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
This is horrifying and disgusting. This type of treatment towards animals is not allowed under any legitimate laws of Kashrut (kosher). I don’t understand how Adom-Adom got away with such mistreatment of animals. I was relieved to hear that both the Israeli government and the company took strong measures to investigate and alleviate this issue. Furthermore, to the author, it seemed misleading to omit saying that this is being handled by Israel’s government, leading some readers to infer that this was ignored. It’s both a shame that some people are so mislead as to what’s really going on.
I do not plan on giving up eating meat and poultry but I would be willing to pay much more for the meat and poultry I buy if I could buy it from a company that focuses on minimizing the suffering of the animals both during their lives and in the slaughtering process. Any recommendations?
I’m just wondering; just how does a slaughterhouse coerce animals to walk placidly to their deaths? American slaughterhouses often employ a “Judas goat” to lead cattle or sheep to their doom. But hitting, shocking, and other means of abuse are definitely too extreme.
I’m very surprised that there have not been more responses to what Rafi showed us last week. I was shocked and heartbroken to see the promo ( I changed channels as I could not watch such cruelty ) Where is the ” so called ” Jewish heart and feelings ?? For a nation that suffered at the hands of the Nazis I was horrified to see that such things could happen here . The cries of the poor animals who had no escape and no means of defending themselves made me cry. Rafi, I do hope that this will have an effect on the treatment of the poor beasts, at least there are ways of slaughter where they don’t suffer, I have seen this in England as a child. Do people think that animals have no feelings, they know by instinct they are being taken to slaughter even in the best of treatments. When animals kill it’s for food and they don’t let their prey suffer, so who are the superior beings in this world ?! Give me an animal any time.
Rafi, I admire you for showing this and it shows that you care and have a heart.
They do war crimes towards Humans and deprive them from water and basic quality of life.
Mabye it is due of the culture ….
Thank goodness for the Israeli free press and investigative reporting.
Just to add that this doesn’t mean that Israel’s entire meat industry is cruel. But this particular company needs to be a bit more kind to the animals it “processes”.