Kosher food soaring
For anyone who has followed the Agriprocessors saga, it might seem ludicrous to believe that kosher meat adheres to higher standards of health or ethics than any other meat. But according to a study by a Chicago market research firm, cited in a post on the Daily Dish blog at the L.A. Times, the top two reasons consumers say they purchase kosher food are quality and health.
According to the firm, Mintel, 62 percent of kosher consumers -- Jews, Christians and Muslims -- cited quality as their reason for choosing kosher. More than half cited "general healthfulness," while 34 percent cited safety.
Perceptions aside, the kosher food market is soaring. According to Mintel, the market has grown by 64 percent since 2008. One wonders whether such a stratospheric rate of growth can be sustained as claims of malfeasance at Agriprocessors pile up. The former manager of the company's Postville, Iowa plant, Sholom Rubashkin, is facing a range of allegations related to his stewardship of the company. A trial in federal court in Iowa is slated to begin in September.
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Agriprocessors was not the only game in town in the Kosher Business. Admittedly there are issues involving the company and no excuses should be made for their violations of the law, but on the other hand there are other players in the field and so far as I am aware none of them have been implicated in any of shenanigans the brought Agriprocessors down.
The people in Kosher Business are human and subject to the same frailties as anyone else. For example one of Agriprocresspor’s critics PETA had severalof leadership indicted and convicted of animal cruelty for taking stay animals illegally euthanizing them and then dump the corpses. Never you mind their efferts to equate meat eating with the holocaust, equating the American Kennel Club with the KKK and other pranks.
I am always skeptical of these “kosher boom” stories.
According to another report, “Mintel valued the market for kosher-certified prepared foods, as well as kosher meat, dairy and fish, at $12.5bn in 2008, a rise of 64 percent on 2003.”
It’s not clear to me that “market for” means that DEMAND rose 64 percent—it seems more likely the NUMBER of kosher-certified prepared foods increased in that time period. In that case, there may not be a huge clamor for such products—rather, it could be that producers, figuring that there is no harm in getting a hecksher and only the possibility of additional customers, figure what the hell and arrange for certification. And consumers are buying a lot of kosher products without even knowing or caring.
Mintel seemed to have surveyed people who BUY kosher food. I’d like to know the total percentage of all consumers who said they specifically looked for a hecksher when choosing a product, and if that number is growing. Otherwise, without the intent, you just have a lot of people buying stuff with a funny symbol on it.
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Yehudi Pashut
02/11/09 06:05 PM
Dear Ben,
64% since 2003; read slower and more carefully!