Meat Shortage Worse

With Agriprocessors shut down, the
'beef' is that there's no kosher meat.

Ben Harris
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

supermarket in Farmington
Hills with a large kosher sec-
tion has shelves nearly empty
of kosher beef. In New York, a kosher
steakhouse says its customers are can-
celing reservations because choice cuts
aren't always available. And the nation's
second largest kosher meat producer,
reportedly besieged by new orders, is
turning away new customers.
The kosher meat market is in
a tailspin as production at the
Agriprocessors' meatpacking plant in
Postville, Iowa, which had been oper-
ating at a fraction of its normal capac-
ity since May, finally ground to a halt
last week. The company, whose meat
was sold under the labels Rubashkin's
and Aaron's Best, among others, filed
for bankruptcy Nov. 4.
In addition to its Postville plant
temporarily closing, a second Agri
plant in Iowa has permanently closed
and an independent plant, the fifth
largest kosher processor in the U.S.,
has been closed by a major fire.
"What I'm hearing all over the coun-
try is that one day you can get poultry
in some places, one day you can get
brisket, the next day you can't get
pastrami:' said Menachem Lubinsky,
the publisher of Kosher Today and a
former consultant to Agriprocessors.
"People are being very innovative in
how they're getting their products!'
Though Agriprocessors officials hope
to reopen the plant late last week, trou-
ble has long been brewing in Postville
and savvy industry folks began looking
for alternatives months ago.
In the wake of a federal immigra-
tion raid in Postville on May 12,
meat buyers began shifting their
purchases to other companies, which
have struggled to meet the increased
demand. Alle Processing, a New York
City kosher meat supplier that has
become the largest in the United States
with the collapse of Agriprocessors,
has had to place a moratorium on new
customers, according to several indus-
try insiders.

Retailers and restaurants who
already had relationships with
other suppliers have fared the best,
though many report only a por-
tion of their orders are being filled.
Those who were more dependent on
Agriprocessors are finding themselves
in real trouble.

Rolling Shortages
At Heinin's, a specialty foods super-
market in the greater Cleveland area,
the shelves have been without kosher
meat for months. A buyer for the
company said his efforts to locate
an alternative are not going well. An
Albertson's supermarket in the Dallas
area also had no beef on Monday. "I
just got back from the supermarket
and there was absolutely none said
kosher consumer Shalom Abrams.
"Normally they have an 8-foot section
of kosher meat!"
At the ShopRite in Livingston, N.J.,
on Sunday, the shelves were teeming
with glatt kosher beef and lamb from
Solomon's and chicken from Empire
Kosher Poultry, which announced it
would increase production by 50 per-
cent beginning Nov. 24. One town over,
in West Orange, the situation was vastly
different: The most plentiful item in the
kosher beef display was the Rubashkin's
signage.
"Overall, it's a lot less selection;' said
Michelle Amin, shopping at the West
Orange ShopRite. "For the community
who's here to have this kind of empty
shelf, it's crazy."
Even large retailers with multiple
supply options say their orders are not
being fully filled.
Yakov Yarmove, who purchases
kosher meat for the Supervalu chain,
which operates more than 2,400 stores
across the country, estimates he's
getting about 90 percent of what he
needs. Several other large supermarket
chains with reported supply disrup-
tions did not respond to requests for
comment.
Michael Schreiber, the owner of East
Side Kosher Deli in Denver and a sup-
plier of kosher meat to customers in
seven Rocky Mountain states, said he
would have been "in deep trouble" if

Meat Shortage on page A28

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November 27 • 2008

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