In Kansas City, Return Of Agriprocessors Drops Chicken Prices "By Half"

“A lot of it was strictly a business decision. Their prices are a lot better, which makes our prices better for our customers."

Postville meat products back on local store shelves
By Marcia Horn * Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

After a yearlong absence following an immigration-service raid that nearly shut it down, meat from the embattled Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, is once again for sale in the Kansas City area.

Local rabbis welcome the move as a boon to consumers and say they have no qualms about the ethical practices at the Postville plant, or about its kashrut.

On July 20, a federal bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of Agriprocessors, formerly the largest kosher-meat producer in the United States, to SHF Industries, formed by Canada-based entrepreneur Hershey Friedman and his son-in-law, Daniel Hirsch. According to a report in The Forward, Friedman paid $8.5 million for the business, and intends to maintain kosher slaughter there. On July 27, Iowa labor officials agreed to drop the fines they had sought from Agriprocessors from $10 million to $1 million.

A May 2008 raid on the Postville plant resulted in 389 employees — about half the total number of workers — being deported as illegal aliens, and to a variety of criminal charges against former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin and two other officials. The plant has reportedly since operated with a skeleton staff, producing only chicken.

The raid climaxed a rising chorus of private allegations of cruelty to animals and human workers alike at Postville.

But with new ownership in place, local rabbis say they welcome the return of the Rubashkin brands to the city’s largest kosher meat purveyor, the Hen House at 11751 Roe Ave. 

A fresh start
Rabbi Herbert Mandl of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, chairman of the KC Vaad HaKashrut, which handles the supervision and certification of kashrut locally, said he suggested bringing back the Postville product line. SHF will continue to use the same brand names as Agriprocessors: Rubashkin’s, Aaron’s Best and Shor Habor. Aaron Rubashkin was the founder of the business.

“It’s under total new ownership,” Rabbi Mandl said. “… It’s under the (kashrut supervision of the) OU (Orthodox Union), and they have gone in there and scrupulously checked what is going on. The OU itself went through and tightened up standards as far as slaughter is concerned. It’s a total change of operation.”

Rabbi Mandl also noted that Agriprocessors remains in the crosshairs of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose supporters have targeted it for any number of critical actions, including surreptitiously videotaping slaughter procedures they allege to have been cruel and then publicizing the results.

PETA spokeswoman Lindsay Rajt said this week her group would seek to work with the new owners and would continue to try to monitor conditions inside the plant.

“We’re sending SHF a letter this week extending an invitation to meet to talk about past issues regarding inhumane slaughtering and handling at the plant and how to ensure that more humane practices and protocols are established and enforced,” she said. “We’re pushing the new owners to make it a priority to adhere to kosher laws and USDA laws regarding slaughter. We’re all the way vigilant about monitoring and follow-up, especially with the history of this facility.”

Rajt said PETA also supports Temple Grandin’s recommendations to have video monitoring cameras installed, as well as third-party, unannounced audits of the plant. Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is the nation’s leading consultant on humane methods of animal slaughter and meat processing.

Bringing it back

Hen House began carrying Rubashkin chicken about a month ago.

“They (Agriprocessors) may eventually go back to beef, but right now they’re only slaughtering poultry, which is what we’re hurting for here, because we weren’t getting it at all for awhile,” Rabbi Mandl said. “This has dropped the price of kosher poultry in Kansas City by half, and that’s why I asked them to bring it in.”

He said Sheila Fasbinder, the local broker for Rubashkin products, called him a couple of months ago and asked him what he thought about bringing the products back.

“I said, ‘Go for it. It’s a new operation, new owner, they’re being watched. It will drop prices. Let’s go for it,’ ” Rabbi Mandl said.

Mendel Segal, buyer and mashgiach (kashrut overseer) at Hen House, said that during the past year, Hen House has been selling David Elliot and Empire brand chicken.
“Now (Agriprocessors) is building up its products and product line,” he said.

