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The company also issued a statement June 5 announcing that it had retained Jim Martin, a former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to serve as its outside corporate compliance officer.
Martin will begin his efforts immediately. Martin was quoted as saying that the company would be able to meet the needs of consumers.
“Agriprocessors’ 800 jobs are important to Postville and northern Iowa, along with the observant Jewish community across the country that relies on them for their kosher meat and poultry,” he said. “Agriprocessors can meet the needs of those who depend on the company and operate in compliance with all laws, and I intend to see that happen.”
Marketing consultant Menachem Lubinsky, who represents Agriprocessors, admits there are “shortages in many markets,” particularly outside New York.
“Last week there was enough inventory, but it became depleted and people are buying more than usual,” he says. Prices have gone up “sporadically,” he reports. And other kosher suppliers, like Empire Kosher, have stepped up production to try to fill the supply gap.
Part of the problem, he says, is that Agriprocessors dominates the market so heavily, supplying 60% of the country’s kosher meat and 40% of its chicken. Any slowdown in its production affects the entire system, “and this comes at a time when demand for kosher meat is up,” Lubinsky adds. “They tell me they’re stepping up production, but from what I see, it hasn’t happened yet.”
More than 1,000 kosher consumers, including several leading rabbis, have signed a petition being circulated by Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice group in New York.
The petition calls upon Agriprocessors to treat its workers fairly and abide by all laws pertaining to workers rights and safety.
The petition also asks the company to create a transparent monitoring system, open to third-party inspection, “so consumers can have faith that the meat is coming to them in an ethical manner,” says Ari Hart, a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and one of the four founders of Uri L’Tzedek.
The petition states that if these conditions are not met by June 15, those who signed the petition will no longer patronize the company.
Hart says that the petition is not aimed at challenging the kosher system, or hurting any particular supplier.
“We have no interest in hurting the Rubashkin company or in promoting any other company,” he says. “We are simply consumers of this meat, and our interest is in having an available supply of kosher meat we are comfortable purchasing.”
Search the IJN using the term Agriprocessors, and find all of our stories tracking this landmark case in the kosher meat industry.