Iowa kosher slaughterhouse owner says he’ll run lean plant, avoid previous operator’s mistakes

Iowa kosher slaughterhouse owner sees lean future

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The new owner of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of a massive immigration raid says he’s a turnaround artist who will operate a leaner plant that avoids the mistakes of his predecessor.

Hershey Friedman bought the Agriprocessors, Inc., plant in July, more than a year after the raid.

Agriprocessors, once the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, filed for bankruptcy months after the raid, and the first of two trials for its former top manager opens Tuesday.

Friedman, of Montreal, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday that he will modernize the plant and eventually employ between 750 and 800 people. The plant once employed about 1,000.