Segal said he expects to have a steady supply. Hen House is selling Aaron’s Best poultry cold cuts and chicken at this time. It will continue to sell a few David Elliot and Empire chicken products, but not as many as before.

“A lot of it was strictly a business decision,” Segal said. “Their (Rubashkin) prices are a lot better, which makes our prices better for our customers.

“But also dealing with them, talking to our representative, we’re all pretty confident they’ve turned over a new leaf. We’ve talked to the rabbis in town, and I know they’re supportive of it. …

“A far as indictments go, they’re not owned any more by the same family. They have a different management system, different ownership. So to me it’s like a new company, really. If anybody is clean, they’re probably the cleanest out there,” he said.

Lessons learned
Rabbi Daniel Rockoff of Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner is Rav haMachshir (certifying authority) for the KC Vaad. He said he believes there will be greater oversight at the plant now.

“Rubashkin’s has been sold, so it’s under new ownership and a new direction, and everything in the past is behind it. There’s no reason to continue to penalize them or not support them,” he said.

Rabbi Rockoff said the Rubashkins may have made mistakes and behaved improperly, but they have been or will be punished accordingly. He sees no reason not to purchase Postville products now.

“I don’t think there’s any reason at this point to further distance ourselves from using their products,” he said. “It’s still a kosher resource, and they’ve served their time, and hopefully they’ve learned a lesson.

“And hopefully we as a Jewish community have learned our lesson, especially in light of what’s going on in the news these days in terms of Jewish ethical practices as they’ve come up in New Jersey; it’s another reminder.”

He was referring to the recent arrests of 16 Orthodox Jews on charges of money laundering and a 17th for illegally buying and selling kidneys.

To say these rabbis are ill informed would be charitable.

Let's go through this point by point:

1. Agriprocessors was not under new management when these rabbis decided to bring back the Rubashkin brands. Agriprocessors was still unsold, and was under the control of a court appointed trustee. That trustee left all former management in place except Sholom Rubashkin. Heshy Rubashkin, Chaim Abrahams, Yossie Gourarie, etc., all were working at Agriprocessors when these rabbis brought back the Rubashkin brands.

2. Dropping poultry prices by half. The price of goods reflects to some degree the price of production. Paying workers $8 per hour with few, if any, benefits makes the cost of chicken a bit lower. Paying them $5-$6 per hour, stealing their overtime pay and refusing to give breaks – all things Agriprocessors did pre-raid – drops the price of chicken even more. 

Agriprocessors under the trustee brought workers to Postville for jobs that started at $10 to $12 per hour. Most of those workers were forced to take less – $8 and hour is a common figure heard – soon after moving to Postiville.

This type of bait-and-switch is legal in Iowa unless there is a collective bargaining agreement or a printed manual from the company stating wages.

But this type of exploitation is unethical and against halakha.

3. The OU and slaughter. The plant is only nominally under the OU. Day to day kosher is controlled by Rabbi Wiessmandl's Supreme Kosher.

Rabbi Wiessmandl took court-approved payments meant for schochtim and mashgichim (ritual slaughterers and kosher line supervisors) and kept it, doling out about half the cash to the rabbis and – illegally – keeping half for himself.

Did this mistreatment of Jewish workers bother the rabbis in Kansas City? Or is this something else these learned men didn't know?

Past that, the OU repeatedly lied about Agriprocessors slaughter.

4. I suspect Empire prices were inflated because there was a monopoly in Kansas City, with one distributor setting the pricing.

When I was in the business, a monopoly just like that led to both Empire and Rubashkin chicken selling wholesale for significantly more money than it sold retail in dozens of US markets. That led to high retail poultry prices. It – along with other similar examples from around the country – eventually led to a Justice Department investigation of the kosher meat industry for price fixing and collusion. Agriprocessors is said to be a major target of that investigation.

