ConAgra's Hebrew National Not Kosher, Says Former Employee

Hebrew National’s products are marked with a “Triangle K” symbol, which certifies the products as kosher as “defined by the most stringent Jews who follow Orthodox Jewish law.” A handful of consumers, along with former employees, contend in a class action lawsuit filed last month that the mark, and marketing, are a lie, reports Reuters.

According to JTA, the suit alleges:


Knives used in the slaughtering process were nicked. Kosher requires a clean cut.
Organ meat was not consistently inspected after slaughter, as required for kashrut.
The blood of slaughtered animals was not consistently removed within 72 hours, as required by kosher law.
Managers took certificates issued to trained slaughterers and replaced their names with individuals who had not been trained.
Kosher meat was not consistently kept separate from non-kosher meat.

There are also claims of retaliation against employees who complained about the violations of kosher law. AER, the slaughterhouse, allegedly threatened employees with transfers and termination if they continued to press claims. The non-kosher meat would then be repackaged and sent to ConAgra.

Oddly enough, neither AER nor the Triangle K certification organizations are named as co-defendants. Only ConAgra, the company that produces Hebrew National, is being sued at this time.

The class action suit is only seeking compensatory damages in the amount that consumers paid for the allegedly non-kosher products. But is that really enough? What is the proper measure of damages for deceiving customers into consuming food prohibited by their religion?

The present demand is probably the best that a court could do. Damages must be proven. For a class action suit such as this, every person who purchased the hot dogs on allegedly-false promises is represented as part of the class. However, not all consumers keep kosher, nor are all of the hot dog eaters Jewish. So, while consumers may not have received what they were promised, not all were forced to eat meat that violated their religious beliefs.

One would guess that the claims center on a breach of contract theory, which only allows recovery of actual provable damages. The emotional impact of non-holy meat is probably too uncertain to claim on behalf of a class of millions.

Related Resources:


Find a Chicago Personal Injury Attorney (FindLaw)
Health Warnings on Hot Dogs? (FindLaw’s CommonLaw Blog)
$ 180 Million Verdict in ConAgra Silo Explosion (FindLaw’s Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog)
Second Circuit Upholds NY’s Kosher Law (FindLaw’s U.S. Second Circuit Blog)


The Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

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