By Moshe Holender Did you ever stop to wonder where the chicken on your plate The Tiny Kosher actually came from? Join ZMAN Pelleh Farm that Made as we go behind the scenes to find out how a kosher chicken is a Huge Impact made. Not only do we get a clear insight into the process, but we meet the fascinating Rabbi Rafoel Franklin, who operates Poultry a family farm in Upstate New York and who founded a poultry company whose name has become synonymous with the highest standards in kosher chicken.

There was something fitting about the name of the street we had just turned onto—Happy Avenue. It was a beautiful, clear and happy day at the end of summer when we found ourselves driving up the narrow, rural road in Swan Lake, New York, on our way to the Franklin family farm. The farm is home to a kosher chicken andslaughterhouse Cholov Yisroel— calledon Pelleh the other Poultry, side as of well the as a small dairy farm—certified organic

street. - When we reached the farm, we pulled into a plain, dirt path that serves as a drive way and parking lot for the poultry plant. Parking the car, we observed a dozen or so dairy cows grazing lazily in the pasture, separated from us by just a few feet and a flimsy wire fence. On the other side of the parking lot was the building where Pelleh slaughtered and processed its chickens. Crates filled with live chickens were outside notbeing unloaded. We were very surprised by what did greet us—a bad smell! Most farms don’t smell too pleasant to those unfamiliar with rural life, but the premises of Pelleh Poultry are clean and well-maintained, something we soon learned was a priority for the Franklins. In fact, as we poked our heads 184 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 185 into the plant building itself, the first thing we saw was a laundry room for workers’ uniforms. Pelleh is a small operation. At most, it can process 3,300 chickens in a day. Other kosher slaughterhouses process more than that every hour. The largest one produces 30 times more! But as we would learn, Pelleh has influenced the world of kosher chicken in a measure far beyondkashrus its physical size. Pelleh’s founder, Rabbi Rafoel Franklin, is a legend in theshechita industry. Starting in the early 1980shalachic with the unique goal of creating a that conformed to Rabbi Rafoel Franklin with his son Eliezer, every possible preference, today along with some calves on the dairy farm. his poultry slaughterhouse representsRabbanim the - goldand mashgichim standard against which every other is measured. It kashrus is renowned by you to be. For Franklin, that meant main for the meticulous way it ataining shochet a connection with the natural world. approaches the and quality of each- One of the ways he did that was by becoming chicken. . AnotherZman was by buying the farm in Many people enjoy visiting Rabbi Frank Swan Lake shortly after he got married. lin on his farm, located about an hour and a During ’s visit to the farm, he half drive outside Monsey. When it’s not the recalledWhen those webeginning first bought stages: the place 36 bochurimbusy season, he delights in showing people years ago, we weren’t sure what we were mitzvoshis operations and giving bar mitzvah going to do for . We started a hands-on example of the various raising chickens, geese and cows to sell. involved in running a farm. And We had one dairyparnassah cow just for ourselves. there’s virtually nowheretalmid else chachamyou can gowho to We got a few customers, but… nothing find a real kosher family farm, operated by really worked. an expert farmer and At this point, I started at a lives on premises! large, commercial slaughterhouse. Several Rabbi Franklin’s farm is unique in so years later, I started shechtingfor people many ways. But how did it start? privately outside work hours. People were The Concept happy with my shechting, and that’s where the idea came from to open up my own place. shechita Growing up in rural Montana, Rafoel- After my work was done for