New York, NY – Two years after U.S. kosher-food authorities said they wanted to stop use of a cattle-killing method widely criticized as inhumane, the country’s largest seller of kosher meat is importing beef from a South American plant that employs the technique, import records and an undercover video show.
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The video, recorded (watch below) in December by animal-rights activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at a slaughterhouse in Uruguay, depicts cows being lifted by a chain attached to one leg and then restrained by workers for the slaughter.
PETA identified the slaughterhouse as Frigorifico Las Piedras outside Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo. The plant is a major supplier of Alle Processing in New York, according to import records.
Alle’s owner, Mottel Bergman, declined to comment on the methods used at Las Piedras, as did Enrique Badano, the South American firm’s export manager.
Meat from Las Piedras and other South America factories is used to produce most of the processed kosher meat consumed in America, including deli favorites such as salami and pastrami, kosher authorities say.
The Orthodox Union, which runs the largest U.S. organization certifying food as conforming to Jewish dietary laws, has rabbis observing the procedures at Las Piedras.
An official of the organization confirmed that the plant used the controversial killing method, “shackle and hoist.”
In 2008, after PETA released a video taken at another South American plant that exports kosher beef to Israel, the Orthodox Union said it wanted to stop certifying meat from cows killed with the shackle-and-hoist technique.
This week, Menachem Genack, chief executive of the group’s kosher certification unit, said the organization still hoped to end use of the method.
But because the previous largest U.S. kosher supplier went out of business in 2008, Genack said the group was not willing to endanger this country’s supply of kosher beef.
“We have to make sure that kosher slaughter is done in as good a fashion as possible — but I want to do that in a way that doesn’t disrupt a very fragile industry,” he said.
As a result, Genack said, the Orthodox Union is following the lead of Israel’s kosher authorities, who allow the shackle-and-hoist method because they require that cows be slaughtered while upside down if their meat is to be considered kosher.
There is a mechanical pen that can keep the animal inverted while it is killed, but it is expensive to install.
Such a pen is said to make it easier to confirm that the cut applied to the cow’s throat follows kosher requirements.
Yona Metzger, one of Israel’s two chief rabbis who oversee kosher certification in the Jewish state, two years ago promised an effort to stop use of shackle-and-hoist slaughtering.
Ezra Harari Raful, head of meat imports for the chief rabbinate, said the Israelis were pressing for change but couldn’t control the South American factory owners.
“It can only be implemented by decisions of the owners of the ritual slaughterhouses,” Raful wrote in an e-mail. “I believe that the administrators will slowly change their practices from how it currently exists to the new methods.”
But Joe Regenstein, a food science professor at Cornell University and kosher-meat expert, blamed Metzger for not forcing change upon the Israeli companies that control most of the kosher meat production in South America.
“Nothing has happened,” Regenstein said. “Unfortunately, we’re tainted by it.”
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and a shackle-and-hoist opponent, expressed frustration after seeing the latest PETA video.
“I’m getting fed up with it,” she said. “It’s a really terrible practice and it needs to stop. It’s that simple.”
The method is also more dangerous for the workers involved, said Grandin, author of “Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.”
PETA, based in Norfolk, Va., opposes all killing of animals for meat but has said the shackle-and-hoist method is worse than alternative techniques.
Previous videos recorded by PETA’s undercover teams have had a big effect on the kosher industry.
In late 2004, a video taken at an Iowa slaughterhouse raised questions about the slaughter of cattle there and led to increased scrutiny of its owner, Agriprocessors Inc. The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008 after an immigration raid at the plant.
The departure of Agriprocessors allowed Alle to become the largest U.S. kosher-meat supplier — and made the U.S. industry more dependent on South American meat.
Why are all this rabbis apolegetic to the crazy peta people???
They answer the same stupid thing every time. Just say its halocha & if you don’t like it, take it up with G-d.
While they are at it they should go to hell & drop dead on the way!
Because in this case, it’s not about the PETA people. The rabbis themselves agree it’s an inhumane way to slaughter. Nobody has dismissed the video, ad nobody has dismissed the claim that it’s cruel. Nobody wants to do anything about it because they’re afraid to threaten a source of beef since Agripocessors was shackled and hoisted. Sorry, but nobody thinks this is okay, not even the OU or rabbis.
YEMACH SHEMOM V’ZIOCHROM
Just like the nazis killed 6 million but fed the cats & dogs!!!!!!!!!!!
Makes your blood boil!!!!
Just like R’ avigdor Miller ztz”l would say if youre a vegan for animal crulety reason youre a kofer b’ikur
Whats interesting to note is all of a sudden the OU’s position is to protect the “fragile” kosher meat industry while at the time Rubashkin was going down they had no problem sitting on the sidelines. Maybe it has to do with their intense focus of controlling all Kashrus in the industry and Rubashkin wasn’t under their control. Since that time the cost of meat has gone through the roof and indeed the market has become quite fragile. The OU is nothing more than a bunch of thugs and their attitude only hurts Klal Yisroel.
