New York's Rubashkin brothers who own Agri-Processors
New York's
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Braley calls for Agriprocessors investigation; staff tours NCC detention area
Some Waterloo Residents Don't Have Much Sympathy for Detainees
OH MY!!!!! They like Republicans and judges a whole lot!
Postville plant owners have donated thousands to Iowa politicians
They're keeping the detainees at the National Cattle Congress includes all types of livestock for showing and also includes rides, games, shows, and all types of fun. Are the rabbis having fun? I know it's hard coming down off a meth high I've been told!Here's more good news, federal officials aren't saying whether company officials will be facing charges! It's the largest ICE raid in US history and they can't say WHAT? They sure had some strange practices there:
* A cavalier attitude toward illegal immigrants working at the plant. The source described a training session where new employees giggled as a company employee explained how to properly fill out paper work affirming they were legal residents of the United States.
* Some employees were paid with cash, and those workers wore special colored work hats to denote their status. Other employees were paid with checks that did not bear Agriprocessors' name.
* A supervisor taped-over the eyes of a Guatemalan man with duct tape, then struck the man with a meat hook that caused a serious injury.
Postville immigration raid sends shockwaves: POSTVILLE, Iowa -- Hundreds of northeast Iowa Hispanics are living in fear they will be targeted in federal immigration raids, in the wake of the Postville raid Monday. Local volunteers are working to calm the confused and terrified family members left behind.
In this 1995 file photo, rabbis pray in their locker room at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, which has become the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant. Hasidic Jews who came from New York in the late 1980s launched the plant.
Kosher Slaughterhouse That Was Found Tormenting Animals and Violating Food-Safety Regulations Now Busted in Big Immigration Sting
For Immediate Release:
May 14, 2008
Contact:
Lindsay Rajt 757-622-7382
Postville, Iowa - Today, PETA sent an urgent letter to Iowa Governor Chet Culver urging him to immediately pressure applicable state and local authorities to revoke all operating licenses for AgriProcessors, Inc., which is located in Postville and owned by the Rubashkin family. PETA's request comes in the wake of Monday's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that reportedly led to the arrest of nearly 400 allegedly undocumented immigrant workers at the plant. In its letter, PETA points out that AgriProcessors--the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the country--has a history of violent animal abuse, severe injuries to workers, environmental degradation, and food-safety violations.
The following are just some of AgriProcessors' recent actions:
* In 2004, a PETA undercover investigator documented that cattle at an AgriProcessors plant had their tracheas ripped out while they were still conscious. Then they were dumped on the floor and left to thrash in their own blood as they slowly died. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigation concluded that AgriProcessors workers "engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter."
* In 2006, AgriProcessors agreed to pay $600,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to settle a complaint about the company's failure to comply with wastewater pretreatment requirements.
* Between January 1, 2006, and January 24, 2007, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service issued AgriProcessors five citations for faulty monitoring of mad cow disease and more than a dozen citations for fecal and bile contamination of beef and poultry. In 2007, the company also had two separate meat recalls--one for possible underprocessing.
* U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration logs reveal that there were five amputations along with dozens of other serious injuries to workers, including broken bones, eye injuries, and hearing loss. On March 20, 2008, the Iowa Occupational Health and Safety Agency cited AgriProcessors for 39 new health and safety violations and proposed fines totaling $180,000.
"Mutilating fully conscious animals, exploiting workers, endangering the public's health, and hurting the environment add up to a despicable pattern of behavior," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "AgriProcessors has been one horror story after another, and it's past time for the state to shut down this hellhole."
PETA's letter to Gov. Culver is available upon request. For more information, please visit
Local churches are giving shelter to the families of the VICTIM employees who have been arrested.
Republican Approach to Immigration Policy: Treat Immigrants Like Cattle
And the crowning glory of this DISPICABLE story found at JTAFeds: Drugs made at kosher meat plant
Published: 05/13/2008
Federal authorities charged that a methamphetamine laboratory was operating at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and that employees carried weapons to work.
The charges were among the most explosive details to emerge following the massive raid Monday at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa.
In a 60-page application for a search warrant, federal agents revealed details of their six-month probe of Agriprocessors. The investigation involved 12 federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the departments of labor and agriculture.
According to the application, a former plant supervisor told investigators that some 80 percent of the workforce was illegal. They included rabbis responsible for kosher supervision, who the source believed entered the United States from Canada without proper immigration documents. The source did not provide evidence for his suspicion about the rabbis.
The source also claimed to have confronted a human resources manager with Social Security cards from three employees that had the same number. The manager laughed when the matter was raised, the source said.
At least 300 people were arrested Monday during the raid, for which federal authorities had rented an expansive fairground nearby to serve as a processing center for detainees.
The search warrant application said that 697 plant employees were believed to have violated federal laws.
Agriprocessors officials did not return calls from JTA seeking comment. (source)
Perhaps this is a stupid question, but WHERE are the Agriprocessor officials that they could be returning calls from?
This just keeps getting worse! JBLOG is claiming they're back to work after the raid! I can't believe it. Read what they so cavalierly write:
As of today, the Postville meat plant is supposedly back to production and a story carried on VIN squashed rumors that the OU is withdrawing it's hechsher.
My real question is how you lose so much of your labor and continue production without either a loss of volume or quality? The employees that were taken away were likely the non-skilled labor (in kashrus) and support staff. So even if the numbers of "shochets" haven't changed, who will do all the labor to support the slaughter operations?
The units likely impacted (my best guess) is animal movers, cleaning, packaging, shipping, custodial, etc. If so, who is going to make sure that meat is processed and stored correctly and in a timely fashion, packaged correctly and not contaminated waiting to be worked on? I am not familiar with kashrus plant processing operations so I am asking these questions as a concerned consumer. Certainly the USDA will be watching, so some of this concern may be mitigated.
Their Kosher supervision is still in tact! How many people would want to feed this meat to their dogs let alone eat it themselves.
New York - OU Kosher: For Now OU Remains On Rubashkin Meats.
New York - After receiving numerous emails from our readers asking us about rumors that circulated on the net in regards to the kosher certification by the OU on Rubashkin meats in light of yesterdays raid on the plant.VIN news received the following Statement from Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of OU Kosher
“We have not withdrawn our supervision. We have to see where the facts of the federal investigation lead. We will be guided by the results of the investigation as to whether there is corporate culpability.”
WRONG, look below and link to that website given.
NOTE: these are the products to absolutely avoid and some of the stores where they are sold
According to the company website, its "products can be found in many supermarkets nationally such as Albertson’s Kroger, Shop Rite, Wal-Mart, Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, Pathmark, H.E. Butt, etc." Agriprocessors has been the center of controversy over a variety of issues, including food safety, health and safety, the environment and animal welfare.
Go to THIS website to read the arrest warrant and get LOTS of other information (Like their Kosher certification has been rescinded and other rulings against them)
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