Agriprocessors, the embattled Postville, Iowa glatt kosher plant is ever so slowly increasing production, offering some hope that kosher consumers will not find some of the empty shelves that is not uncommon these days in many parts of the country.
With stepped up production in poultry by Agriprocessors and Empire (10% – 12%, according to a company spokesman) there is reason to believe that there will be enough poultry to go around, although the same cannot be said for beef.
Either way, kosher consumers face the prospect of even higher costs come the Jewish holidays (beginning on the eve of September 29th). Even kosher purveyors struggling mightily to keep prices in check may eventually have to face the realities of the marketplace. According to the Wall Street Journal (August 8, 2008), “grain is such a big part of the cost of raising livestock that many farmers big and small are losing money on every chicken, steer and hog they sell this summer.” As a result, “by next year, the supply of beef, pork and poultry is expected to shrink by five pounds per person, according to the Livestock Information Center in Denver.”
The Journal also reported major losses for such giants as Smithfield and Pilgrim.
(Source: Kosher Today)
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21 Responses
Hey brothers and sisters,
This is all min hashamayim. I am a vegetarian and I b”H don’t have to worry about any meat or chicken shortage. Also, I can have a real coffe with or after any meal. Just make sure you get enough protein through dairy or fish products and some beans and rice and eggs and keep smiling and get permission from your doctor. You might be very glad you switch even if it’s only for a half year.
I am not a vegetarian, and I also enjoy real coffee with or after any meal. But that’s because I take my coffee as I take my hats . . . black.
Always find that when prices rise, it leaps and if and when it falls it drips downwards. (without a dent on the budget!)
Wake up all of you fools & there is no shortage at all, i dont read the paper but go into the Butcher store & the shelves are full with all kinds of cuts & the same goes by the weddings all sorts of meats are at the Smorgasboard. so there is no shortage its nothing more the a Ploy & for those that meat is to expensive let them eat Chichken or turkey or better yet fish is also very healthy.
By the way just a reminder Rubshkin is not the only meat Wholesaler we have Alle Processing & International & a few others like Monsey Glatt, so lets not worry about anything, lets go on our ways & life will just be great & nobody died in the nine days without any meat at all & nobody starved, so stop paying attention to what ever the paper says or writes
levtov obviously lives in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. How about the out of towners who don’t have such a great assortment of supplies.
I guess they have to raise prices so they can pay their workers minimum wage, a problem they have had in the past.
Dear Veggie,
Considering being a Veggie is asur unless you are doing it purely for health reasons as demanded by a doctor, you really shouldnt be posting.
Being a veggie “by choice” goes against the p’sukim in Chumash that tell us to eat meat. What would you do when Moshiach comes today and you need to bring a korbon??
I could just see it now, “Sorry G-d, I know I just brought a Chatas which I have to eat but I am a veggie.”
You know what G-d will tell you??? “GO TO G’HENIM!”
We have no shortage. I have not walked into any store over the past few months and said, “GEVALT, we have a shortage!!” Never happened!
As for the poster who lumped Monsey Glatt into the group with Alle, International, etc., I hate to tell you but Monsey Glatt doesnt do any sh’chita. The others you mentioned are all suppliers to everyone else whereas MG is a store.
BS”D
empty shelves that is not uncommon these days in many parts of the country.
———–
Many parts of the country refers to the many outlying areas where only Rubashkin was able to penetrate thanks to their distribution network and economies of scale. New York and LA always had a choice; there is even Lubavitch shechita available in NY which is not from Agri.
In other words, people in the Midwest or West who started to keep kosher thanks to Chabad or SEED will now be tempted to backslide because there is no meat available in their local supermarket.
“Sorry G-d, I know I just brought a Chatas which I have to eat but I am a veggie.”
Actually, I don’t have that problem. You see, a Chatas is kodesh kadashim and only a kohen can eat it. So I can bring a Chatas and not eat it anyway.
The Wolf (who, like most wolves, does eat meat).
Interisting posts – we have a lot of work to do in our own communities and with ourselves first before we can even think about karbanot.
That point aside, I think the production issue is important. The best think about Agri was their multiple lines (different hashkagahs to satisfy our own craziness) and their distribution channels. I’ve found Agri products in Trader Joe’s in Phoenix, many Wal-Martand Publi xstores in Florida, and even in a Walgreen’s in Sunny Isles, FL.
I agree that if a shortage in the Midwest or South (ex. the popular cities in FL or any large Southern city) could cause problems with those who are in the process of returning to the fold. Some people who are not that religious will give up kosher meat if it’s too hard to get. They won’t make the effort to drive a long distance. This is one of the many problems that we need to fix.
Levtov32 & mark levin:
You don’t have a shortage cause Agri didn’t cut back on shipments to NY. WE DO! The Midwest and the rest of the country doesn’t have enough meat on the shelves.
There is no meat shortage out of town!! I live out of town and have never touched a peace of Rubashkin meat!!
Alle is well distributed all over as well as Empire poultry an David Elliot.
All these article about AGRI has nothing to do with the state of kosher meat. It has to do with their PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM and that’s it.
I just can’t figure out why they are given so much free adverstising!? I don’t remember any other company which got so much free advertising before!!
mark levin,
Why is it asur to be a vegetarian today unless one’s doctor demands it? How much meat must one consume weekly in order not to be violating this command to eat meat? Does only red meat count, or would poultry suffice? What if someone doesn’t eat meat because he can’t afford it? What if someone’s doctor only suggested he avoid meat, but didn’t actually demand it?
Thanks for clarifying these issues.
sorry, Mark Levin…The Torah does not mandate eating meat…and there will NOT be any korbanos in the third BM, except for minchas which are vegan
it’s not assur to be a vegetarian!
it just shows a defective understanding of our relationship to animals.
Korbonos present no problem to a vegetarian,
EXCEPT The Korban Pesach MUST be eaten by everyone.
also a problem for men is the Mitzvah to eat meat on YomTov (not clear on the details: Deoraisa, Rabbonin, Minhag, Halachah, maybe depends on individual’s criteria for Simcha?)
WolfishMusings,
Point well taken but only if the original poster was a kohen. Please feel free to substitute any korbon which the tzibur does eat.
ML
I read all of your posts and you sound like a bunch of mesivta bochurim who are shikur on Purim.
My son is currently in a yeshiva camp in the Catskills. There is a shortage of meat because the stores always relied upon Rubashkin but now Rubashkin had to cut back. Just go to http://www.theyeshivaworld.com and click on YWN videos and you will all see for yourselves how the Rubashkins had to cut many employees shifts down from two to one.
I can not say I am the biggest ba’al halacha but unless it is written in the Tur or Bais Yosef there is no outright issur in vegetarianism. It is not necessarily something which is osur.
And I wish all of you would argue on a more mature level. My sons behave with more midos than all of you blog on with. May I be zoche never to anyone of your mother-in-laws. Amen! My daughters deserve better husbands.
yidishemama, levtov most likely does not live in brooklyn rather in monsey which is where MONSEY glatt is and monsey glatt DOES have its own beef shecheta altough small compared to agri and ali and is only sold in money glatt and wesley kosher
Flatbush Bubby – may I be zoche to not have you as my shviger.
Moshe Mulva, what you wrote is apikorsus. The Torah commands us to bring animals as korbanos, and those mitzvos can’t ever change. We say every day “ve’ishei yisroel…tekabel berotzon”, and every Shabbos “veshom nakriv lefonecho”… You need to reexamine your thinking and do teshuvah.