Kosher turkey pricey on short supply
There's a shortage of kosher turkey and beef thanks to the closing of supplier Agriprocessors, which had provided much of the country's kosher meat. Renita Jablonski reports the price of kosher turkeys has doubled.
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Steve Chiotakis: That kosher food on Turkey Day could set you back a foul amount this year. You can thank the country’s largest supplier of kosher meat, Agriprocessors. The company closed its doors this month after being busted earlier in the year for employing hundreds of illegal immigrants. Here’s Marketplace’s Renita Jablonski.
Renita Jablonski: Menachem Lubinsky is keeping a close eye on kosher food markets around the country in this week before Thanksgiving. He’s editor-in-chief of KosherToday.com. Lubinsky says kosher families face higher grocery bills this holiday.
Menachem Lubinsky: Kosher turkey today is about twice the cost of what it was a year ago.
Lubinsky says Agriprocessors had supplied about 40 percent of the nation’s kosher turkeys. The company also produced about 60 percent of kosher beef.
That’s the real worry for Shimon Hildeshaim. He owns a kosher butcher shop in Cleveland.
Shimon Hildeshaim: There’s definitely a shortage. We can’t get enough meat.
Hildeshaim says the beef business is going to the birds.
Hildeshaim: They have to fill the void. If people are not going to eat meat, people are going to eat chicken.
The kosher meat shortage is expected to continue for several months.
I’m Renita Jablonski for Marketplace.