The mad-cow scare has plunged the kosher trade into crisis, with job cuts looming as a result of a drastic fall in beef-eating.
The London Board for Shechitah, the city’s main supplier of kosher meat, said last week that it had been losing several thousands of dollars a week since April.
“We’re sustaining a financial hemorrhage which has to be stopped,” said Charles Oster, board president.
In March, the British government announced a possible link between mad-cow disease and the incidence of the fatal Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease in young people.
A 45 percent drop in sales indicates that efforts to persuade the public that kosher beef is safe have failed.
The board is discussing plans to lay off some employees. It also wants to withdraw the annual grants it provides for services rendered by rabbis.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
