Israel’s Cruel Meat Industry Exposed by Watchdog TV Show

With no where to run, undercover cameras expose the cruelty to animals in the Israeli meat industry.

An Israel TV commercial about the Adom Adom (Red Red) meat packing company’s products seems pleasant enough.  A smiling butcher shows a well dressed matron the wonderful meat cuts being offered by this company which claims to sell “real red meat” and not meat that is loaded up with chemicals and other additives. The issue of meat additives is a concern in Israel and covered in a Green Prophet article dealing with Israeli meat being “fed with feces and pumped with toxic contaminants.” Now we go back to the commercial: At the end of it the butcher pleasantly sends the lady on her way saying “Adom Adom – Shalom Shalom” , which roughly translated means: “Thanks for buying our real red meat products”.

Real meat indeed. Although the processing of meat products at this company appears to be of fairly high standards, what happens physically to the animals brought to what is advertised as being Israel’s best meat packing company, was revealed December 6 on Channel 2 TV by the well known Kolbotek investigative program.

Kolbotek is the same program which also revealed recently the possible dangers of cooking foods with some brands of ceramic coated cooking ware. Rafi Ginat, Kolbotek’s popular host, pulled out all the stops this time when hidden cameras were installed in an Adom Adom slaughter house located in Israel’s northern Galilee region.

Although the actual processing of the meat itself was portrayed by Kolbotek to be relatively clean and sanitary, what happens to the animals who “contribute” their bodies for the epicurean enjoyment of the general public is something out of the worst nightmare or horror story. Don’t read on if you are queasy.

Scenes of cows being prodded by poles and electronic “shockers” to get them to move along to where they would be slaughtered were very disturbing to say the least. With the cameras being audio equipped, the sounds of the cursing plant employees and screaming animals where quite shocking.

What I saw was that some cattle could not stand up and were literally crawling on their knees or being dragged along by straps (one cow actually had its legs broken, and had to be dragged accordingly). Sheep, being smaller animals than cattle, were somewhat more “manageable” although their panicky attempts to escape were graphic; and many of them were literally picked up alive and thrown towards the slaughter bins by the plant workers.

Hagai Almagor, a spokesperson for Israel’s Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, made this comment when interviewed by Kolbotek: “I can’t understand why these poor animals are being abused too much when they arrive at the slaughter house. After all, they really don’t have any place to run to.”

Indeed they don’t! Several Adom Adom professional staff members were interviewed by Kolbotek, including two veterinarians who for various reasons will remain nameless in this article. Both of them claimed they know nothing about the severe mistreatment the animals have been receiving; especially by the electric shocking devices.

Adom Adom Plant Manager, Moshe Ben Shushan, flatly denied that animals brought to be slaughtered are being abused. “It’s not correct” he says.

Erez Wolf, Managing Director of Adom Adom, told Kolbotek that “these things don’t happen here at our slaughterhouse. If we find out that there are employees causing undue pain and suffering to animals, they will be released from their positions.”

It was also mentioned on the program that Adom Adom purchases live baby calves from Australia and ships them to Israel in special livestock vessels in a voyage that takes more than two weeks, even via the Suez Canal. One of the conditions set forth by Australia’s RSCPA is that the livestock will not be abused – especially by electronic shocking devices. “The Australians probably want to make sure that animals being shipped to the Holy Land are not abused. But the obvious reality shows this does happen, day by day, and hour by hour, once the animals reach their final destination,” says Rafi Ginat.

The above animal abuse issues could be compared to an earlier Green Prophet article dealing with animals being ritually slaughtered by amateur slaughterers during Muslim festivals like Eid al Atah. One incident resulted in causing one angry cow to murder its Gazan slaughterer.  

A professionally run slaughterhouse like Adom Adom should be dealing better with the animals brought to it. The findings by Kolbotek seem to indicate that in regards to the treatment of animals moments before their death, this company’s “professionalism” needs a severe looking into or more people will turn vegan.

READ this Dec 19 update article on the meat story here.

More on abuse in animal slaughtering and on meat processing issues:
Israeli Meat Fed With Feces and Pumped With Toxic Contaminants
Angry Cow Murders Its Gazan Slaughterer During Muslim Eid Festival
Holland’s Proposed Ban on Ritual Slaughtering Affects Jews and Muslims

Stock image of Cow_on_Knees via  Shutterstock

Author: Maurice Picow

Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.

Comments

comments