the day, I Franklin’s close connection with the natural would come back here and work on fixing world has been a part of him from his earli this place up, little by little. Everything est childhood. Although he loved Montana, with Pelleh started right here at this loca- when he wanted to go to yeshiva he knew tion. There was a chicken coop with a dirt he would have to leave. Since he was born floor and a caved-in roof. I poured a 9 x in New York and had family zt”lthere, it was the 20-foot concrete floor, fixed the roof and natural choice. He studied in Sh’or Yoshuvrebbe started part-time. under Rav Shlomo Freifeld, . Rabbi Franklin remembers his emphasizing that you must always seek truth, but that you must also remain true to Over the years, as Rabbi Franklin got who you are—not to who someone else tells more exposed to what was happening in the 186 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 187 AD - kashrus kosher poultry industry, he began to see seri ous flaws, from a standpoint, in the way much of the chicken was produced. This was over three decades ago, and standards were very different than they are today. Rabbi Franklinshechted became very concerned. Wosner“At onezt"l point I managed to bring 100 intact, chickens to Rav Shmuel , who was shechita visiting Americapasseled at that time,” Rabbi Franklin recalls. “When he inspected the point of , he - [invalidated] almost all of them.” Rabbi Franklin grew further disillu Cases of live chickens in the midst kashrus of being unloaded from the truck. sioned when he was hired by a prominent himRav inon chargehilchos ofshechita certifying , and the of . He was looking for a Rav simply trusted him without even testing . ! Rabbi Franklin was shechita“He recommended I speak to you,”Rav a principled man and an idealist. He wanted RebHamachshir Rafoel told me. And that’s how it all theto provideShulchan somethingAruch and the that poskim was produced began. I thought it was an interesting idea according to the most stringent standards of and it was worthy of pursuing. For almost . Seeing a an entire year, I was only working there gapHashgacha in this area, he set out to fill it himself. . I just wanted to see the of project succeed. the Roshei Yeshiva l’shem mitzvah The Rav Hamachshir kashrus hashgacha in charge shul—of all We asked Rav Miller to sum up what he matters at Pelleh Poultry is Rav feels PellehThere is all are about: a lot of people whose Dovid Miller. His —and his mothers and bubbes used to kosher are called Tfilah L’Dovid. We met with him at their chickens at home. A lady would his home in Monsey and asked him to tell us bring home a couple of chickens from how it allI startedbegan. together 35 years ago with the and kosher it herself. In this Reb Rafoel [Franklin] from the first generation, this became much more chicken of Pelleh Poultry. difficult.shochet Many people are very busy with There was a who lived large families, and to kosher your own in Monsey named Reb Shabsi Wigder. (He chickens is very tedious; you need special has since moved“groyser to Yid” .) We implements and not everyone knows the learned together as . One night . But—they still wanted to keep as we were learning, RebEretz Rafoel Yisrael came in up their minhag. This was basi- to speak with him. Theychavrusas stepped aside to halachoscally created for those who really want to speak for a few moments, and then it was kosher their own chickensshechita at home—we time to are basically replacing that. Our whole All of a sudden, while I was walking line operates as if it is a “custom run”. home, Idaven noticed Maariv. this person following Slow and meticulous, paying individual me. He came up to me and asked if we attention to each chicken. could speak. Of course, I told him. He told me that he had come to Reb Shabsi Wigder with a concept for a special kind Everyone we met—from Rav Miller, to Rabbi Rafoel Franklin, to his son Eliezer 188 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 189 AD kashrus

