Agriprocessors

Agriprocessors is the corporate identity of a slaughterhouse and meat-packaging factory that is in an incorporated area of Postville, Iowa best known as a facility for the glatt kosher processing of cattle, as well as chicken, turkey, duck, lamb and veal. It is the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the United States.

It was founded by Aaron Rubashkin. Rubashkin is regarded as an innovator in the kosher meat industry, bringing modern industrial methods to what has historically been a small, almost boutique craft. Two-thirds of its output, however, is non-kosher and is marketed under the brand Iowa Best Beef. Its kosher products are marketed under the brand names Aaron’s Best, Shor HaBor and Rubashkins. The current CEO is the founder's son Sholom Rubashkin and another son, Heshy Rubashkin is also active in the organization.

Rubashkin purchased the meat packing facility in 1987.

History

Rubashkin opened the Postville plant in 1987, and represented a major breakthrough in mass-production of kosher meat.

Rubashkin, a Brooklyn butcher, made plans to take advantage of economic structural changes to bring mass-production and economies of scale to the kosher meat production business. Postville, a town undergoing a major employment crisis would eventually become the site of his plant. In the 20 years since its construction AgriProcessors has had a major impact on the town - with new jobs, and an influx of Jews. The impact of the plant has often been controversial, including frequent citations for illegal practices, including the knowing recruitment of illegal immigrants and inducing them to work in often dangerous conditions at illegal wages. The plant and the cultural and legal problems surrounding it were the subject of the book Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America. The author, Stephen Bloom has been criticized by some as having anti religious bias.

Rubashkin is regarded as an innovator in the kosher slaughter industry, bringing modern industrial methods to what has historically been a small, almost boutique craft. The plant currently employs over 800 people.

The Rubashkin family opened a new processing plant in conjunction with the Oglala Lakota native-American tribe of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Gordon, Nebraska in 2006. The presence of the plant on an Indian reservation provides considerable tax breaks for Rubashkin, while the plant employs some 100 locals. Governor Dave Heineman presented a $505,000 gratuity check to Rubashkin on behalf of the city of Gordon, part of an incentive package that brought the factory to the town.

Animal abuse controversy

In late 2004, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released an unusually gory video filmed undercover at Agriprocessors, showing cattle having their tracheas and esophagi being ripped out of their necks and surviving for minutes after shechita. Noted animal welfare expert and meat scientist Temple Grandin called Agriprocessors procedures an "atrocious abomination" and worse than anything she had ever seen in over 30 kosher abattoirs.

Jewish authorities were split, with former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, David Rosen, and Shechita UK, along with many non-Orthodox rabbis from the Conservative movement, criticizing Agriprocessors, while Orthodox kashrut organizations continued to stand by the kashrut of the meat. An internal report from the USDA not only held that Agriprocessors engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter, but that FSIS inspectors were sleeping on the job, playing computer games, and had accepted bribes of free meat to to ignore violations at the plant.

On June 27, 2006, at the suggestion of Rabbi Menachem Genack of the Orthodox Union, Temple Grandin toured the facility. According to the Orthodox Union, Dr. Grandin was satisfied with what she saw. However, she was subsequently interviewed by Shmarya Rosenberg, and said to him, "I told the Forward, and this is very important, that they have to learn to keep their process good so they don't slip back."

In 2000 the book Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America was written about the uneasy relationship between the plant and the local community.

Recent developments

Pollution

On August 31, 2006. Agriprocessors signed a consent decree where they essentially admitted discharging untreated slaughering wastewater into the Postville sewerage system, in violation of Federal and Iowa State law and paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations Untreated wastewater from abattoirs is a heavy burden on wastewater treatment plants because of its high biochemical oxygen demand and high concentration of FOG (Fats, oils, and grease) which can form insoluble plaques in sewerage pipes.

Starting in 2004, city authorities started an investigation against Agriprocessors due to complaints from local residents that they routinely deposited untreated effluence into local rivers in breach of regulations. On August 31, 2006. Agriprocessors signed a consent decree and paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations.

Federal immigration raid

Main article: Postville Raid

On 12 May 2008 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") staged a raid on the plant which was described as the largest in the history of the United States. Federal authorities arrested hundreds of illegal immigrant workers during the raid. ICE spokesman Tim Counts said that "The raid was aimed at seeking evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security numbers and for people who are in the country illegally" . According to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Iowa, those arrested "include 290 Guatemalans, 93 Mexicans, 2 Israelis and 4 Ukrainians" . Sources quoted in the affidavit and application for search warrant alleged the existence of a methamphetamine laboratory at the slaughterhouse, and that employees carried weapons to work. Much was made of these charges in the press. Others noted that the document contained many inconsistencies and self-contradictions, casting doubt on the allegations. Among the many inaccuracies in the document is the identification by the sources of an area to the south of the plant as a production area, which it is not.

The Rubashkin family was reported in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on June 5, 2008, to have denied any criminal activity; Aaron Rubashkin was quoted as saying the he had no idea that "his workers were illegal and that they had produced what appeared to be legitimate work documents". .

The ICE raid left the company lacking employees. They hired Labor Ready to supply them "with about 150 workers", but these workers stopped working because of alleged safety issues. The Jacobson Staffing company took the job of staffing the plant shortly thereafter.

In June 2008, Agriprocessors began hiring workers from homeless shelters in Texas to replace employees detained in the federal immigration raid.

5W Public Relations impersonating rabbi critic

Also in June 2008, Agriprocessors hired a pr company, 5w in an attempt to repair its tarnished public image. Shortly thereafter, a large number of suspicious posts defending the company appeared on Jewish blogs, including Failed Messiah, which had been vociferously critical of the company ever since the release of the PETA video. The compiler of Failed Messiah, revealed 5W's sockpuppeting scheme on his blog after two obviously fraudulent posts appeared under the name of Rabbi Morris Allen of Hechsher Tzedek, a noted critic of Agriprocessors. Similar comments impersonating Rabbi Allen were found on the websites of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Vos Iz Neias. The CEO of 5W, admitted that a "senior staff member failed to be transparent in dealing with client matters."

Labor relations

In September 2005, workers at Agriprocessors’ distribution site in Brooklyn, NY, voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union. The company challenged the vote, claiming that the majority of workers who voted were in the US illegally, making their votes invalid despite protection granted undocumented workers in the National Labor Relations Act. Workers allege that Agriprocessors paid low wages, failed to pay overtime and immediately terminated employment of workers who complained about conditions or wages.

Kosher beef shortage

The immigration raid led to a shortage of kosher beef nation-wide, with the expected rise in price; there was a similar price rise in kosher poultry.

See also

• Shechita