News Brief

The beleaguered kosher slaughterhouse Agriprocessors has launched an ad campaign in the Jewish press.

The campaign is aimed at countering the negative publicity following a May 12 immigration raid on the kosher slaughterhouse’s main plant in Postville, Iowa. Full-page ads have been placed this week in The Jewish Press, Yated Ne’eman, Hamodia, Florida Jewish News, Baltimore Jewish Times, Jewish Advocate, Chicago Jewish News, Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, San Diego Jewish Times, Arizona Jewish Post and the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. “The new ad campaign by Agriprocessors is an effort to remind customers that despite the raid and all of the ensuing bad publicity, the company does have an impressive track record in many areas of concern,” says Menachem Lubinsky, CEO of Lubicom and a consultant to the company. The ad states, “We take the charges seriously, are investigating them, have installed new compliance measures and are cooperating with the government’s inspection.” It also states that the company helped to build a wastewater treatment plant for the city of Postville, passed independent humane slaughter audits and helped to create packaging that brought kosher meat to smaller communities. The ad also notes that Agriprocessors meat was never subject to government recall for contamination, unlike meat from several other slaughterhouses.