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In The News
November 27, 2007
The Jewish Advocate
JLC issues alert against
kosher food producers
By
MOLLY RITVO
Agriprocessors continues to come under scrutiny
for health and safety concerns.
The Jewish Labor
Committee (JLC) is
currently issuing a
“kosher safety
alert,” in hopes of
impacting Agriprocessors, the
country’s largest
kosher
slaughterhouse,
which has been the
subject of ongoing
scrutiny.
“We
are terribly
concerned about the
health
and safety issues,
which have
been ongoing
problems for the
past few years at
Agriprocessors,”
said David Dolov,
New England regional
director of the JLC.
“USDA inspections
have revealed
serious doubts about
Agriprocessors’
ability to maintain
sanitary conditions
and to produce a
safe and wholesome
product.”
Agriprocessors,
which produces beef,
poultry, and lamb
products under such
brand names as
Aaron’s Best,
Aaron’s Choice,
European Glatt,
Nevel, David’s, and
Supreme Kosher, has
received a laundry
list of charges from
the Unites States
Department of
Agriculture and
others over the past
year.
The slaughterhouse
in Postville, Iowa,
received 250
noncompliance
reports from the
USDA during 2006,
which cited
inadequate
safeguards against
mad cow disease as
well as fecal
contamination and
rodent problems in
the food production
area. In August, the
company was
reprimanded by the
United Food and
Commercial Workers
Union (UFCW)
regarding food
safety concerns.
The UFCW was most
concerned over two
large-scale food
recalls this year
and the plant’s
checkered reputation
of screening for mad
cow disease.
Gary Reckrodt,
spokesperson for
Agriprocessors, said
the company was not
aware of the JLC’s
current food safety
alert, but added
that organizations
like the JLC and the
UFCW simply use the
issue of food safety
to ultimately talk
about workers’
rights.
“We take food safety
concerns very
seriously, but the
UFCW is using this
tactic to force its
way in when the real
issue is workers’
rights,” said
Reckrodt.
On Nov. 14, the JLC
organized a hand
billing at Trader
Joe’s grocery store
locations
nationwide. Dolov
and other local
participants stood
in front of the
store’s Cambridge
and Brookline
locations and handed
out flyers.
According to Dolov,
the JLC focused its
efforts at Trader
Joe’s because the
store stocks
products from
Agriprocessors.
“We want the message
to go to Trader
Joe’s and ‘up the
chain’ to
Agriprocessors that
they have to improve
the workplace at the
plant,” said Dolov.
“Traders Joe’s is a
big chain and can
make an impact, not
to mention the fact
that they distribute
a lot of kosher
products.”
As the country’s
leading producer of
kosher meats,
Agriprocessors plays
an important role in
the lives of those
who follow Jewish
dietary customs. If
the plant were to be
shut down or put
temporarily out of
business, the impact
would be felt in
many kosher
households,
according to Walter
Gellerman of The
Butcherie in
Brookline.
“They’re the premier
kosher producer.
They supply the
majority of the
market nowadays,”
said Gellerman. “If
they closed their
doors tomorrow there
wouldn’t be any
glatt kosher meat
out there.”
Dolov insisted that
while he does not
want to see
Agriprocessors shut
down, it is the
responsibility of
the Jewish people to
make sure kosher
products are
acceptable.
“It is our
collective
responsibility to
let the industry
know that we demand
quality products,”
he said.
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