On or about July 28, 2026, a fire tore through Agri Star, the kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa. The fire chief said it started accidentally in the laundry room. It destroyed about 75% of the plant and put more than 600 people out of work, JTA reported.
The plant used to be Agriprocessors, the company at the center of the 2008 immigration raid. Canadian billionaire Hershy Friedman bought it and reopened it as Agri Star.
The warning
On July 29, Rabbi Moshe Elefant, CEO of OU Kosher, warned of shortages in the weeks ahead and of fraudulent sellers, and told mashgichim to check seals, Yeshiva World News reported.
Mishpacha reported on August 5 that the plant produced about 200,000 chickens a week, and that Empire and KJ Poultry were expected to pick up much of it. An Aurora, Illinois kosher slaughterhouse had also paused. Yossi Weingarten of Yossi's Cuts expected a two-to-three-month beef shortage, with Lubavitch customers hit hardest.
The all-clear
Limited production resumed the week of August 17, MeatPoultry reported. On August 25, Elefant told OU.org there should be no shortage, and that prices rise at this time of year anyway.
What nobody has published
How concentrated American kosher slaughter is, and what happened to prices over Yomim Tovim. Kol America will ask OU Kosher and the major processors.
How we reported this: from Yeshiva World News, Mishpacha, OU.org, JTA and MeatPoultry. We found no market-share or price data. Butchers and distributors: [email protected].