Empire Announces New Production Line, More than Doubles Weekly Chicken Capacity

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empireEmpire Kosher Poultry yestertoday announced plans to significantly increase its Kosher chicken capacity in time for the Yomim Noraim peak demand period. Empire Kosher’s addition of a new, high-speed evisceration line will more than double its capacity. Empire’s regularly scheduled non-holiday production capacity is approximately 225,000 chickens per week, with a peak holiday production capacity of approximately 350,000 chickens per week.

With the addition of the new line, Empire’s regular capacity will expand to more than 500,000 chickens per week and almost 800,000 chickens per week at peak times.Greg Rosenbaum, CEO of Empire, stated, “With our expansion, we believe Empire’s capacity will equal or exceed the combined production of Empire and its largest competitor prior to May 2008. Our intent is to assure Kosher consumers that there will be adequate supplies of Kosher chicken in the market at all times. This will particularly impact the peak holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Passover, when we expect Empire’s new capacity to prevent the shortages that have historically plagued the industry. Kosher poultry is our business, and we are committed to helping all Kosher consumers who want to serve a holiday poultry meal to do so.”

Empire, working with a large international supplier of poultry factory equipment, made proprietary changes to a state of the art chicken line. This proprietary design smoothly integrates Kosher slaughter and Rabbinical inspection with the highest speed equipment permitted in United States poultry plants by the Department of Agriculture. Empire has the exclusive right to use the equipment in the Kosher poultry industry for at least three years.

Responding to poultry shortages, last November Empire announced that it would increase its chicken capacity by 50% to ensure uninterrupted supplies of Kosher poultry. That capacity expansion was accomplished by altering production schedules and the use of labor overtime. The new line allows Empire to produce more Kosher poultry while returning to regular production schedules.

Rosenbaum continued, “We could not have supplied the market with sufficient poultry at Passover without the cooperation and dedication of our union workers and the skill of our Rabbinic workforce. Our union workers, our union, our Rabbis and our supervising Kashrus agencies have worked with us from the very beginning of this project in order to make this expansion seamless.”

“This additional capacity fits our commitment at Empire to build the nation’s finest producer of Kosher poultry products, maintaining the highest standards of Kashrus, food safety, animal welfare, worker conditions and customer service, not to mention product quality and superior taste. Empire also remains committed to being a good corporate citizen.”

Empire Expands Antibiotic Free and Organic Poultry Lines
Empire also announced the expansion of its line of Kosher chicken and turkey products to include Organic and Antibiotic Free (“ABF”) poultry, along with its regular offerings.

Empire’s production facility in Mifflintown, PA received USDA Organic certification last year and has been testing both ABF and Organic feeds and growing protocols for the past 18 months. With the completion of its extensive testing and test marketing, Empire is now rolling out these lines nationally.

CEO Greg Rosenbaum stated, “As the nation’s largest producer of Kosher poultry, Empire wants to offer its customers greater choice. As we’ve seen demand for ABF and Organic products grow in the non-Kosher world, we decided to enter these markets with Kosher products. In this way, we provide a one-stop shop for supermarkets and Kosher butchers who need to provide their consumers with the wide range of poultry choices available today. As with all our products, these new products are being produced with consistently high standards of Kashrus, food safety, animal welfare, worker safety and great taste.” 

Empire’s ABF products will be, in the parlance of the trade, “never, ever”, meaning the birds will be fed all vegetarian diets and will never be injected with antibiotics or hormones. Empire’s Organic chicken will be fed only certified, Organically grown vegetarian diets. All of Empire’s poultry products are raised on family owned farms within 75 miles of the Empire plant and are free roaming, allowing the birds to grow naturally.

Empire has the ability and flexibility to produce regular Kosher, Kosher ABF and Kosher Organic. Empire has its own breeder hens, hatches its own chicken eggs, grows turkeys from day-old poults and owns its own feed mill, thereby allowing it to vary feeds and growing conditions to meet the rigorous standards of regular Kosher and Kosher ABF designations. At the present time, Empire supplements its feeds with specially contracted Organic formulations to meet the standards of the Kosher Organic designation.

Empire has dedicated two growing houses, with a capacity of almost 60,000 chickens per week, to its ABF product line and another growing house, with a capacity of almost 30,000 chickens per week, to its Organic line. This volume accounts for between one third and one half of Empire’s current weekly production.

Empire is also dedicating two-thirds of its non-holiday turkey production to ABF turkeys, or approximately 20,000 per week. For major Jewish holidays and Thanksgiving, Empire will significantly ramp up its ABF turkey production to respond to customer needs.

Kosher consumers in some areas of the country will find Empire Organic poultry on their grocers’ shelves now, while the roll out of ABF product will start now and be complete by Rosh Hashanah. Consumers can let their grocers and butchers know if they want regular Kosher, Kosher Organic or Kosher ABF products.

{Elisha Ferber-Matzav.com Newscenter}


3 COMMENTS

  1. I wish they would be more acceptable to all kosher consumers. They should puit one more acceptable hechsher on it.

  2. what is an “acceptable” hechsher? They have the world’s best hechsher – the OU. All other hechsherim slapped on the label are just window dressings to satisfy people like heimiesh who will then think he has “one more acceptable hechsher” All prominent rabbonim and roshei yeshiva who have visited and seen the high standards at Empire, were most impressed to the point of buying for their yeshivas etc. BUT, that is because they saw it with their own eyes, rather than hallucinate about “one more acceptable hechsher”

  3. For your information
    Chabura chicken from lakewood was Empire under a different label
    they discontinued it for monetary reasons NOT kashrus related

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