I’ve eaten Alle meat and it tastes quite good so I don’t quite understand what the problem is with the shackle and hoist method.
Yesterday on a article here on VIN news regarding Agri star to terminate the method of Munachas I wrote that the Ou has requested. To terminate the munachas based on a Minchus chinuca I received a reply from daniel. that’s its not true!!!!! Here we see clearly the Ou request it should no longer be in force
I’ve read Prof. Temple Grandins books. She is one of the most comassionate and inteeligent people I’ve come across and in her books she expresses great respect for the “ancient and beautiful ritual of Shechita” and she has shown the industry way of making Shechita less of a frighrening experience for the animals.
Dear PETA activists ,
In the name of helping animals all over the world ,if you are truly activists , instead of making a big deal about something that is not new or a secret. Actually do something to improve the condition of the animals in their final moments , Instead of putting up stupid billboards, spend all of your money on supplying the “expensive cages that turn the animals upside down” to all slaughter houses that use the shackle and hoist method. The cows with thank you , and then not only will california have happy cows , so will south america untill they are killed.
Oh thats right PETA doesnt want to actually help anyone they want to make a buch of noise.
most telling
peta is against all animal eating
that is their true agenda
i don’t know if all the quotes are true however if temple grandin said it’s inhumane,then it’s inhumane.she has worked extensively in the cattle industry pioneering methods for the humane treatment of the animals-she is not a peta nut. ‘m sure the video is incorrect however when it says they start to butcher the animals while they’re still alive;that would of course be aiver min hachay.
Note; this is the same reporter who created the problems with agri and publicized them. Beware of this guy! He is only out to make trouble
What is the best method to to keep a large animals head from moving ,in order to shect it properly?
Temple Grandin has designed many devices for humane shechita. There is no reason that the shackle and hoist method is still used in this day and age when there are much more humane alternatives that have been approved by poskim.
“What is the best method to to keep a large animals head from moving ,in order to shect it properly”
There are several compounds that can be injected into the animal that paralyze the nerves amd stop any motions (similiar to the type of injections used in executions in many states)
So Peta got rid of Agriprocessors, where they used a rotating pen, and now the slaughtering has moved to South America where they use the shackle and hoist method, Peta only has themselves to blame. The animals were slaughtered differently here in the US.
Regardless, these slaughterhouses in South America would still be in business, if not for kosher, they would be doing shackle and hoist for other companies.
History repeats itself: Natahaniel Popper, PETA, “inhumane” slaughter, etc. Agri used the expensive rotating pens talked about in this article as the good humane method, yet PETA and the honorable Popper proceeded to throw the first knives at Agri, which as the article itself proudly asserts led to the other negative events.
I cannot believe that anyone here is taking Popper and PETA at face value. And when Agri defenders cried that this was a war against shechita, everyone laughed; now the same warriors are going after other Shechitas.
Throw your brother to the howling wolves, and you think you are safe. Then they come after you.
Meanwhile, if you want to do some teshuva join the Justice for Sholom campaign and speak up.
With great pain,
A yid in America
PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals
Temple Grandin is an idiot with an agenda. This animal “expert” is quoted as saying the PETA video of Rubashkin showing the animals staggering, wagging their tails, flicking their tongues, and BELLOWING IN AGONY clearly demonstrates the animals are fully conscious and suffering terribly. As noted in a USDA report, an animal bellowing after its throat has been slit is inconsistent with the reality that cows cannot bellow after their windpipe is seperated from their vocal cords, you will only hear a wooshing sound as in the Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg decapitation videos. If you watch the Rubashkin video, after schechita the cows flail around and stagger exactly as they would if they were
a) Toit shicker (intoxicated)
b) suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning
3) deprived of oxygen
4) shechted
Just because PETA says the animal is fully conscious and suffering does not make it so. Seconds after blood pressure is removed from the brain the animal is in lala land. The problem among American TV watchers is, death is supposed to instantaneous. As when the good guy shoots bad guy who grabs his chest and politely keels over dead. It aint like that. Shechitah is fine just as it is.
Please keep in mind that these reports are circulated by PETA, who tell you that you cannot kill animals for food, clothes or shoes; or use animals to provide wool, milk, eggs, or entertainment because it’s cruel to animals. The very same PETA hypocrites kill approximately 2000-3000 animals a year, because it is inconvenient and costly to house, feed, clean up after, and care for them. Despite the fact that they have millions of dollars in cash surpluses stashed away.
http://www.petakillsanimals.com
On the Virgina State VDACS website:
2004
http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2004
2005
http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2005
2006
http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2006
2007
http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2007
2008
http://www.virginia.gov/vdacs_ar/cgi-bin/Vdacs_search.cgi?link_select=facility&form=fac_select&fac_num=157&year=2008
If anyone thinks the fall of Agri was caused by PETA you are WRONG!!! It was caused by the unions! They were P****D that Rubashkin refused to unionize
The whole concep of humane schita is an oxy moron lets not forget that we are actualy killing a very large animal tons of blood splashing all over th place varius noises coming from the dying animal its not a pretty sight.