5. The cold cuts mentioned are produced in large part from frozen scrap killed under the old management. That includes beef killed using the infamous meat hook to rip out the throat of still living animals seconds after shechita. The esteemed rabbis of Kansas City would know this if they had done even a cursory investigation. Clearly they did not do even that.

I don't see anything wrong with selling Agriprocessors current poultry output, although I think communities should demand fair treatment of workers and humane treatment of animals, and should obtain guarantees of both before putting Agriprocessors products out for sale.

To their credit, the readers of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle don't buy the spin of Kansas City's rabbis. 

A KCJC online poll shows 80% would not buy Agriprocessors because they are still troubled by Agriprocessors treatment of workers and animals, and the other problems of the plant:

But these numbers are sure to change as Rubashkin supporters from around the web slink over to cook the books.

Comments

[harold]

Good news! I hope we can see some lowering of prices here in NY. Brachs in the 5 towns in LI is charging $2.89/lb for chickens - way too high.

[Outcast Yid]

If you live in a large Jewish community like New York, Miami, L.A., etc., you can't understand the situation in a mid-size city like K.C., which has a Jewish population below 20,000. Hen House is a regional supermarket chain, and they have worked with the Jewish community to set up a "kosher island" in their Leawood, KS location. This is the only reliable source of kosher meat, cheese, and other products in the K.C. area. In fact, you can't even get kosher wine at the market because of Kansas laws that limit wine sales to liquor stores. The few hundred strictly kosher families do not have the luxury of adding strictures onto kosher laws.

To illustrate how this works both ways, i.e., in ways that this blog's proprietor would admire, consider the fact that Rabi Mandl, Chairman of the Vaad haKashrut, is a Conservative rabbi. Try pulling that off in a large city!

[Shmarya]

The Rabbi Mandl is clearly misinformed or lying, one of the two.

And I live in a mid-sized community.

[steve]

Isn't there a kosher market in Overland Park?

[Outcast Yid]

The kosher market, Irv's, like Jacobson's before it, closed down. Hen House agreed to serve the Jewish community through this particular store, which is a few blocks from the Overland Park city limits.

[Dark Side of The Moon]

Agri never stopped processing chicken. What's the big deal?

[seymour]

Good news! I hope we can see some lowering of prices here in NY. Brachs in the 5 towns in LI is charging $2.89/lb for chickens - way too high.

Posted by: harold | August 09, 2009 at 06:56 AM

everybody would love to pay lower prices on everything but at what cost.

Would I like to pay less for my sneakers yes. But no if they will pay workers so little they cannot afford to live. same with verything else I buy.

But it seems the frum community do not give a shit all long as the cow was killed according to halacha what do we care abouth the other stuff.

I never have seen a more selfish community that the orthodox

[AGRI-vated Angel]

This would make sense. Treif never costs as much as Kashrut standard products. The 'Agri-illusion' should lower the cost of truly Kosher products as well.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

Outcast Yidwrote:
"The kosher market, Irv's, like Jacobson's before it, closed down. Hen House agreed to serve the Jewish community through this particular store, which is a few blocks from the Overland Park city limits."

This notice indicates Irv's relocated to inside another Hen House supermarket. Do you know if they are still there?
http://www.kcjc.com/pdf/200701127222/news/irv-s-losing-kosher-certification-roe-hen-house-gaining-it.pdf

An Internet search also turned up this:
http://kohnskosher.com

[BaltimoreYid]

I've said it many times & I'll say it again: I will NEVER purchase anything out of that sewer again. I am grateful to have access to many other brands other than Agri. I don't care what the KC vaad or any other vaad says treif is treif and they are treif in every sense of the word. And I don't give a shit about how much tzedaka they give. Hebrew National's Triangle-K certification would carry much more weight than the lies that have come out of that craphole.

[2cents]

Even if you refuse to buy their products, they still will lower the prices of other company's products. There is still a demand, always will be. Agri is not going away, that's all there is to it.

[Outcast Yid]

It wasn't so much that Irv's relocated as that Hen House was filling the void left by the closure of Irv's.

