Orthodox Leaders Tour Agriprocessors, Give Plant Clean Bill of Health


By Anthony Weiss
Tue. Aug 05, 2008

Rising Costs: Kosher meat prices have risen since the raid at Agriprocessors.
A group of Orthodox leaders returned from a company-sponsored tour of a kosher slaughterhouse that has been under fire for its working conditions. The rabbis reported that the plant was clean and the workers happy.

On July 31, a group of 25 Orthodox rabbis and community leaders visited the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, at the company’s expense. The visit was the first publicized tour of the plant by Jewish leaders since May 12, when federal immigration agents raided the slaughterhouse and arrested nearly 400 workers on charges related to their immigration status. Several rabbis who were on the tour told the Forward that the plant seemed clean and modern and that the workers they spoke to seemed satisfied.

“The responses were the responses of people there who were working hard, willing to work and satisfied with what was happening in the plant,â€