A Meaty Monopoly
Yesterday, my co-worker came into the office and put a copy of the Jewish Daily Forward on my desk. The entire back page was filled with an advertisement, headed by the warning, “Kosher Food Safety Alert.” A few pointed blurbs followed, which exposed several health and safety violations against kosher meat producer, Agriprocessors. Included among them:
“Agriprocessors has been cited more than a dozen times between July 2006 and January 2007 by the USDA for fecal and bile contamination in one of its processing plants.”
“In 2006, the USDA FSIS has cited Agriprocessors more than five times for violations of “mad cow” safety rules.”
The ad, which was paid for by the United Food and Commercial Workers and also ran in The Jewish Week, did not specifically call for a mass boycott of Agriprocessor’s products (though it did warn customers shopping for Thanksgiving turkeys at Trader Joes to check for the Agriprocessors label). Perhaps this was a strategic move on the part of the UFCW in hopes of coming across as a source of information as opposed to a hot-headed activism-focused - and therefore easy to dismiss- organization.
Regardless, there’s also a practical reason not to call for a boycott - for many meat-eating kosher keepers, Agriprocessors is the only option.
Agriprocessors - which has faced a significant number of accusations for health/safety violations, animal cruelty, and abusive worker conditions - is a lead producer of kosher beef, poultry and lamb in America. Agriprocessors meat is packaged under the names Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice, European Glatt, Nevel, Shor Habor, Rubashkin’s, Supreme Kosher, and David’s - which, combined, make up a significant portion of kosher meat available on the market and, in less Jewishly populated cities, can be the only kosher meat available.
In these places, a boycott would mean next to nothing to kosher consumers. They may not like the idea of fecal contamination in their meat, but what other option do they have? Yes, yes, they could go vegetarian. But for the many people for whom that’s not an option either, they are left without an alternative.
I would and could not pretend that I am an expert in the innerworkings of the industrial meat or kosher industries, or the goings on of Agriprocessor’s factories. And perhaps, there is some truty to Agriprocessor’s official letter to customers which claims the UFCW is spreading misinformation.
But what is clear to me is that organizations - even hot-headed, knee-jerk activist ones - don’t bother messing with companies unless they are doing something seriously wrong.
Check out Eye on Agriprocessors here.
Read Agriprocessor’s “Letter to our Customers Regarding the UFCW” here.
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10 Responses to “A Meaty Monopoly”
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aliza Says:
November 20th, 2007 at 10:18 pmI would trust UFCW over Agriprocessors any day. The FSIS does a pretty bad job of inspecting meat plants- food and worker safety problems about; these problems would only be exacerbated in an oligopoly like the kosher meat industry.
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Karen Says:
November 21st, 2007 at 10:30 amWe eat meat only once/week, so I am not faced with this crisis more than a couple times per month. But I would love to buy a brand other than Agriprocessors. I stick with Empire where I can. This week I found a new “organic” beef london broil in my kosher grocer’s freezer case (can’t remember the brand!), so I bought that over the many fresh packages of Aaron’s beef. I hope some of this noise will be heard in Iowa.
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Leah Koenig Says:
November 21st, 2007 at 10:49 amAgreed Aliza - and even if UFCW is only 50% correct in their accusations, that’s still a problem. “Shit in the meat” (to quote Fast Food Nation) - not to mention mistreatment of animals and workers - is a serious shonde.
Karen - if you find out the name of the organic london broil, let us know. It’s a step in the right direction.
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Rabbi Shmuel Says:
November 21st, 2007 at 6:23 pmI agree - if a union could place an ad in a major periodical and fill it with innuendo to the point that a corporation might decide its not cost effective to do battle on first amendment or other grounds and the union can get away with it, it’s a shonde - even if it’s only 50% accurate? what if people wrote a piece about Hazon that was only 50% accurate? I’m sure there’d be outrage and possibly an injunction or two - it’s just about double standards - why dontcha all go out to postville and tour the plant and talk to the workers - I know I did and the results I came up with didn’t jibe with the Forward or the union for that matter - but to regurgitate innuendo and folderol and say “I’m sure it’s true” is that journalism?
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Leah Koenig Says:
November 21st, 2007 at 11:03 pmShmuel - I’m by no means suggesting that a 50% accurate advertisement is okay…if the UFCW is posting misinformation, that’s a serious problem as well.
