Raid on Slaughterhouse May Mean Shortage of Kosher Meat

May 22, 2008

Author: Michelle Boorstein

Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102471.html

A huge immigration raid last week on the country's largest kosher slaughterhouse could have a substantial impact on the thousands of Jews who follow Jewish dietary laws, as well as on non-Jews who purchase kosher meat.

The Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, is one of the largest of a small number of U.S. meat producers that satisfy Jewish dietary restrictions, called kashrut. Federal authorities arrested 400 people in the raid, and the Justice Department said this week that 85 had pleaded guilty to felony charges involving the use of false identifications to obtain employment.

They also admitted to being in the country illegally and now face deportation, the department said. As a result, the plant, which was shut down the day of the arrests, will face a challenge replenishing its 800-person workforce.

"I don't think the Jewish community can survive at this point without Rubashkin," Mordechai Yitzhaky, owner of KosherMart in Rockville, said of the family that owns Agriprocessors.

Industry-watchers and butchers say they have heard reports of hoarding since the raid, but the impact will not be known for several days, as individuals and stores still have frozen supplies. Muslims also sometimes buy kosher meat, as Islamic dietary restrictions are similar to kashrut, and it can be hard to find halal -- or acceptable by Islamic law -- food in most U.S. communities.