Franklin who now serves as Pelleh CEO— the highest level of , the executive emphasized to us that Pelleh’s products are had such an appreciation for the difference not for everyone. that he exclaimed he “would rather produce “This is not a product that services the 5,000 chickens the way you do it than 50,000 whole world,” Rav Miller said. “It is for the the way we do it!” mashgichim certain amount of people who want this. Even though he trusts everyone working That’s not saying—at all—that the otherRav at Pelleh, and thereRav are Hamachshir multiple - ones are not good. They are, 100 percent.- on-site at all times, Rav Miller takes his Actually, five or six years ago, I was the responsibilities as very seri for the KAJ in Empire Kosher Poultry. I actu ously. He has come on a short Friday several ally wrote the protocol at Empire. But here, times, just so that the staff would see he we have a different protocol.” could show up at any time. He has also come Because Pelleh is a specialty product, in the morning, left for Monsey at his regular it does yungeleit cost a bit more than regular store- time and then come back a second time in bought kosher chicken. Rav Miller told us, the same day for a surprise visit. “Kollel come to me hiddurall the mitzvah time. I The Farm Grows tell them, if you can’t afford it, buy a cheaper one!” Franklin feels that this is not for people who are on a tight budget. Over the years, as word spread about Eliezer Franklin told us the same. His Pelleh Poultry, the operation grew. Today, first question to young couples, when they Rabbi Franklin focuses on the dairy. His approach him to become customers, is: “Can oldest son, Eliezer,bein hazmanim now runs Pelleh as CEO. you afford it?” Eliezer grew up with the farm. Because of the unique way Pelleh chickens “Every I’ve ever had, I are produced, they have become the product spent on the farm,” he toldEretz us Yisrael when forwe Yommet kashrusof choice for elite Torah scholars who are himTov during our visit. “When I was away in zt”lextremelyRosh particular Yeshiva about their standard of yeshiva, I didn’t stay in . For example, Rav Don Ungarischer . I came home to the farm.” , the bochur of Bais Medrosh Elyon After he got married, Eliezer planned to in Monsey, came to the United States from go into the dairy business, building off the Vienna as a youngkashrus around 1938, after veal calves his father was already producing. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Due to the level of prevailing at the time, he chose not to eat any meatRosh or Yeshiva poultry. was In later years, as this author found out when he studied in theshailos yeshiva, the still careful not to eat meat out of concern for certain , butRoshei he would Yeshiva eat inchicken Eretz Yisraelfrom Pelleh. zt”l Many prominent shechita , including R’ Nosson Tzvi Finkel , would not eat from any in America when they came to visit… except for Pelleh. It doesn’t take a sharp Torah scholar to see Pelleh’s commitment to quality. Rav Miller recounted an interesting story. He was once explaining the systems that are in place at Pelleh to a non-Jewish executive of Moshe Holender of ZMAN meeting with Rabbi Rafoel Franklin. a prominent kosher poultry. After Rav Miller detailed all the steps they take to ensure 190 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 191 AD - had it as a pet and they couldn’t take care Eretz Yisrael to get a sense of of it anymore. They knew I had a farm, so He visited different dairy equipment manu they left it with me. facturers in My son Yosef was about eight years shlacht-hoizthe business and see what was available. At old. He spent the rest of the day in the first, he had no intentions of taking on the garage with the lamb. Whenever it was . left alone, it would cry. Sheep are herd “We had a family meeting years ago. My- animals and they don’t like being alone. father asked if anyone was interested in The next day the lamb sat in my lap as taking over the business.kollel Everybody basi I drove it up to the farm. I tied it outside cally said… not really!” when I went in to chickens. It After a few years in , though, the wouldn’t stop crying except when I came time had come for Eliezer to start working. out to see it. I knew someoneshecht in Woodridge At that time, on the farm, creating a dairy with lambs, so I went and bought another was simply not practical. But chickens were. one to keep it company! Before you knew “I started off here working on the line it, there were more than two…. like everyone else,” he said. “As we grew, People coming to visit my farm noticed I realized it was impossible to do that plus the sheep, asking if they could have some the maintenance. I devoting all my time to lamb for . We a few. maintenance and R&D. When we grew more, Within a few years, we had 130 breeding I had to delegate maintenance as well and ewes, hundredsYom Tov of lambsshechted and a whole focus on management and logistics.” USDA-inspected business here. Eliezer Franklin is intimately familiar For eight years from 2000-08, we had with each stage in the production. He was a summer camp here. The idea was to even involved in designing and installing give the boys experiences of things they the equipment. But today his main focus is never dreamed they would do. We bought on the business side of things. He has high two cows and the boys would have to milk hopes for the farm’s growth in the future. them every morning and afternoon. After “But nothingkashrus can change or expand the summer, I started wondering what I unless we are completely sure that it will was going to do with the cows! It didn’t not affect our standards, even to the make sense to sell them and then buy new slightest degree,” he added. ones the next summer. So, I thought if we Who Needs a Lamb? got a bull and they gave birth to calves, we could make some money with them. People had requested beef, but I was Rabbi Rafoel Franklin told us that for living in Monsey so my children could go several years, his farm producedYom meatTov on to and I was commuting, so I didn’t a small, specialty scale—for people who want to do that on a large scale. Now I wanted something special for , for hadcheder some veal calves, and when they got example. Eventually, the hand-raised lamb to about 400 pounds we them. and veal meat became so in-demand that By the eighth year we were milking a exclusive, high-end restaurants—even non- barn full of cows and feedingshechted all the milk kosher ones—used to buy from him. to the calves, which was unique because Rabbi Franklin recalled how his lamb most veal is formula-fed. Dan Barbara, operationMy started: wife called me up one day, one of the top chefs in the country, heard distraught that someone had just left a about our farm and came to visit. He live lamb on our front porch and driven owns an exclusive restaurant in Tarry- away! I told her to run after him—who town called Blue Hill at Stone Barns, on needs a lamb? But we couldn’t find out the Rockefeller Estate. Everything in his who it belonged to. Someone probably restaurant is locally grown. When he