Still - with all do respect (and I hope you know how much I sincerely respect your opinion), how do you know that what they showed you at Postville was the full story?
I by no means want Agribusiness to shut down - but just like I don’t want McDonalds to simply hire Temple Grandin and call it a day, I equally don’t want Agribusiness to start hiring expensive PR folks who help them spin an eco-friendly message, without legitmately cleaning up their act. There has to be transparency and accountability, and I’m not convinced that Agriprocessors is giving either of those things to customers.
By the way - if I went to Postville, do you really think someone who looks like me would get past the front gate?
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Rabbi Shmuel Says:
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:51 pm1) I insisted on unfettered access and was allowed in almost every area (other than a sterile room where franks are made) - I was in town a few days and got to speak to workers outside the plant as well - any way you slice it it’s miserable work
As I’ve said in the past thre is actually somewhat of a paradox - it actually makes sense to centralize a shechita and processing facility (by industry standard agriprocessor is a drop in the bucket) to minimize the overall environmental footprint.
Can they clean up their act a bit? Probably - But there are powerful winds of hidden agenda blowing around them which forces them to be on the defensive far more than they ought to be. BTW their internal testing laboratoy would make any college science lab professor proud - they have state of the art equipment. Fecal contamination is not a pretty thing but it’s not like they’re turning their backs on safety issues or environmental issues.
Ironically when they are attacked and boycotted by people who don’t ewven keep kosher what impact does that have on them? As Torah Jews, we’ve been in dialog with them and I think change is only going to come from within.
and if you’d like to go with me, write a grant and we’ll get you whatever access you feel would satisfy your comfort level.
But a blog post which in essence says “hey they wouild’nt print it if it wasn’t true falls way short of the level of journalistic integrity you strive so hard to maintain
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Leah Koenig Says:
November 25th, 2007 at 3:39 pmJust for the record - I never said “they wouldn’t print it if it wasn’t true.” I said, “organizations don’t go after companies unless they’re doing something seriously wrong.”
Granted, I am not the authority on the kosher industry, and you may be right that UFCW (hidden agenda or otherwise) is disproportionately focusing their attention on Agriprocessors - the same way The Gap and Kathy Lee Gifford got the majority of public heat for sweatshop labor in the late 90s. But even if Agriprocessors is doing better than the UFCW claims, I think it’s nearly impossible to uphold the rightfully high standards of shechita, animal safety, health, OR workers rights (though that might be the easiest of the four to get right) in a centralized, industrialized animal slaughtering plant. I think that’s primarily where we disagree.
As for visiting Postville - thanks for the offer Shmuel - I’ll start with the goat at the Food Conference, and we’ll see where we get from there. :)
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Leah Koenig Says:
November 25th, 2007 at 3:47 pmBy the way - FailedMessiah, has definitely done in-depth research on The Agriprocessors situation. Check it out here:
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Rabbi Shmuel Says:
November 25th, 2007 at 10:42 pmdo you know who FM is and what his deal is? he’s some megalomaniacal BT who was once a Jewish student leader - he wrote a chutzpadik letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe wanting to know why the shluchim were not enlisted to rescue Ethiopain Jewry. When he didn’t get the response he wanted, he basically began a lifelong vendetta against all things Lubavitch. I understand that he had somed failed meat business in Minnesota also for which he blames Rubashkin. He blames everything on Chabad - his business failings, his lack of friends, his singleness (I understand from friends of his that women find him far too intense to be comfortable with)
He has become somewhat of a minor hit with the veggie crowd. Every time there’s a new agriprocessor post Richard Schwartz and his trained seals chime in - it’s really quite amusing but when the hysteria dies down, there’s not much there.
BTW - he does get an “A” for tenancity. He’s not afaraid to argue halacha with Rabbis (even when he’s dead wrong) or afraid to argue anythibng with anyone. He onceprinted a t-shirt with Britney Spears photo on it. I politely pointed out that such use vioated her right to publicity and was in all likelihood a copyright infringement as well. He responsed with a diatribe about his right to fair use - I’ve only practiced IP law for 25 years - so I take it from whence it comes and it sure don’t come from him.
BTW “Failed Messiah” ironically the nom du blog fits him well
