Inside Empire's slaughterhouse: The life of a kosher chicken

MIFFLINTOWN, Pa. (JTA) – The end came swiftly for the chicken I’ll call Bob.

Propelled into a trough of sorts by a machine that tips a crate’s worth of birds onto the assembly line -- “They’re like children, sliding down,” the head kosher supervisor said -- chicken Bob was seized by a worker’s practiced hands and guided toward the shochet, or ritual slaughterer, along a stainless steel panel meant for calming the birds.

While a second worker held down his legs and body, the shochet gently grasped Bob’s head and, in what seemed like a split second, made his cut before the lifeless chicken was deposited into a funnel for the blood to drip out.

Every six seconds or so, another chicken followed.

The shochet, clad in a bloodstained yellow rain slicker and with a transparent plastic cap covering his hair and beard, swayed rhythmically as he worked, almost as if he were davening. Alongside him, 11 other teams of three, each led by its own shochet, labored methodically.

In all, 60,000 chickens would be killed by late afternoon. It’s all in a day’s work at Empire Kosher Poultry, the largest kosher chicken company in the United States.

Empire churns out 240,000 chickens and 27,000 turkeys a week, from quartered broilers to turkey salami. With a staff of 750, a fleet of two dozen trucks and a vertically integrated operation in central Pennsylvania where hatcheries, feed mills, farms and processing all come together, Empire says it produces a healthier, cleaner, more reliably kosher chicken than available anywhere else in America -- and in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

To back up its claims, Empire agreed to give JTA a first-ever camera tour of its facilities, providing unfettered access to everything from the kill room to the farms to the assembly line where chickens and turkey are sliced, processed and packaged into all manner of raw poultry, nuggets, cold cuts and hot dogs. The only restriction was that JTA was not permitted to photograph the kill room or certain proprietary methods.

The recent tour had two ostensible purposes. One was to draw an implicit contrast with other kosher food companies in the news. While managers declined to get specific, the most infamous industry example is Agriprocessers, the Iowa-based kosher meat giant that was felled in 2008 amid a host of financial crimes and labor and safety violations following years of negative media reports. Agriprocessors’ former CEO, Sholom Rubashkin, is serving a 27-year prison sentence for financial fraud and money laundering. (He has appealed for a new trial, arguing that the judge was biased.

Why feed my dog adult food? Why not stick to puppy food? | Diet ...

Adult food is for maintenance and is designed to keep the dog healthy and maintain its weight. Puppy food is for growth, and has additional protein, among other things, to help the dog grow. There are other varieties, such as food for active dogs (has more protein for energy), mature/older dogs (designed to help the joints and prevent obesity), and food for weight loss.

If your vet feels that your dog should switch now, then he probably thinks she is a healthy weight. As a yorkie, you don’t want any extra weight. One extra pound on a yorkie is like 15-20 lbs. on a larger dog like a Lab. You want to be very careful.

Well, here’s the thing. Most pet food companies want your money. Most puppy foods are not much different than adult foods, except that they might throw in some extra chicken fat and another scoop of powdered vitamins. Some of the high quality brands don’t even have distinctive puppy formulas- Innova Evo, for example, is just ‘dog and puppy’ food.

The danger is, some of the cheap brands DO use a lot of extra vitamins that can start to cause problems for an adult dog. The best thing you can do is find a high quality food for her. If you want to use one that has a puppy formula for another year, give it a shot, but ONLY if it’s good food- don’t use a cheap puppy food for another year or you’ll do more harm than good.

Brands that are good: Innova Evo, Artemis, Merrick, Solid Gold, Chicken Soup, Candiae, California Natural, Wellness.

Brands to avoid: Purina, Pedigree, Alpo, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin.

If you find a brand you’re not sure about, read the label. If it contains corn, wheat, soy, by-products, or an excessive amount of rice products, trash it. Also, the first ingredients should include real meat- if the only meat source is meat meal, ditch it.

Another think you can try to help her gain weight is to give her some wet food in addition to her dry.

Good luck!

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