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Peta Undercover: Sacred and Federal Laws Violated at Iowa Slaughterhouse
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The Iowa secretary of agriculture, chief rabbinate in Israel, and the Orthodox Union weigh in on AgriProcessors. Read their reactions here.
AgriProcessors workers ignore the suffering of cows who are still sensible to pain after having their throats slit by the ritual slaughterer. The animals stagger and slip in blood while their tracheas dangle from their necks.
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How You Can Help

Every time PETA goes undercover, we find horrific and even sadistic cruelty to animals, perhaps because when your job is to slit animals’ throats, you have to deny to yourself that they are living beings. At that point, anything is possible. Please remember that animals on factory farms are not protected by any federal law and that as this case indicates, the law about humane slaughter is routinely violated. AgriProcessors was subject to more than twice the usual level of scrutiny for humane slaughter and was both USDA- and Orthodox Union-approved, yet the cruel practices that we found there were standard. If you are horrified, please click here for a free vegetarian starter kit, because adopting a vegetarian diet is the only way to really oppose cruelty to farmed animals.

Ask Kosher Authorities to Develop Clear Standards for Slaughter Certification

Please ask the Orthodox Union (OU), the world’s largest kosher certifier, and the K’hal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ) to adopt the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) guidelines for ritual slaughter and to take appropriate action to ensure that animals are no longer abused by AgriProcessors. For AgriProcessors, this must include unannounced audits by an inspector approved of by Dr. Temple Grandin. You can read the FMI guidelines for ritual slaughter here.

The FMI guidelines prohibit electric prods and ensure that animals are not turned upside-down before their throats are slit and that they are not moved until they are unconscious after throat-slitting. The OU and KAJ should explicitly recognize and train shochets (slaughterers) to recognize the physiological signs of consciousness in cattle—blinking, bellowing, standing, rhythmic breathing, and attempting to right the head—to ensure that no animals are touched or moved until they are unconscious. All equipment must be inspected to ensure that it is not harming animals (e.g., conveyor belts should not trap chickens and break their legs).

Click here to read our letter to the Orthodox Union.

Click here to read PETA’s response to the Orthodox Union’s statement regarding AgriProcessors.

It is imperative that all correspondence be courteous, or this campaign will suffer:

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Executive Vice President
Orthodox Union
11 Broadway, 14th Fl.
New York, NY 10004
execthw@ou.org

Please copy your letter or e-mail message to:

Rabbi Menachem Genack
Rabbinic Administrator
Kashrut Division
Orthodox Union
11 Broadway, 14th Fl.
New York, NY 10004
genackm@ou.org

Please also send your letter or e-mail message to representatives of the KAJ:

Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Edelstein
Kashrus Administrator
K’hal Adath Jeshurun
85-93 Bennet Ave.
New York, NY 10033
kajkashrus@hotmail.com
 
Rabbi Chaim Kohn
Rabbinic Administrator
K’hal Adath Jeshurun
85-93 Bennet Ave.
New York, NY 10033

Ask the USDA to Demand Standards for Religious Slaughter

Please ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to file criminal charges against AgriProcessors and to reprimand any inspectors who allowed the cruelty at AgriProcessors to continue. Please also ask that the USDA develop explicit and publicly available guidelines for religious slaughter. The United States should follow the lead of Australia, Canada, and the European Union in developing guidelines for religious slaughter that require that animals not be touched or moved until they are unconscious, which should take no more than 30 seconds after throat-slitting. If they are not fully unconscious within 20 seconds, animals should be stunned via captive-bolt guns. All religious slaughterers should be trained in the physiological signs of consciousness in animals�blinking, bellowing, standing, rhythmic breathing, and attempting to right the head�to ensure that no conscious animals are touched or moved. Click here to read PETA�s letter to the USDA.

If you are Jewish, please click here for more that you can do.

Please write:

The Honorable Mike Johanns
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave. S.W., Ste. 200A
Washington, DC 20250
Mike.Johanns@usda.gov
202-720-3631

Spread the Word That Cruelty Will Not Be Tolerated

Please refuse to purchase Aaron's Best or Rubashkin's products until the company agrees to adopt the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) guidelines for ritual slaughter and takes appropriate action to ensure that animals are no longer abused in their facilities, including unannounced audits by an inspector approved of by Dr. Temple Grandin.

Have you purchased Rubashkin’s or Aaron’s Best meats because you thought they were kosher? Have you purchased either product because you thought kosher was kinder? If so, please contact PETA at BenG@peta.org.

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