USDA Report On Beef Exports To Israel and Israel's Kosher Food Market
Here is an excerpt from a July 2001 USDA report prepared by the US Embassy in Tel Aviv on importation of beef into Israel. The excerpt comes from a document given to the Embassy by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel:
It is forbidden to use any form of electric prod to herd the animals into the slaughtering stand. Similarly, no electric current can be applied to accelerate the drainage of blood from the carcass after the slaughter.
This is why the rabbi in charge of importation of meat into Israel Rabbi Ezra Harrari Raful's initial reaction to Rubashkin slaughter as captured on the PETA video was (as quoted by the Jerusalem Post) so negative:
"Technically, the shehita is kosher, but some of the things they do deviate from the rabbinate's guidelines," said Rabbi Ezra Raful, head of the rabbinate's international shehita supervision department, who watched the PETA video together with the Post.
"You see there, it looks like he ripped out the trachea and esophagus. We do not allow the animal to be touched after the shehita until the main part of the bleeding stops.
"That means no stunning like they do in Australia, and no attempts to speed the bleeding like what they are trying to do here."
Raful, who has supervised kosher slaughterhouses all over the world, including at AgriProcessors, said he has never seen the ripped throat practice before.…
"Look," noted Raful, "he did not cut one of the jugular veins, so blood is still flowing. That's another reason for not accepting that shehita. It looks as though the animal wasn't slaughtered properly."
Raful said it normally takes 30 seconds to a minute for the cow to lose consciousness if shehita is done properly.…
Of course, the PETA video demonstrates the use of electric prods and throat-ripping, both forbidden by the Chief Rabbinate. Further, it appears that Rubashkin's slaughter practices differed depending on whether the Chief Rabbinate had its own inspectors on-site or not.
Further, the slaughter of the animal that resulted in improperly severed jugular veins was a violation of the United States Humane Slaughter Act, as was the slaughter of many of the animals on the PETA video. The United States Humane Slaughter Act requires that the jugular veins and the carotid arteries be severed instantaneously in one rapid, smooth cut. If the cut does not sever the jugular veins and the carotid arteries and the animal shows signs of consciousness (like those seen on the PETA video), the animal must be immediately stunned.
The entire USDA document on importation of beef into Israel can be downloaded below:
This is an October, 2001 USDA Israeli kosher food market analysis prepared by the US Embassy in Tel Aviv:
Comments