The shackle & hoist method can actualy be less painful for the animal because in this manner the blood drains quiker and therfore the animal dies quicker.
If anyone thinks that one day there is going to be a video of schita which will look humane suprise suprise every schita will have all the gory pictures that come along with killing a very large animal
by the way that may be inhumane to PETA but Mutar al pi torah
This plant is mostly non-kosher, yet PETA is targeting the kosher angle. Their true agenda is obvious.
Hey it must be SMR doing this. Isn’t all problems in the world his fault? At least kosher killings.
Its shame to see that not one Rabbi blamed SMR or this.
Hey he is still Lubavitch. So why not blame him for this to.
This is unfortunate and at the same time comes deserving to the part of Klal Yisroel which has sat and the side lines and possibly have instigated the prosecution of the Rubashkins.
JEWS It is not the Rubashkins being punished it is every single one of us. If we do not stand together we force g-d to make more and more Korbanos until we wake up. Stand up for Klal Yisroel.
PETA is the most disgusting, vile and dishonest organization there is and I would never lend even the slightest amount of validity to what they do even in the rare cases where they are right.
That being said, Temple Grandin really has done some fantastic research into the subject and it should not be dismissed so quickly. MANY rabbonim agree that the rotating pen method is more humane, requires less manpower, is less expensive in the long run (mostly the result of the fewer people needed), and allows for a better inspection than this hoisting method. That is ALL true and it why Rubashkin switched to this method in the first place. Believe me, the Rubashkins didn’t give a hoot what PETA thought and rightfully so!
However we do need to be concerned about the animals. It today’s world, there is not a local shocheit doing a couple per day like in the past. These plants have to produce MASSIVE amounts of food in short periods of time. There is far more room for error. For that reason, I would rather see them use the rotating pens. Most kashrus authorities (including the OU) have stated that they prefer the method. That’s enough for me.
PETA, on the other hand can go to h**
If Peta would not have shut rubashkins there would not be demand for s american slaughter. Of course PETA were puppets for the unions. There was a clear agenda.
If it is against American Law to shackle and hoist, and the Rabbanut agreed to stop shackling and hoisting, then why did they do it?
This is not an attack against shechita. This is an attack against stupidity.
Rabbi Genak-
Why were you not so defensive when Agri was attacked? $$$$?
Wasn’t it a “fragile industry” then too? Yet you threatened then to remove the OU certification!
1. shechitah munachas is the most mehudar – many will not eat it otherwise
2. of course PETA are not nazis, but the similarity between them is much more – there is a famous nazi-propaganda movie called “The Eternal Jew” – it can be found online to watch for free – it tells about how “bad” Jews have been since the time of the chumash i.e. they “destroyed the Egyptian economy with the Exodus” and how Purim is an “anti-gentile holiday” and other nonsense – anyway the last 8 minutes of the movie shows a shechitah of a cow just to show how cruel Jews are to animals – so the PETA people are carrying an old nazi tradition
Mottel Bergman is not the owner as far as I know. I believe he is the top guy though.
The video does absolutely NOT show the animal being hoisted up for slaughter!!!
It shows the animal being restrained on the ground and being slaughtered ON THE GROUND. Then it is hoisted up like all cattle are, even non-kosher kill.
I am not a supporter of PETA, however I do believe that Americans eat way too much meat. Around 80% of the corn and around 94% of the oats grown in the US are used as feed for livestock animals. The huge consumption of grains by livestock animals bids up the price of grain substantially, and causes many to die of starvation in lesser developed nations. While I don’t want to see meat consumption outlawed, I do think that Americans would be much healthier, and global starvation would be much less if Americans cut their meat consumption by at least 50%. It takes around 15 pounds of grain to produce a pound of edible meat.
The bottom line is that PETA is out to ban shechita any way possible! True, that the rabbonim, shochtim should see to it that no matter where the meats are imported from, it should be done humanely. The actual shechita of kosher meat is the most humane in the world. Everything that is from Torah is perfect; but, the going about it must be done humanely, because that is also from Torah!
Again, we have flagrant vio;lations of dina d’malchusa and frankly, you don’t care. Well, this is what happens when you disregard tha laws.
1) USDA does not allow shackling and hoisting as cruelty to animals
2) Any country that ships meat to the US must be ‘at least or better’ that the current US standards.
3) Therefore, it is illegal to ship that meat here.
Oh, you say, it is not the responsibility of the shochtim to know how the animal is shechted!
Really? People from Alle processng are always down at the plant in Uruguay and they know what is happening.
How to solve it? Build the holding pen and the problem will go away. This is a simple solution, but there are people out there that want to pull the old anti-semite card out of the deck each time.
Alle processing slaughters in Aurora Illinois and by Treuth in Baltimore. Are there any problems there?????
What are the chumros that Alle Processing has that are better than, say, Debriciner or Lubavitch or a Litvish shechita like the Star-K?
Remember that Alle (Nirbater) also shechts at Treuth in Baltimore, a slaughterhoue that is under the Star-K for the rest of the week. Alle uses the same equipment taht theStar-K does.