Kohn's Kosher is in St. Louis, which is about 250 miles from KC. And that's really my point -- Hen House is the only reliable source of kosher products within 250 miles.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

This article from the KCJC sounds like the features you see in the weekly food section of major metropolitan daily newspapers. It certainly is not hard reporting. It also asks the question, did a newspaper employee see Agri products in the market and decide to do a story, or did a PR agent or broker go to the newspaper with the idea for a feature?

It also raises questions about where the people quoted in the article got their information from. They don't sound like they read this blog. My experience with merchants is that they get most of their information about vendors from various sales reps, marketing types, brokers, industry propaganda rags, and visits to industry trade shows. Slotting fees also tend to cloud a merchant's judgement.

Before this article, we saw the one from the New Jersey Jewish Standard. No doubt, there will be more as Agri- processors, star, vation, or whatever they finally call themselves ramps up production. They almost have to, to get their foot back in the door. They have to 'sell it'.

This is the first time that I remember seeing a statement that SHF will use the existing brand names, which were included as part of the bankruptcy auction. My guess is many consumers will not even notice. I see brands come and go from my local supermarkets all the time, but never find out why.

The people who follow this blog will get really upset reading these puff pieces, because we know most of the editorial content is hot air. But most of the public just accept this stuff without question.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

Thanks, Outcast Kid, for catching my error. I used the distance feature of yellowpages.com:
http://www.yellowpages.com/Kansas-City-MO/Kosher-Restaurants?expansion_factor=3&search_terms=Kosher-Food
Unfortunately, I didn't check mileage first.

I now see your point. I didn't turn up any still current listing nearer Kansas City, MO either.

[Avi Udwin]

Why do I see Agriproccesors meat products widely available in kosher grocery shops, over the last couple of months.Aarons Best,Shor Habor, Rubashkins etc.Is there realy so much frozen stock left from the May 14 immigration raid. or does Agriproccesors do contracting to with other suppliers without media knowledge?.

[AGRI-vated Angel]

Avi-

The poultry is shipped in live for processing. The beef arrives cut-up/packaged ready for repackaging &/or further preparation-from a South American location.

[Reggie]

If memory serves me well South American beef is not the best news as far as cruelty is concerned. I seem to recall an article some times back about use of practices there that cited methods that would have landed any slaughter house owner in jail for cruelty to animals.

[Shmarya]

There was close to $10 million in frozen meat at the time of the bankruptcy.

The meat coming from SA is secondary to the frozen, I believe.

[Shmarya]

BTW, the SA beef is boxed, meaning it's cut into chucks, ribs, shoulders and then cryovac-ed and boxed, or it's sent in quarters.

It is not sent in retail size portions and is not packaged for retail sale.

[harold]

But it seems the frum community do not give a shit all long as the cow was killed according to halacha what do we care abouth the other stuff.

I never have seen a more selfish community that the orthodox

How absolutely absurd! If Key Foods is having a really good sale on non-kosher rib steaks, does the average Joe give a sh-t as to why the price is low, or what the working conditions of the worker at the slaughterhouse where the meat came from?

Such blind hatred of the orthodox - almost racist in tome!

[Shmarya]

But the kosher keeping Jew won't buy those cheap rib steaks unless a rabbi's seal of approval is on them.

So, you see, 'harold,' those Orthodox Jews do care about something beside price – but what they care about is not rape of workers or inhumane slaughter. All the y care about is ritual minutia.

[harold]

You completely miss my point. Of course the kosher keeping consumer has to have the meat kosher. But once that requirement is meet, they are like any other consumer; they want the best quality for the best price. They are just like any other consumer kosher or not.

The policing of working conditions of the slaughterhouse are not the concern of the average housewife, kosher or not. There are agencies whose jobs are to oversee these issues, at least in the minds of your average consumer, kosher or not.

