Kosher kitchens take another hit

Customers for kosher foods are finding it increasingly difficult to put meat on the table. With the closure this week of Agriprocessors main plant in Iowa, and problems at other kosher meat processors in other states, shoppers have been enduring a nationwide shortage of kosher beef and lamb.

It may only get worse. Sara Lee Corp., which owns such names as Sara Lee, Ball Park Franks, and Hillshire Farm, announced Wednesday it is going to close its kosher meat processing operations in Chicago. Sara Lee owns Best's Kosher, Sinai Kosher, Shofar, and Wilno brands.

Approximately 185 people are expected to lose their jobs when the plant closes in January.

Sara Lee, which employs about 44,000 people worldwide, announced plans to close one of its North American plants back in July, but has only now announced it was singling out its kosher meats processing business.

Nationwide, kosher consumers have been finding normally well-stocked meat cases empty, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a news wire dedicated to Jewish issues.

Problems began last May when Agriprocessors was raided by Immigration and Naturalization.
Then, "meat buyers began shifting their purchases to other companies, which have struggled to meet the increased demand," reports JTA. " 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 industry insiders."

Kosher consumers face shortages

Consumers who keep kosher may find themselves facing a serious shortage of kosher meats very soon.

Agriprocessors, the Postville, Iowa-based slaughterhouse specializing in kosher meat and poultry, is facing closure following its defaulting on a $35 million loan from a St. Louis bank, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The company has also been reeling after United States Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested nearly half the company's workforce following what, at the time last May, was the largest such action by INS ever. At the end of October, a former top manager was arrested after the company was fined $10 million for labor violations. Agriprocessorshas also received a cut off notice from its power supplier.

The company has been mired in controversy for months. After the INS raids, the company was charged with 31 labor violations, and has been denying charges by the state of Iowa that it pollutes. A Nebraska-based plant owned by Agriprocessors has also closed down. In addition, production at another kosher processing plant, Minnesota's North Star Beef, has come to a halt following a fire at that plant.

According to studies quoted in the Boston Globe, July 30, 86 percent of Orthodox Jews keep kosher homes. That's in contrast to about 25 percent of Conservative Jewish households, and only 5 percent of Reform Jews. Kosher dietary laws cover all aspects of food, from what may be eaten and which foods may be combined with which, to how animals are slaughtered.