BUFFALOW LAKE, MN — In developments that are likely to cripple the availability of kosher beef in large parts of America, three of the five largest slaughterhouses producing kosher beef have halted production this week.
All eyes have been on the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, in Postville, Iowa, which stopped producing beef last week due to a series of legal problems and arrests at its parent company, Agriprocessors. That company also owns a slaughterhouse in Gordon, Neb., which is thought to be the nation’s fifth-largest plant producing kosher meat. While little attention has been paid to the Gordon plant, local officials told the Forward that it stopped operating in October.
Third Kosher Slaughterhouse Halts Production, Heightening Worries About Meat Shortage
Fire at Minnesota Plant Follows Shutdowns of Two Agriprocessors Facilities
BUFFALOW LAKE, MN — In developments that are likely to cripple the availability of kosher beef in large parts of America, three of the five largest slaughterhouses producing kosher beef have halted production this week.
All eyes have been on the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, in Postville, Iowa, which stopped producing beef last week due to a series of legal problems and arrests at its parent company, Agriprocessors. That company also owns a slaughterhouse in Gordon, Neb., which is thought to be the nation’s fifth-largest plant producing kosher meat. While little attention has been paid to the Gordon plant, local officials told the Forward that it stopped operating in October.
Now, in unrelated developments, executives at America’s third-largest kosher beef slaughterhouse, located in Minnesota, told the Forward that production there has been brought to a complete halt due to a fire.
“We’re not killing anything right now,” said Bill Gilger, CEO of North Star Beef, which is located in Buffalo Lake, Minn. “We’re adding to the shortage of kosher beef, having nothing to do with what is going on Postville, but just to do with our own situation here.”
“Whatever it is, there’s going to be a tremendous void in the market,” said Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of O.U. Kosher, the largest certifying agency for kosher meat.
The largest player in the kosher beef industry has been Agriprocessors. Last week, the company’s former CEO was arrested on the same day that a bank initiated foreclosure proceedings against the meat producer. The company had been killing more than 500 head of cattle each day in kosher production, but that number has grown smaller and smaller since an immigration raid in May took away nearly 400 of the company’s workers.
Last week, the plant stopped all production of beef, and on Monday the company’s new CEO said that the company would not be producing meat again anytime soon. In Postville this weekend, operations at the plant were being shut down, and employees were making plans to leave the city.
In Gordon, Neb., Agriprocessors had been producing nearly 150 cattle each day, according to the Gordon city manager, Fred Hlava. Hlava said that production ceased before the Jewish High Holy Days in October and has not started again. Hlava said he has had trouble getting any good information from Agriprocessors.
“I’m not sure what’s transpiring,” Hlava told the Forward.
Before the raid, Agriprocessors did a significant amount of beef slaughtering at a plant in South America. Those operations have also stopped.
Beef production at the North Star Beef facility in Minnesota had been sold under the label of Alle, a kosher meat company based in the New York City borough of Queens. Alle slaughters its kosher beef at two slaughterhouses owned by other companies. The largest slaughterhouse that Alle uses, Aurora Packing Company in Illinois, is still operating. Marvin Fagel, Aurora’s CEO, told the Forward that he is aware of the shortages.
“We can’t just make more products,” Fagle said. “We can’t work longer.”
North Star was Alle’s second-largest slaughter facility, where 330 cattle a day were in kosher production as recently as last week, according to Gilger, the North Star Beef CEO. Alle representatives at the Queens headquarters on Monday could not be reached for comment.
Gilger said that a contractor had started a fire in the slaughterhouse in June that affected the area where kosher meat was soaked and salted. Slaughtering had stopped for two weeks immediately after the fire in June but had begun again. Recently, though, Gilger said the insurance company had failed to cover the costs of the fire.
“We’ve got a $3 million business interruption claim, and they haven’t paid a dime,” Gilger said.
Gilger said that production will be down on Monday and Tuesday but that the company is hoping to begin slaughtering again on Wednesday.
“There’s a definite shortage of kosher beef right now,” Gilger said.
Yitz
Are we going to dream, that this too, is only because of “Anti_Semitism”?
MajKind
It is nothing short of disturbing to see CH.Info quoting the Forward on this (or any) issue. The Forward relentlessly violated basic journalistic ethics by applying a liberal, anti-religious/Orthodox/Chabad slant on any number of topics including nearly fifty articles condemning Agri and the Rubashkins.
Please don’t lend a voice to those who abuse their own.
Mendy
I guess its Pizza time.
from long beach
hearing all these reports about Agri… and the Rubashkin family, i finalliy picked up the coradge to call a long time freind of my family “the Rubashkins” in postville just to tell them we all in crown heights are davening and thinking of them…
thinking with all thats going on ill get a voice mail but instead, Mrs Rubashkin picked up the phone and to my surprise she seemed more conserned about how me and my family were doing…
the Rubashkins, incredible, super, best, nicest in the world…
we should all take example from them…
Rochmiel
Where are the photos of the Rubashkin prison sentencing crowd? I heard over there many busses from Crown Heights went by the judge to ask him to have rachmones.
Resident
Dear fellow community members .Putting all loshon Horah aside I have to say that nightlif- the group for teens that takes place every night in the summer and now during the year, has saved many girls in our community. In the hot summer days when we were all in the country , Moshe rubashkins house was open to our children. It provided them with a safe and kosher entairtenment.
Challenging times
SOME people who leave comments here are so out of their minds it blows my mind. People do not be small minded. This can be catastraphic. This means thousands of yidden in America and accross the world will be with out kosher meat chas v shalom. This is besides the fact that we are soon electing a muslim president and the economy is in a recesion. We need to wake up!
PS the forward are sick anti semites
Jewish Princess
G-d bless these incredible Rubashkins and perform a miracle for them.
Yiddish speaker and kosher eater
Yes Forward, be proud of yourself. You undertook to destroy Kashrus in America and it looks to you like you succeeded. It’s OK, we survived your kind many times over, including your predecessor in Yiddish who fought Judaism for almost 100 years and lets see who talks Yiddish and who is thriving, and what happened to your g-d of secular Yiddish.
We will survive you and you will be destroyed to a shameful memory by your own followers.