If I buy a box on Entenmanns donuts, do I have the foggiest knowledge of the working conditions of its workers? Do I care? (Not that I don't "care" about their working conditions, but do I care to the point that I will do research before I buy a box of donuts).

[sage]

It will be quite interesting how HF responds to PETA.

He may, like the RCF in 2003, tell them to take a walk.

If he does respond and implements their requests, 24/7 Camera monitoring, unannouced inspects, and other items, it's still not enough, IMHO, to warrant the Kosher consumer to buy from him.

Other things are necessary, as well:

1. Living wages and health insurance provided/subsidized.

2. Replacement of (OU/Weissmandl) Kashrut certification with one that is honest and transparent.

3. Removal of Messichist Shochtim and Rabbinical inspectors. [Gadol Hador in Israel has ruled that having Messichist Shochtim/Inspectors invalidates the Kashrut of the meat].

4. Permitting employees to unionize without intimidation.

5. No members of the RCF or their supporters permitted on site.

6. Removal of the Weinberg Pen and replacement with Grandin-Style humane upright pen.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Harold, it is unfortunate that the best we can come up with these days to defend orthodox Jews is to say that they're just as apathetic as nonJews.

Entenmanns donut workers must indeed be the happiest people in the world, because of the wonderful delicious products they are privileged to make! It would be my dream job :)
Now I'm hungry...

[Harold]

Yes, that is my point! We are just the same. Don't use different standards espicially when you are referring to average consumerrs going about their daily lives.

Donuts - umm.

[Neo-Conservaguy]

Of course the prices are cheaper - the poultry is most likely raised in tightly packed cages, which costs less than free roaming (Empire) and much less than free range (Wise, David Elliot). The question is: can any poultry raised in such inhumane conditions be kosher regardless of the schitah?

[sage]

+++ The question is: can any poultry raised in such inhumane conditions be kosher regardless of the schitah?

Posted by: Neo-Conservaguy | August 10, 2009 at 10:43 AM +++

Thanks, Neo, for your post.

CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations) raised beef, chicken or turkey, according to most expert opinions, violate the biblical law of t'zaar baalei chayim, and as such, the meat from these animals is not Kosher.

HF is, most likely, getting his chickens from "Cottonballs", a CAFO facility.

[state of the Jews]

"If I buy a box on Entenmanns donuts, do I have the foggiest knowledge of the working conditions of its workers? Do I care?"

Entenmann's is a union shop. Enjoy guilt free.

[state of disgust]

"Harold, it is unfortunate that the best we can come up with these days to defend orthodox Jews is to say that they're just as apathetic as nonJews."

So much for Yashrut.
This false dichotomy between Yashrut and Kashrut has to go. One cannot have kashrut if yashrut is not evident, and one cannot begin to talk about yashrut if there is no kashrut. They are two sides of the same coin - the coin of Jewish values. The OU and other kosher certifiers who have led the Jewish people down this blasphemous path should be horsewhipped.

[state of disgust]

Who owns Cottonballs now?
Wasn't it part of the bankruptcy?

[sage]

"Cottonballs" is a chicken CAFO set up and owned by the RCF several years ago.

I don't think it was part of the Bankruptcy assets, but I could be wrong.

If HF is getting his chickens from there and the RCF still owns it, I don't know what to say, except that, IMHO, all of the chicken output from Agri is, presently, not Kosher.

SHAME, SHAME on the (OU/Weissmandl) shanda.

[Minneapolis]

can someone plea help me i need to get in touch with the new owner of agri, i lost allot of money with SMR but i am hoping the new company will pay their bills so i can at least recoop what i lost and posibly make some money anybody know his full name and address?

[Shmarya]

Hershey Friedman. You can use Agri's address or, as I said before, call Polystar Plastics in Montreal.

[Minneapolis]

Thanx!!

