Ashkenazi haredi Chief Rabbi David Lau met with Soglowek’s directors and discussed the issue with the Chief
Rabbinate’s Council. And then Lau decided the kosher status of the
animals was not impacted by the extreme abuse – even though Lau
reportedly had not seen all or even most of the most damning evidence
against Soglowek.
Chief Rabbi Backs Down, Allows Slaughterhouse That Abused Tens Of Thousands Of Animals Each Day To Remain Kosher
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Meat sales of Israel’s largest deli producer Soglowek Food's have reportedly dramatically dropped since Channel 10 News broadcast an exposé detailing widespread animal abuse at the company's slaughterhouse, TheMarker reported.
“Since the report was broadcast [on October 29], there has been a 20 percent drop in sales of all the products sold under the brand name Soglowek,” a source identified as a high-ranking management “official of another large food company” reportedly said, adding that the biggest decline, of 25% to 30%, has been in hot dog sales. “This is a big blow to Soglowek because frankfurters make up a large portion of its sales,” the source reportedly noted.
The Hashikma supermarket chain said Soglowek sales have dropped 5%.
A source at a medium-size supermarket chain reportedly said Soglowek sales dropped 10% with some branches having even larger drops.
Only one supermarket chain contacted by TheMarker said there had been no Soglowek sales drop.
Even so, Soglowek claims its sales have been unaffected by the exposé.
All the retail sources TheMarker spoke to reportedly said the drop in Soglowek sales would be short lived.
“Unfortunately, people here have short memories. As long as there is no risk to human life or customers’ health, I think people will go back to buying Soglowek’s products. The ones who remember this will be the handful of the public that cares deeply about animal abuse,” one of the sources reportedly said.
MK Dov Khenin of the Hadash Party, who acts as the chairman of the Knesset’s social-environmental lobby, proposed two bills to deal with situations like what took place at Soglowek. The first bill if passed would hold companies and senior level managers responsible for animal abuse. Until now, only low level workers and low and mid-level managers have been prosecuted. The second bill amends Israel’s Consumer Protection Law and will prohibit misleading customers about the living conditions of animals. It will also prohibit misleading consumers about the inclusion of animal-derived ingredients in food products.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Ashkenazi haredi Chief Rabbi David Lau, who last week said he feared that the abuse at Soglowek had made the animals trief (non-kosher) and who was considering removing Soglowek’s kosher seal, backed down under extreme pressure from Israel’s haredi rabbinic establishment.
Soglowek is endorsed as kosher by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and by several haredi organizations, including the virulently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit's Badatz Yerushalayim.
Lau met with Soglowek’s directors and discussed the issue with the Chief Rabbinate’s Council. And then Lau decided the kosher status of the animals was not impacted by the extreme abuse – even though Lau reportedly had not seen all or even most of the most damning evidence against Soglowek.
Leaders of the animal welfare organization Anonymous tried repeatedly to meet with Lau to show him that evidence which, they claim, was too harsh for Channel 10 to air. But Lau’s staff reportedly refused to set up a meeting and kept the activists away from Lau.
The Israeli daily Maariv reportedly interviewed Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport, the head of Bar Ilan University’s Beit Midrash for Higher Torah Studies. Based on the videos of the abuse at Soglowek shown on Channel 10, he believes it is impossible that a significant portion of the chickens were not made non-kosher by the abuse. He also reportedly emphasized that that in many cases, a defect that makes a chicken non-kosher would not be easily detected by the shochetim (ritual slaughterers) in the short amount of time they have to work.
Those remarks outraged the Chief Rabbinate. It claims Lau acted “expeditiously and effectively,” conducted his own investigation and cleared Soglowek – although he apparently still accepts that the abuse took place.
For its part, Soglowek reportedly condemned what it called the “libelous statements” made by Rappaport.
Related: Soglowek Posts.