OU to drop agriprocessors
September 9th, 2008 by AriI promise to stop writing about Agriprocessors just as soon as there’s nothing noteworthy to say anymore. (Previous post here). Criminal charges have been filed against Agriprocessors, and the OU has said it will drop it’s kosher supervision if new management is not in place very soon! This is big. Not just because it means that Herzfeld was right, but because the OU has just set a big precedent. I like the decision, although to be honest if I were the OU, I’m not sure I would have had the guts to make it myself. The OU has also been careful not to say or imply that the meat is treif - this is strictly a business decision. In fact they’ve said that if new management is in place they won’t drop their certification. Essentially what they’re saying is that this is a business decision – they, as an organization, have no interest in being associated with these particular individuals anymore.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
It should be known that this was the OU’s plan even before Herzfeld wrote what he wrote. Someone within the know told this to me actually at the time. So it was just a wait-and-see game.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I believe the crux of R’ Herzfeld’s argument was that meat which is produced in an unethical manner should not be considered kosher. This decision seems orthogonal in its reasoning, even though the effect to the consumer is the same.