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The Long Phaseout of Shackling and Hoisting

by Michael Croland · May 3rd, 2010
Animal Care, Kosher, Meat

A few weeks ago, PETA released an undercover investigation of a kosher slaughterhouse that practices shackling and hoisting, a cruel method of slaughter in which live animals are tied up and hung by their limbs prior to having their throats slit. The facility is located in Uruguay and is a major supplier of Alle Processing, which became the leading kosher meat supplier in the U.S. in the wake of AgriProcessors’ collapse. Nathaniel Popper wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Meat from [the site of the investigation] and other South America factories is used to produce most of the processed kosher meat consumed in America, including deli favorites such as salami and pastrami, kosher authorities say.” Dr. Temple Grandin, a leading animal welfare and slaughterhouse design expert, said, “This plant is definitely doing the method of shackling the live bovine and then hoisting and dragging [the animal] out of the stun box and holding [the animal] down. This is a cruel, dangerous practice that should be stopped.”

While video footage of shackling and hoisting is appalling in its own right, the bigger controversy here is that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel agreed to end shackling and hoisting in 2008 following a similar PETA investigation. In Popper’s article, various parties seemed more interested in pointing fingers as to why shackling and hoisting had not yet been phased out than taking responsibility and implementing change.

On Thursday, YNet reported that the office of Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has responded by saying:

The Rabbinate recently convened all the meat importers in Israel and notified them that they will no longer be allowed to import meat slaughtered using this method, and that the plants must switch to the boxing method, which minimizes animal suffering. Currently, following a period of adjustment in which the slaughterhouses made arrangements to carry out the new orders, the Rabbinate is prepared to enforce the new directive.

This new statement seems encouraging, but then again, so did the one in 2008.

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6 Responses to “The Long Phaseout of Shackling and Hoisting”

  1. Lawrence Says:
    May 3rd, 2010 at 9:53 pm

    I’m confused: does this slaughterhouse also provide kosher meat exported to Israel? You only mentioned the American market, and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has no direct authority over kashrut matters in the United States.

  2. Michael Croland Says:
    May 3rd, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    Lawrence,

    The Israeli Chief Rabbinate has significant influence over shechita in South America (I think that Israel buys more kosher meat from there than the U.S. but I’m not 100% certain without looking it up), but this particular slaughterhouse exported to the U.S. That’s part of the confusion that I alluded to when I mentioned that there was a lot of finger-pointing in the L.A. Times article linked to; read that article for more info.

    Here’s a quote from the office of the Chief Rabbinate (from the YNet article): “The slaughter scene in the video was carried out under the supervision of an American kosher organization that is not in any way connected to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. “

  3. Michael Croland Says:
    May 4th, 2010 at 10:28 am

    Lawrence, I just heard back from someone who knows more about this than I do, and he clarified my previous comment.

    The slaughterhouse that was investigated exports to both the U.S. and Israel and has different supervisory crews for each. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate tried to claim that the footage was of an American crew (and under American supervision), and the Orthodox Union in the U.S. claimed it was an Israeli crew (and under Israeli supervision).

  4. seattle matt Says:
    May 4th, 2010 at 11:00 am

    when did this website change its RSS feed from full articles to just titles? probably will drop from google reader…

  5. Faiga Says:
    May 4th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    Aaaaaaaaan ppl wonder why, when I started keeping kosher, I basically went pescatarian *facepalm*

  6. Hilla Says:
    May 5th, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    Michael, thanks for the update on this! Nice to see that progress is being made by the Chief Rabbinate, or at least, attempts at progress…I hope that kosher meat-production continues in a more humane direction.

    Seattle Matt, I use google reader too, but I still get full articles. Not sure how come yours is coming with just titles.

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