192 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 193 AD saw our operation—how we took care of the calves and fed them real milk—he said he didn’t want veal from anyone but us. President Obama ate our veal at his restaurant; the King of Jordan, who only eats halal, came there and ate with his whole entourage. But all of a sudden the economy tanked and the multimillionaires who were spending $10,000 to come and eat just weren’t going to spend that kind of money any more. Dan Barbara stopped buying veal, and I was stuck with these cows. What do I do? At that time, the farm that provided milk to the Viznitzer Rebbe, , closed down. Someone came to Rav Usher Farkash (right) hands the shechita knife to me and asked if I could provide milkzol to zein the Rav Dovid Miller (left), the Rav Hamachshir, for inspection. Rebbe.gezunt After he started buying raw milk from us, other people asked as well. It grew and developed into a business from there. However, for many years, Pelleh had a special You can see clearly that everything religious exemption, written specifically for was , from the chicken them, from the USDA. to that first lamb on the “I had developed quite a relationship with doorstepsiyata to the dishmaya dairy business. the USDA regional director, a Jewish man shlacht-hoiz named Dr. Friedlander. He pushed through our exemption,” Rabbi Franklin recalled. Sticking to Principles But then, the old inspector who was in shechita with charge ofThe Pelleh new retired. inspector was extremely punctilious and by-the-books. As soon as wasRabbi the FranklinShulchan startedAruch his she came in, she started researching all a clearly stated premise: His “business plan” the regulations. One day she called me lechatchila . Everything was over and said, “You can’t split the backs going to be done in the most preferential,- anymore.” way possible. On one occasion, “But we have a religious exemption!” this principled stance led to a confronta She told me that she had already tion with the US Department of Agriculture discussed it with the tech center in Iowa (USDA). In fact, Rabbi Franklin is famous (or and that we were not allowed to do it infamous?) within the USDA. anymore—end of discussion. She gave Unlike anywhere else in the country, at us until Monday to come up with a new bodkimPelleh Poultry the chickens are split open system. Now, this was on a Thursday. completely at the back before they get to the Sunday was Purim. So there was abso- , to make it easier to check all of the- lutely no way to change our system from internal organs. Thursday to Monday with Shabbos and “The only way to have a complete over Purim in the middle! So I said, “Well, that’s view of what’smashgiach inside is to split the backs the end of USDA inspection.” open completely,” said Rav Usher Farkash, “You can’t do that!” she said. bodekPelleh’s head . “When the split I said, “Oh yes, I can.” Then I reached chicken is lying on the table in front of the up to the USDA sign posted on the wall , it’s like an open book.” and tore it down. “You’re out of here.” This was against the policy of the USDA, because it is considered cross-contamination. 194 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 195 AD I’m the only person in America that the lungs. I traveled to the Eidah HaCha- ever threw out the USDA and stayed in reidis to learn how to check the lungs, and business. We never heard back from them. we check them here… and there is what to We took back state inspection, and even find. though we were producing more chickens Eventually, our operation grew so per year than was technically allowed by large that New York officials became the state, we got an exemption for that, nervous. If something went wrong and too. The state just came a few times a we weren’t under USDA because of their year to make sure everything was clean exemption, they would be held responsible. and according to code. The head of the So we decided to go back and negotiate New York State Department of Agricul- with the USDA. They can be very tough, ture and Markets at that time came here but they did work with us and they ended for a visit. He was so impressed with how up reinstating our kosher exemption. They we operated that he ensured we were able made many expensive demands, involving to stay in business. construction, sewer changes, equipment, For us, the bottom line is . a bigger break room for the workers… but Other slaughterhouses don’t go through everything worked out in the end. the hassle of fighting the USDA andkashrus split- ting the backs before evisceration and We do it even though it costs more time and money! We started with When the USDA returned to Pelleh, bedikah.the premise that the is the farm had to suspend its lamb and veal our guide. If there is a in production. Not only did the increased to check the lungs, thenShulchan we want Aruchto check demands of the chicken production take all hiddur kashrus resources that were available at the time, but the USDA would also not allow meat slaughter to take place in the same building as the chicken production.

