Probe into kosher industry

Investigation into suspected price-fixing finds grand jury asking for documents from major meat packers

Several of the nation’s kosher slaughterhouses and suppliers have been served with federal subpoenas in connection with an investigation of possible antitrust practices, according to a statement by one of those suppliers.

A lawyer for AgriProcessors, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, in Postville, Iowa, confirmed yesterday that the company received a grand jury subpoena requesting documents, as did a number of other meat packers. AgriProcessors is owned by Aaron Rubashkin, a Lubavitch Jew who moved from Brooklyn to northern Iowa in 1987 and who sells kosher meats under the labels Rubashkin’s and Aaron’s Best.

“AgriProcessors is in the process of cooperating with the investigation,” said the statement released by Nathan Lewin, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing AgriProcessors. “It has been told that neither the corporation, nor any corporate officer or employee is presently a target of the investigation.”

How broad the investigation is and how it might affect local kosher suppliers was unclear yesterday. The Justice Department declined requests for interviews, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings. The story was first reported Thursday in The Jewish Week.

A spokesman for Empire Kosher Poultry in Mifflintown, Pa., declined to say whether that company had received a subpoena.

“Empire Kosher’s current ownership and management have never engaged in any sort of price-fixing with competitors and are not aware of any such actions on the part of previous ownership,” spokesman Barry Rosenbaum said.

Several people with knowledge of the industry said they were skeptical of collusion between kosher meat packers.

“These are people who don’t like each other, who don’t get along and who are engaged in cutthroat competition with one another,” said one source in the kosher certification business who asked not to be named because of his relationships with several suppliers.

AgriProcessors already has been a source of controversy as a result of a video of animals being slaughtered in its plant that was posted last year on the Web site of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“I am happy that some light is being shed on this industry because my sense is there are disturbing questions that have been raised,” said Rabbi Moses Birnbaum, a rabbi from Plainview. “And while we have to reserve judgment until we see what comes of this, I’m glad that questions will be asked.”