As Industry Faces Criticism, a Look at How the Kosher Sausage Gets Made


By Nathaniel Popper
Thu. Sep 04, 2008

For consumers trying to determine where their kosher meat comes from, there has been little public information about the companies that slaughter and process kosher beef and poultry, and even less information about how those companies treat their workers.

After a highly publicized immigration raid this past May on the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, a group of Conservative rabbis issued a new set of ethical guidelines, known as Hekhsher Tzedek, that aims to evaluate the labor conditions under which kosher meat is produced. That effort got a big boost this week when the Central Conference of American Rabbis endorsed it.

“Those who produce kosher meat are engaged in sacred work and therefore are expected to adhere to the highest standards and values of Jewish tradition,â€