the plant as illegal
aliens have been ordered to serve five

receiving about half of his usual order
of kosher meat.
"We're out of certain items," he said
last week. "We can't get veal" and
lamb cuts have been in short supply.
Les Kleiman, owner of Morris Kosher
Poultry in Hazel Park, is one of two
Detroit wholesalers of kosher meat. He
purchases meat from Agriprocessors

months in prison and then be deported. A
number independently told news agencies
that workers were provided fake immigra-
tion and work documents by supervisors
in exchange for sexual favors and financial
kickbacks.
Klara Gottesman, manager of the
meat department at Kosher Marketplace
in Manhattan, stopped ordering from
Agriprocessors a week ago. "I know they
don't have stuff, so I can't rely on them:'
she said.
Mordechai Yitzhaky, the owner of
Kosher Mart in Rockville, Md., says his
meat supply is down 80 percent. He hasn't
seen a price hike yet, but expects one if
production doesn't return to normal soon.
Albert Zadeh, owner of Pico Glatt in
Los Angeles, buys all his meat and poultry
from Agriprocessors. If you order 10 boxes
of beef shank, you only get four;' he said.
There's also less poultry, and it arrives
more haphazardly.
"They used to send chicken legs, cut
up," Zadeh said. "Now they give you whole

in Iowa and Alle Packing in New York,
and he's been covering his shortages
from Agriprocessors with Alle.
"Trade pack [pre-cut and shrink-
wrapped packaged] beef is in short
supply," Kleiman said last week. "You
may see a shortage at certain super-
markets" that have not been autho-
rized to switch from one supplier to

chickens, all sizes, whatever they have."
Agriprocessors has taken several steps
to boost its image and reassure customers,
starting with the removal of the manager
of the Postville plant, Sholom Rubashkin,
the son of the company's owner and
founder.
The company issued a statement June
5 announcing that it had retained Jim
Martin, a former U.S. attorney for the
Eastern District of Missouri, to serve as its
outside corporate compliance officer.
Martin said, "Agriprocessors' 800 jobs
are important to Postville and northern
Iowa, along with the observant Jewish
community across the country that relies
on them for their kosher meat and poul-
try;' he said. "Agriprocessors can meet the
needs of those who depend on the com-
pany and operate in compliance with all
laws, and I intend to see that happen."
Other kosher suppliers, like Empire
Kosher, have stepped up produc-
tion in a bid to fill the supply gap. But
Agriprocessors dominates the market,
supplying 60 percent of the country's
kosher meat and 40 percent of its chicken.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 kosher
consumers, including several leading
rabbis, signed a petition that calls upon
Agriprocessors to treat its workers fairly
and abide by all laws pertaining to work-
ers rights and safety.
The petition, which is being circulated
by Uri L'Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice
group in New York, also asks the company
to create a transparent monitoring sys-
tem open to third-party inspection, "so
consumers can have faith that the meat is
coming to them in an ethical manner."
The petition states that if these condi-
tions are not met by June 15, its signers
will no longer patronize the company.

Alan Hitsky of the Jewish News contributed to
this report.

another.
Meijer and Kroger stores in Michigan
generally have not been affected,
Kleiman said, although several Krogers
are now selling Meal Mart brand from
Alle Packing, rather than Aaron's or
Rubashkin from Agriprocessors.

-Alan Hitsky, associate editor

June 12 • 2008

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