In an otherwise unremarkable article on PETA's attempt to have the Iowa Department of Agriculture institute legal proceedings against AgriProcessors/Rubashkin for cruelty to animals, we find the following statement:
During slaughter at the plant, rabbis use a 2-foot blade to cut across the neck of the animal, severing the arteries on both sides and the trachea and esophagus. A second cut is made to each artery to ensure rapid blood loss as a second rabbi stands by to monitor, company officials have said.
The idea that a second rabbi "stands by to monitor" the 'second-cut/throat-ripping' appears to be incorrect. If "company officials" actually said this, those "company officials" appear to be lying.
"Company officials" have also been quoted as saying that if the 'second-cut/throat-ripping' tears the trechea and severs it from the cow's body, the cow is "not kosher."
Yet, that is exactly what happened time after time on the PETA video.
Rubashkin has continued to maintain that all cows shown in that video were in fact correctly slaughtered and therefore kosher (unless defects of the internal organs were found on processing). The OU and the KAJ have both claimed the same. Yet, neither the OU or the KAJ have claimed that a second rabbi watched or even inspected the 'second-cut/throat-ripping.'
More on this as it developes.