Kosher Gate!

Published May 22, 2010

Jews are at war. Spies are at work. Conspiratorial plots abound. Government agencies are storming the gates. Casualties are expected. A battle of epic proportion not seen since Joshua blew down the Jericho walls. It is not taking place on the disputed Gaza Strip but in the small rural town of Postville Iowa. Postville is the location of the Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant. It has become the site of of a battle between the owners of the plant and some very strange bedfellows over allegations of misconduct including violation of child labor laws, providing false residency documents to illegal alien employees, slush funds for illegal employees, inhumane slaughtering of animals and even allegations that the plant has been used as a “meth lab”. The plant has been infiltrated by PETA spies, overrun by invading hoards of Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) agents, under occupation by “roving Somali insurgents” and is allegedly under scrutiny by the DEA. A battle scenario worthy of a Tom Hanks lead.

In May, 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents(ICE) raided the Agriprocessors(AG) packing plant arresting 398 illegal aliens. It was the largest such raid in United States history. State and federal officials have also accused AG of using illegal child labor labor. They allege that as many as 57 children, ages 14 to 17, were illegally employed at Agriprocessors Inc.’s Pottsville plant. In addition to all of the illegal employees, two plant supervisors were ultimately arrested and have trials pending. Animal cruelty charges have been dogging AG for years. Members of People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals(PETA) were able to infiltrate the plant and obtain video of the conditions surrounding the company slaughter practices. The PETA website posted the following statement:

“PETA’s investigator witnessed egregiously cruel slaughter methods being used at an AgriProcessors kosher abattoir in Postville, Iowa, in the US. Cattle, chickens and turkeys suffered through prolonged consciousness after having their throats cut and being dismembered while still fully conscious. Many instances of inhumane slaughter were captured on film.”

The website goes on to provide graphic details as well as video.(viewer discretion advised) Did Peta do anything wrong when they infiltrated the plant and took video documenting animal cruelty? Whether we like it or not, snitches, infiltrators and informers are what make the wheels of justice turn. Without tattletales 75 percent of crimes would go undiscovered. Claims of illegal drug use have been thrown into the mix including allegations that methamphetamine was being manufactured in the plant.

The allegations against Agriprocessors has have caused much consternation in the Jewish population. The company is Jewish founded and owned. It has strong ties to the Jewish Community. The allegations have caused leaders in the Jewish community to question what it means to keep kosher. It has lowered the level of trust that the food on their table is in fact kosher. This re-examination of values should concern Agriprocessors. The kosher meat market is multi-billion dollar industry of which they hold a substantial market share. A loss of confidence in the kosher slaughtering methods and other moral mandates of Jewish religious and dietary practices could have devastating financial impact Agriprocessor’s bottom line as well as its employees and the town of Postville Iowa. It goes well beyond Jewish issues and hits on a shattered town dependent on the plant for its survival. There are also the basic laws of economics dragging on AG. If your target market on longer feels good about your product, demand goes down and profits follow. Agriprocessors disputes that the allegations will hurt their business or reputation in the long term. In a recent public statement, Chaim Abrahams, the plant’s purchasing manager, said the company has seen no decline in demand for its kosher products. He went on to state that the company operates in an ethical manner.

If true the various charges slice right to the heart of Jewish dietary kosher laws or” Kashrut”. The allegations have become part of a backdrop to active discussion within the Jewish community about what it means for food to be prepared in accordance with Kashrut. Does it simply refer to the manner in which the animals are slaughtered which goes directly to the animal cruelty claims of PETA? Kashrut in part specifies that animals not suffer in the slaughter process. AG would point out that it has passed successive audits of its slaughter practices. I view such internal audits with skepticism. What do you do when you have a weeks notice that your boss is flying in from corporate? You clean the place up! An internal audit with the goal of finding procedural compliance will almost always find its way to the past of least resistance and find all in order. The only true surprise audit is one done by the IRS.

Do the allegations against AG encompass more of a human process than a simple slaughter procedure as to Kashrut? Do allegations of illegal labor, false documents and alleged employee mistreatment factor into the kosher mix? How many times do we as consumers give active thought to the human factor behind the manufacture of a product in our hands? We generally do not give it much thought at all unless allegations are brought to national attention through spies, infiltrators and informers. The allegations have sparked a spin-off Kosher Justice Movment in which looks beyond the singular manner in which the food is prepared but to overall the manner in which it gets to the table.

Does any of the above matter in the greater, “religion blind” scope of social morality? Strip away the mudslinging. Strip away religious and cultural outrage. You are still left with allegations of behavior that if true can not be tolerated on any level. Animal cruelty is a crime. Using child labor as slave labor is a crime. Conspiring to provide and actually providing false immigration documents to illegal aliens is a crime. At most the owners are guilty of conspiratorial criminal conduct punishable in a courtroom free of religious influence. At a minimum they are guilty of what amounts to “criminal ignorance” of what is going on in their company. The federal investigation continues. The two highest ranking employees arrested in the raid have just recently argued that their trials should be moved from Des Moines, Iowa due to the massive publicity. Both supervisors have been charged with encouraging illegal immigrants to reside in the United States and with aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identification. One has also been charged with aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft. Those further up the food chain at AG have to be holding their collective breaths for the dreaded word that a “Rat Out Michael Vick” type plea agreement has been reached. You can bet their has been brutal pressure on these guys to serve up some big wigs.

Has Agriprocessors been singled out for prosecution? When over 50 percent of your workforce is illegal you have not been singled out, you have been caught.

I am am a Dallas attorney working for Mark Cuban companies. I am an avid writer and part time actor. My website is http://www.briancuban.com

Kosher Gate!

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