The Knesset Committee on Special National Infrastructure Projects and Jewish Religious Services headed by Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky convened Tuesday to discuss Israel's meat industry. The meeting focused on the costs of kosher slaughter and its impact on the cost of living.
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Rabbi Avraham Buhbut, head of the Chief Rabbinate's meat-processing department, said that according to his records, there are some 600 slaughterers recognized by the rabbinate. He said the slaughterers earn between $800 to $1,000 a day or around 73,000 shekels (around $22,000) a month.
Malinovsky caused an uproar at the outset of the meeting when she said: "The meat market in Israel is kosher, but it stinks.
"A lot of people in the field warned me that I was going to open Pandora's Box, that it's a carter. I don't care. I only care about saving the State of Israel the kosher [certification] costs and providing quality kosher [certification] after 30 years in which the issue of meat imports was left untouched," Malinovsky said.
She said that while she had heard complaints from importers in the field, they chose not to attend the committee meeting after receiving threats.
According to Malinovsky, Israel has just 31 importers and 600 slaughterers. "This is a centralized market. There is a small and wealthy group that controls the meat market and ensures the costs of kosher [certification] remain high."
According to data presented at the meeting, Israelis consume 180,000 tons of beef annually, 60% of which is either raw or fresh imported meat, and 25% of which is imported as livestock. Just 15% is locally raised. Beef and chicken in Israel are 40% more expensive in Israel than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average.
Deputy Minister Abir Kara of Yamia said: "The barriers on the imported meat market are many. In Israel, 100% of all imported meat is inspected. The central factors burdening regulation of the meat market are the Agriculture Ministry, the Veterinary Inspection Corporation, the Health Ministry, and the Chief Rabbinate. As soon as the reform is passed, there will be a dramatic decrease in the number of livestock shipments."
According to the Finance Ministry, kosher slaughter raises the price of meat by five shekels ($1.50) a kilogram. It said this was believed to raise the cost of all meat purchased by 550 million shekels ($165 million) each year.
"There is an incentive in the meat market to import live calves to perform the slaughter here in Israel and save on the cost of slaughter overseas," Haim Borovsky, from the ministry's budgetary committee, said.
Rabbi Rafael Yochai of the Chief Rabbinate said "a majority of the Israeli public trusts" the Chief Rabbinate in Israel for its kosher meat. He clarified that the rabbinate was not involved in hiring the slaughterers or payments to slaughterers overseas.
The Finance Ministry claimed that despite the high prices, the cost of meat in Israel was in fact on the decline.
Import Administration Director Danny Tal said: "In the past, a kilogram of minced meat would cost 60 shekels, and today, the average price is 30 shekels a kilogram. There are bureaucratic barriers in this market, but the regulators are doing a lot to make it easier to bring meat to Israel."
Malinovsky concluded the meeting by calling for more slaughterers to be certified by the rabbinate.
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