Rubashkin Had More OSHA Violations Than All Other Iowa Meatpackers Combined – 2X All Other Meatpackers Combined

The union group Change to Win testified today before the US Senate Committee on Employment and Workplace Safety.

Who's names were mentioned?

The Rubashkin family and their series of kosher slaughterhouses, including Agriprocessors of Postville, Iowa…

Here is the section of the testimony mentioning Agriprocessors and Rubashkin:

AgriProcessors is one of the world’s largest kosher meat producers. The company is based in
Postville, Iowa where it employs over 800 people and produces beef, poultry, turkey and lamb.
The company has a smaller plant in Gordon, Nebraska, which employs roughly 100 workers.
AgriProcessors produces meat products under brands such as Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice and
Rubashkin’s. The company’s products are sold at well-known retailers such as Trader Joe’s and
Albertsons.

The plant has been the center of controversies for a variety of issues, including health and safety
and environmental issues. In the period of April 2001 to February 2006, OSHA records show no
less than twenty violations at AgriProcessors Postville plant. Of these, twelve were identified by
OSHA as serious. An examination of the Postville plant’s OSHA 300 logs reveals five
amputations along with dozens of other serious injuries such as broken bones, eye injuries and
hearing loss.

On March 20, 2008, the Iowa Occupational Health and Safety Agency (IOSHA) cited
AgriProcessors with 39 new health and safety violations with proposed fines totaling $180,000.

For perspective, in 2007, IOSHA issued 19 violations for all meatpacking plants in Iowa with
fines totaling over $120,000.

From 2000 to 2008, numerous reports in the media and a 2006 investigation by an independent
commission of Rabbis have revealed numerous cases of training, job favoritism, and unsafe conditions.57

Here is a PDF of the transcript of the entire testimony:Download agriprocessors_senate_testimony.pdf

[Hat Tip: The Jewish State.]

Comments

[Isa]

Sarcastically:

I really do not see what all the fuss is all about- I am VERY sure that Rubashkin will pick out all the severed fingers, toes and hands out of the hamburger supply.

[jewishwhistleblower]

see: http://www.thejewishstar.com/

Tranquility Bay rescue stories
1) Questions abound
after Tranquility
Bay rescue
Teen’s history doesn’t add up to draconian exile
BY MAYER FERTIG

2) OPINION
Editorial
The importance of reserving judgment

Missing children/Agunah story:

3) Father, boys disappear after
mom is awarded custody
Possible sighting in Michigan on Shushan Purim reported Tuesday
BY MAYER FERTIG

[jewishwhistleblower]

Our leadership - under criticism

Can you hear us now?

1) Letter to Editor
http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfm?contentid=31068&mode=a&contentname=Letters_To_The_Editor&recnum=5§ionid=14

2) Marvin Schick
http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfm?contentid=31062&mode=a&contentname=Something_Is_Terribly_Wrong&recnum=7&fromsect=5

"In all my years of klal activity I have never seen similar pain or heard such words of criticism as are now being expressed in yeshiva-world families among whom obedience has been the hallmark. I have heard nasty words about Torah leaders from outside of our four cubits and I have been the target of nastiness and hostility because of my advocacy of the primacy of the Torah world and its leaders. Never has there been such anguish and even discontent within our own ranks."

[yidandahalf]

All of the rubash-ins, State inspectors and absentee Feds are playing musical chairs out there. Which ever one gets caught without a chair cries "We did everything we should have. What's all the fuss?" If it is the Fed who gets left out without a cushion for its ass we also get "It's George Bush, he spends all the money on war and we don't have any inspectors."
Since everything I have predicted about this shanda has come to pass, I am confident about his future as a cow mafioso too. ( Actually I don't think he ever offered money for anyone to shut down though. ) When his increasingly ineffectual toadies come out to play on a blog, you know it won't long. What a pimp.

[state of the Jews]

Tests find salmonella in poultry
By Orlan Love
The Gazette
orlan.love@gazettecommunications.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has identified Wapsie Produce in
Decorah and Agriprocessors in Postville as having elevated levels of
salmonella in the poultry they process.

Between 10 percent and 20 percent of samples taken at both plants were
found to be contaminated with salmonella in recent tests, according to
the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

"The chickens come in with it. They don't get it here," said Wapsie
Produce President Mark Nichols.

"It comes from the farms. It's nothing we're doing," said Agriprocessors
plant manager Sholom Rubashkin.

Chickens are a major carrier of salmonella bacteria, and improperly
handled or undercooked poultry and eggs is the single largest source of
salmonella food poisoning, which sickens more than 1 million people and
kills about 500 each year in the United States.

Both Wapsie Produce and Agriprocessors failed their previous tests, with
salmonella found in more than 20 percent of samples, according to Laura
Reiser, a spokeswoman for the Food Safety and Inspection Service,

When that happens, she said, plants undergo a food safety assessment but
are not typically closed.

"Both plants are meeting our minimum performance standards now, but we
would like to see them do better," Reiser said.

Poultry processing plants are required to have pathogen reduction plans
in place to eliminate cross-contamination, she said.

Poultry plants fall into three categories based on their salmonella test
results. Facilities that limit salmonella to 10 percent or less in the
last two sets of samples fall into category 1 — the preferred
performance standard, according to Reiser.

Those that have salmonella in more than 10 percent but fewer than 20
percent of samples are in category 2. Both Wapsie Produce and
Agriprocessors fell into this category, along with 19 other processors
nationwide, which included four Tyson Foods plants and three Pilgrim's
Pride plants.

Just two plants nationwide — a Tyson Foods and a Pilgrim's Pride
facility — fell into category 3, with salmonella found in more than 20
percent of samples in the last two sets of samples.

This is the first time plants with 10 percent to 20 percent of samples
with salmonella have been publicly disclosed.

The USDA changed its policy after several years of increasing salmonella
contamination rates. In seven of the eight years from 1998 to 2005 more
than 10 percent of broilers tested positive for salmonella, and more
than 16 percent tested positive in 2005, according to the USDA.

[Cathy]

it helps to have good inspectors required in these places