Local Pride Co. owned by the Rubashkin family, which also owns Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. has bought an old packing plant in Gordon, Neb. which has been closed for seven years, Local Pride plans to process kosher beef, lamb and bison products using workers from the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. If the plant passes a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection scheduled for Friday.
Reservation residents already have undergone training at the Postville plant which began with about 50 employees and now has 700 workers.
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Meanwhile, the Co. said they are not worried about allegations by (PETA) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that Agriprocessors’ Postville plant uses cruel slaughtering methods that violate federal rules and strict kosher slaughtering standards. Plant officials say the animals’ movements are involuntary and that massive blood loss to the brain brought on by slitting their throats renders them insensitive to pain within seconds.