December 29, 2003

Consumer May Have Advantage in Purchase of Kosher Beef, Orthodox Union Experts Announce, as Kosher Slaughtered Cattle have been Free of Mad Cow Disease

“To this date, no kosher slaughtered cattle anywhere in the world have ever been found to have had mad cow disease,” Rabbi Menachem Genack, Rabbinic Administrator of the Kashrut (Kosher) Division of the Orthodox Union, and Rabbi Yehuda Kravitz, the Division’s specialist in meat slaughter, announced today.

“The consumer may be at an advantage by purchasing kosher slaughtered meat, since the likelihood is much less that meat from a cow slaughtered according to kosher laws will be tainted with mad cow disease,” the rabbis declared.

The Orthodox Union, with its familiar OU symbol, is the world’s largest kosher certification agency, certifying over 275,000 products produced in nearly 6,000 plants located in 68 countries around the world. Included in these plants are facilities where animals are slaughtered.

Among the reasons for the increased safety of kosher beef, Rabbis Genack and Kravitz declared, are the following:

• Kosher slaughter prohibits the use of “downers,” i.e., animals that cannot walk; the animal with mad cow disease in the current crisis was a downer cow;

• Kosher slaughter prohibits shooting or stunning the animal in the head, which may cause brain matter (where the disease resides) to be scattered to other parts of the body; whereas kosher slaughter is only done by slitting the animal’s throat, which causes blood to be drained away, thereby enhancing the chances that the disease will not be transmitted through the bloodstream.

“Until now, there has not been a single case of mad cow disease in a kosher slaughtered animal. The laws of kosher may mitigate against the possibility of the disease,” Rabbi Genack declared.

The Orthodox Union, now in its second century of service to the Jewish community of North America and beyond, is a world leader in community and synagogue services, adult education, youth work through NCSY, political action through the IPA, and advocacy for persons with disabilities through Yachad and Our Way. Its kosher supervision label, the , is the world’s most recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 275,000 products manufactured in 68 countries around the globe.

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