• During our chat with Rabbi Franklin, we asked him why the standards for kosher slaughter have improved so dramatically over the decades. His opinion was halachos that it’s partly to do with the youngerkashrus generation. in a more Many more people are learning the in-depth and are looking at sophisticated way. The demand for higher standards has grown. And partially, he says, it was Pelleh. Having a working example of a successful slaughterhouse that adhered to all the strictest standards gradually influenced the greater world of kosher chicken. The Pelleh Tour

After exploring the Pelleh plant a bit on our own, we were met by Yoel Goldman, the Prominently posted rules and regulations of Pelleh, written by Rav Dovid Miller, the Rav Hamachshir. The first principle is that there plant manager, for a tour. When he told us that is no specific number of chickens that must be completed in a day. he had worked at other slaughterhouses in the past, we asked him to compare them and describe some of the differences. At the outset 196 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 197 AD needed a break after just six cases of chickens. I couldn’t say anything. he mentioned an aspect of Pelleh’s operations that he viewedAll as especiallyrelated employees important: answer only to the Rav. They are completely - independentkashrus- of the company. I can’t pres- In fact,mashgiach the ethos of Pelleh is enshrined in sure the about anything. I can the rules and regulations posted prominent give him the plan; I can say that today ly in the break room. It begins, we wouldshochet like to this amount of area“This of slaughterhouse kashrus was founded on the chickens, but he is independent.. If there principle that we are scrupulous in every- is any concern aboutshecht the or a . For this reason, there is no , it is referred to Rav Miller, the specific time constraint or number of chick . shochet ens that must be be completed [in a day],- mashgiachOne example: If the tells me and we purposelyshochtim produceand bodkim a small to do number their heRav is Hamachshir done for the day, there is absolutely of chickens every day in order not to pres nothing I can do. One dayshochet he decided he sure the holy work in haste, without the appropriate care and attention.”

Left: ZMAN speaks with the head mashgiach, R’ Usher Farkash. Right: The shochet, R' Shmuel Menachem Tzig, checks his knife to ensure it is smooth. Note the stainless steel panel blocking the live chickens from seeing the shechita.

Left: The bodek shows ZMAN a ripped leg tendon, which renders the chicken a treyfah. Right: After an assistant (left) splits the chickens, he places them on the chute to the bodek’s table (right).

198 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 199 AD The USDA inspector (right) stands at the table next to Worker uses a vacuum to suction any leftover blood from inside the the bodkim, looking for any potential health concerns. chicken. Since it is completely split, he can see everything easily.

A view into the wash cabinet, which The brush cabinet removes any small remaining thoroughly cleans the chickens. trace of undesirable matter remaining on the chicken.