[ex-employee]

Agri's chickens are grown in contracted barns in western Iowa and westeren Minnesota. Approx 250 mile one way trip, to furtherist barns. Some of these growers took great care and had pride in what they raised.These are not caged birds, and I doubt that Emoire's birds are free range. There is a lot of loss when raising free range birds. Just ask someone who rasies birds outside. I don't know if the barns near Postville are producing yet or not. IMHO probably not since area feed providers did not get paid for some time. For all the problems that Agri had/has I believe the chickens sold were of higher quality then Empire, better color, less fat and the meat just "looked" better.

[Pablo Faird]

Sage,
Just curious, do you buy products manufactured in China?

[sage]

As before, your comment does not dignify a response.

[Pablo Faird]

Have I hit a raw nerve or am I just exposing you once again for your hatred pertaing to anything Agri?

[AGRI-vated Angel]

Minneapolis,

[anybody know his full name and address?]

Sholom Mordecei Rubashkin
525 Wilson Street
Postville, IA 52162

[moshe p. utz]

Minneapolis,
"but i am hoping the new company will pay their bills so i can at least recoop what i lost and posibly make some money"
if you would read the terms mr friedman purchased agri, you will notice he bought the company but not the debt, you will need to go after joe " the shmock " sarachek"
good luck !!!!
i am sure sage knows the game. he is an undercover for peta " he loves their photospread of hot woman barely covered !!!

[moshe p. utz]

where is groisa shmekel in time of need. sage has been looking for him awhile. ' hes made in china"

[Neo-Conservaguy]

Agri's chickens are grown in contracted barns in western Iowa and westeren Minnesota. Approx 250 mile one way trip, to furtherist barns. Some of these growers took great care and had pride in what they raised.These are not caged birds, and I doubt that Emoire's birds are free range.

If you check my post more carefully, you will see I note that Empire uses free roaming birds. Pride has nothing to do with the style of animal raising. It would be good to know the exact suppliers and their method of raising birds that are used by Agriprocessors.

There is a lot of loss when raising free range birds. Just ask someone who rasies birds outside. I don't know if the barns near Postville are producing yet or not. IMHO probably not since area feed providers did not get paid for some time. For all the problems that Agri had/has I believe the chickens sold were of higher quality then Empire, better color, less fat and the meat just "looked" better.

You must have been getting a different grade of chicken than was sold around here; it would be difficult to imagine lower quality crap than what I saw.

[AGRI-vated Angel]

[it would be difficult to imagine lower quality crap than what I saw.]

. . . Though we simply must give Agri credit ~

In all the years of processing, they never charged extra for the pin feathers.

[AGRI-vated Angel]

According to information disclosed to the general public, Mr Bensasson has been accused, by the government, of conspiring with others (? ? ? ? ?) between September 2007 & October 2008 to make false statements on a request for an advance on Agriprocessor's revolving loan. My point in restating this information is that it is quite obvious, the facility was in financial distress pre-raid.

Why then, with the promise of fair wages and the 'at present mindset' of suppliers, unwilling to do business with the facility, do people think Agri-Star has a chance of prospering?

. . . unless,of course, the Rubashkins were indeed . . . 'skimmimg' off the top.

? ? ? ? ?

[State of Postville III]

Have you read the Postville Herald? After meeting with one of the new owners of Agri Star the mayor talks very positive about their business practices and believes they will be of GREAT benefit to Postville. Talk about being led down the Primrose Path--how easily we can still be duped. Hopefully this company will prove to be honest, and a good corporate neighbor. Anyone want to wager????

[Concerned for the Postville Area]

State of Postville III
I also found it quite interesting that Representatives Mary Jo Wilhelm and John Beard have concerns over the sale of Agri to SHF but our own city council don't think its their responsibility to monitor regulate business! HELLO, I would think after the last years of diaster within the town that would warrant EXTREME monitoring of the business till they "prove" they are an asset to the town. No wonder this town is so desperate with these yahoo's running the show! Malcom, Rekow, Radloff and Moore must have hidden interests to put the whole town at risk once more!