Religion & Beliefs
Kosher Meat Producer Slammed For Inhumane Practices
By Tamar Fox / January 22, 2008
There has been a lot of press in the past year or two about how Rubashkin, the second biggest kosher meat producer, has mistreated both the animals it slaughters, and the workers in the plants it operates. 
First, PETA released a video showing cows' throats ripped out with a meat hook and cows writhing on the floor, trying to get up and run away after the ritual slaughter. Then the Forward published an article about how poorly workers were being treated at the Postville, Iowa plant that had previously been the subject of the PETA video. Among the many complaints were low wages (the cap was at seven dollars an hour for most workers), and no unions because the workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, are afraid of being deported. There were also reports of workers being shortchanged for hours they worked, and of supervisers demanding bribes from employees who want to change shifts, or help relatives get a job. Perhaps the most troubling issue in the article is the lack of safety training given to the workers at the plant. The Forward quoted one man who said he received no training at all, and learned what to do only by being chewed out for bad work. Most recently, Rubashkin tried to prohibit its employees from unionizing by claiming they weren’t really “employees” if they were undocumented workers, and in the country illegally. The National Labor Relations Board found against Rubashkin, Rubashkin appealed, and two weeks ago the US Court of Appeals rejected the appeal. I know that in smaller communities it can be hard to get any kosher meat, and that when it is available, it’s often sold in Wal-mart, and is Rubashkin meat. There are rabbis debating whether or not Rubashkin facilities can even be considered kosher, but even if it is technically kosher, there’s no question that buying Rubashkin meat is supporting a company with bad ethical standards. Let’s stop buying Rubashkin meat.
Ideally, of course, I support going vegetarian (so does Alicia Silverstone) but if you can’t give up meat, try contacting Wise Organic Pastures who provide kosher organic meat to distributors nationwide. That way, even your chulent can be socially conscious.
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those videos of the "rabbi" slaughtering the cows and the cows walking around after is a staged video and the cow is dead after its the nerve's that move look it up do research
All I’m saying is that the pressure needs to be put on those oversight agencies. I think that’s the best strategy. The whole four years of foot dragging is because they rely on the fact that most Jews don’t really care–in much the same way that Jehovah’s Witnesses rely on the fact that most people really don’t read the Bible.
What a shock it would be to the Rabbis to have an upsurge in Jews caring about Judaism. At least it would be a shock to me.
Now, what happens, at least in my city, is that another company opened up and all of a sudden, I don’t see Rubashkin at the normal places that have a rabbi on duty supervising Kashrut. I see beef from another company. That’s because the local Jews (probably about five, since rabbis knew about focus groups way before the politicians) said that they were worried that they weren’t keeping kosher. And that’s how it has to be phrased. I am worried that I might be committing a sin because of your organization. I’m guessing you’ll get some action.
Try this: put up the web address of whomever certifies Rubashkin and ask folks to politely demand that something be done about this, and keep this address up for–a month. Check out the response. I know I’ll write an email demanding the situation be addressed, and see what happens. If they get thousands of emails and still do nothing, I’ll support your boycott.
I also think that any conscious objector (female) should sport these:
http://www.cafepress.com/glattkosher.50930186
Tamar,
And this is the same Rabashkin (Aaron/Moshe) that had collected union dues from their Brooklyn employees, and violation of Humane Slaughter guidelines, as well as a long list of Moshe Rabashkin’s other business code violations, even going so far as to say that the OU was lying? Come on. Whats worse is that whenever American Chabads have their shabbatons, on of the places for a sponsor home to stay is Moshe Rabashkin, yeah I can honestly say that I thought it was an elegant house, that was even equipped with an underground section where I bunked down at (I think it might have been his wine celler),there in Crown Heights, however I would never want to set foot in that house again, after hearing and reading all the indictments made against Rabashkin.
By the way a great article covering all aspects of the Glatt kosher meat company of Rabashkin and other scams of his, including the PETA issue of inhumane slaughter practices can be found at:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/rubashkin.html
Kind regards,
-M
Anonymous raises a good point. Organic, grass-fed meat raised with humane practices and killed by decently paid workers is going to be more expensive than what's currently on the shelves. This means, to me, that we should eat less meat, not that we should buy the artificially cheap stuff. My husband and I feed our family meat and chicken only occasionally. We keep kosher and don't have any meat dishes or pots in our home. If I found out about accessible, socially-responsible kosher meat that I could buy, I would consider cooking it on occasion, as a special meal (like on the Jewish festivals, kind of like slaughtering one of your sheep for Pesach in the olden days). Until then, we'll stick with our veggie-at-home, occasional-meat-at-the-grandparents' system. Like Tamar, the fact that we don't buy meat frees up some money for quality organic produce, legumes, milk, etc.
Jonathan,
Check it outÂ
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If the meat is found not to be Kosher, and everything in your article says that they like to stretch if not break the rules, then they are out of business within a month. I would think a better strategy would be to contact whomever certifies them and insist on high standards of Kashrut. Those who certify need to know that the consumer is paying attention to them also.
I'd love to purchase Organic meats. Will you subsidize the extra cost I need for my family of 6?
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