Analysis Of The OU's Statement

I find aspects of the OU's statement on Shechita-gate to be troubling. For instance:

• The OU writes that PETA "recently released an undercover video showing scenes of cows staggering in apparent agony for several minutes after their throats were cut." [Emphasis added.]
• And then, "The Orthodox Union is very concerned about these accusations. We are      sensitive to the inhumane treatment of animals, and empathize with those who are upset by the images of apparent cruelty recorded on this video." [Emphasis added.]

Were those animals walking around free of pain? For many of the animals shown on PETA's video thrashing and even walking after shechita, the answer is no. They felt pain. Every scientific expert I've spoken with has confirmed this.

• The OU writes: "The Orthodox Union is committed to maintaining the highest ritual standards of shechita without compromising the halacha one whit. In keeping with these standards, we will strive to the best of our ability to  see to it that animals are treated humanely and to see that, at all the plants we supervise, any halachically unnecessary practices which may be seen to be objectionable, are ceased." [Emphasis added.]

"[M]ay be seen to be objectionable"? Again, the OU admits no wrong and attempts to paint the issue as one of squeamish animal rights activists overreacting to normal slaughter procedures, not poor practices at an OU-certified slaughterhouse.

As for questionable practices at other OU-certified plants please see here.

And then, we have this:

• "The United States Department of Agriculture, with which we have a very cooperative working relationship, supervises this slaughterhouse and has found nothing amiss in its practices. Its on-site inspector, Dr. Henry Lawson, has confirmed to us his opinion that the conditions there are humane and that the shechita method of slaughter employed there renders the animal insensate."

The USDA's spokesman, Stephen Cohen, told me yesterday that:

1. No USDA inspector is allowed to speak to the press.
2. The USDA has formed no opinion on the AgriProcessors situation.
3. The USDA is in the middle of its investigation of AgriProcessors.
4. Dr. Henry Lawson is not allowed to speak for and does not speak for the USDA.

Further, I told all of this to the OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack yesterday.

Why? Because Rabbi Genack told me in an earlier conversation that the USDA had found nothing wrong at AgriProcessors and that Dr. Henry Lawson the USDA's chief inspector there had also found nothing wrong.

When I challenged him, Rabbi Genack said, "So? So he's speaking as a private individual, not as the USDA. So what?"

Now, 24 hours after that exchange, the OU is again presenting Dr. Lawson as representing the USDA. This is far from honest.

Further, if the USDA's inspection finds fault with Rubashkin/AgriProcessors, Dr. Lawson, who was in charge of on-site supervision, may also be found to be at fault. He is hardly an independent witness.

As for the assertion that kosher slaughter as performed at AgriProcessors "renders the animal insensate," the question is not if the animal is rendered insensate, it is when the animal is rendered insensate.

The OU's parsing of the English language is reprehensible.

And then, the statement closes this way:

When this story broke, several rabbis, in Israel and Europe as well as in the United States, at first commented negatively on the kashrut of this shechita. Almost all of them, including the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, have now said that their initial statements were based on misinformation, and have retracted them. [Emphasis added.]

For more on at least one of these 'retractions,' see my interview with the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, here.

ShechitaUK told me yesterday that they stood by their statement. David Rosen, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, has not retracted and I have not seen a retraction from Rabbi Raful of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in print.

In short, where are the retractions?

Comments

[Anat Stemmer]

As an orthodox jew, I am dismayed by this information about how slaughter is performed at AgriProcessors and how the OU is reacting. There is no question in my mind that the animals suffer, that the process was flawed and was is not yet corrected; and that the people in charge should resign. The meat may be kosher by the halacha legality but the spirit of the law was not observed and I personally feel betrayed by the rabinate. It is a disgrace that I need PETA to tell my rabinate how to do their job right and that when told they have the audacity to try and defend their wrongdoings.
Anat Stemmer,
Sharon, MA

[Shoshana Sloman]

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen (brother of David Rosen) has also come out against the treatment of animals at AgriProcessors, as well as their general mistreatment in an industrialized meat production operation (http://www.jeremyrosen.com/blog/2004_12_01_jeremyrosen_archive.html#110375399875061277).