shochet Walking with Yoel Goldman into the concerns when he came to Pelleh or when frombreak a room,sefer we immediately noticed the he was replaced by another , he presence of Rav Usher Farkash,shochet learning- replied, “Not a single one.” . Rav Farkash was famous for For years, Pelleh and Rav Farkash were many years as the premier of hiddurchick “competitors.” Rabbi Franklin mentioned inens kashrus in Monsey and beyond. He operated in that the Gemara says twoboruch people Hashem in the same much the same way as Pelleh, with business naturally feel a rivalry. “It was as his sole operating plan. When- never that way with us, ,” he we asked why he was there, Rav Farkash commented. “We have always had a very informed us that he had merged his busi high level of respect for each other and retiredness with from Pelleh shechita over a decade ago, bringing when it was too hard for himshochet to continue his all his mistovev customers with him. Now, he has business by himself,yerei Shamayim I was so happy to take but functions as the whathim on a shochetto be our primary . I consider plant’s , circulating throughout and him a true and modelshechita of making sure that all the plant’s operations is supposed to be.” hold to his high standards. When we asked As Yoel Goldman took us to the him if any of his previous customers had room, we were joined by CEO Eliezer 200 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 201 AD Franklin, who told us that all the equipment we would see was custom made for this operation. There was almost nothing they were able to buy “off the shelf” that would fit their space and slow speed requirements. “Equipment is usually built for a fast line, like 90 birds a minute. Even the slowest ones can’t go slow enough for us, which is nine birds a minute.” He added proudlykashrus that the majority of automated equipment we would see was The chickens are automatically released from the line into added due to concerns, not simply these large tubs, where they soak for 30 minutes. Here: Plant for efficiency. manager Yoel Goldman filling the tub. Afterwards he will Somehow, despite hearing about how place a metal sheet on top to push down the chickens and shochet make sure they are completely covered in water. slow the line was, we were still stunned to see just one , slaughtering each chicken methodically, one after the other. The cases with live chickens slideshechita in on a metal ramp. The assistant then pulls out one at a time and positions it for . The seeingramp is the customized shechita so that a sheet of metal strategically shieldshalacha the live chickens from The shechting . We were interested to learn that this is a . - room is the dirtiest part of the plant. Therefore, it is physically separat- ed from everything else. When you walk out, Mashgichim salt the chickens thoroughly by hand, simultaneously looking for any kashrus issues that may have slipped by. you step with your rubber boots into a shal low pool of disinfectant, so as not to bring shechitacontaminants into the rest of the building. Additionally, anyone who walks from the Most kosher slaughterhouses checktrey the- room around to the other side must firstfos halacha few hundred chickens in each lot. If they remove his frock and put on a fresh one. do not find a high enough percentage of Once a chicken is placed on the line, it goes , does not require them to check through a plucking machine that removes all the rest. At Pelleh, every chicken is checked, the feathers. As the machine moves it along, regardless. bodkim tzomesits paws hagidim are slit down the length below the After that, an assistant splits open the hock. Here, a bodek stands to check the chicken’s back. The next step is for , the tendons, which is best to check inside the chicken. It is not checked done while the chicken is hanging. while it is on thebodkim moving line. Instead, it is “Each chickentreyfah has 16 tendons in each taken off the line and placed on a stainless tzomesleg,” Rav hagidim Miller told me later. If one of them steel table. Two check the lungs, the is ripped, it is a . Until recent years,- hip bone (for displacement),bodkim viscera, gizzard,- didn’t need to be checked. liver and gallbladder. bodek But Rav Miller explained that now in Ameri No one is rushing the or pressur ca, many chickens are infected with what is ing them to go faster. When the feels- called a reovirus. bodkim If the disease progresses he has done his job properly, only then does long enough, it can cause tendons to rupture. thehe take bodek the next chicken. In most slaughter Therefore, today must ensure the houses, the chickens remain on the line and tendons are intact. has to keep up with them. 202 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 203 AD Rav Farkash pointed out that, “when the the chickens by hand (like the suction, this is chicken is lying in front of you on the table supposed to remove any extraneous matter and it is split, it’s like an open book. Nothing that remains). As the business grew, it thereis missed.” are the three aforementioned bodkim became harder to handle the greater volume For Pelleh’s nine chickensbodek per minute, and still kashrus keep to their strict standards. , Therefore, they installed the machine to making a ratio of one for every three enhance . “It actually does a much chickens bodkim produced. Even at other very better job,” Rav Miller explained. ormeticulous a ratio of slaughterhouses, one bodek there would be After it is brushed, the chicken falls about five for 85 chickens per minute, off the line into a tank of water where it is per 16 chickens each soaked for half an hour. Thenmashgichim it is hung up to minute. By any measure, Pelleh goes the drip-dry, after which it is removed and put slowest and pays more attention to each on the salting table. Two salt the chicken. In addition, there is notreyfos other kosher chicken. Besides simply salting, they are also chicken businesschazakos in America that checks required to inspect it again to make sure each organ of each chicken for , rather that nothingshlacht-heizer looks wrong with it and that no than relying on for some or all of blood has remained. those organs. - Most do not use Jewish Next, the USDA inspector examines each salters. But even those slaughterhouses chicken for signs of disease. If he finds some that do use Jewish salters can process 450 thing of concern, USDA regulations typically chickens per hour per salter, whereas Pelleh only require him to throw out the part of the- processes 275. When we pointed this out to chicken where the problem was found. But Rav Farkash, he commented that the amount Pelleh discards the whole chicken, prefer of extra time you take with each chicken is ring not to serve their customers from any invaluable, and he wouldn’t mind cutting the chicken with a potential issue. number even further. Then the livers and gizzards are The chicken sits in salt for one hour, after separated for processing and the rest of which it is rinsed off, flash-chilled from its the internal organs are discarded. Eliezer natural heat to an internal temperature of Franklin commented that his ultimate goal below 38 degrees and placed in a crate to is to turn Pelleh into a “zero-waste” facility, drip dry overnight. using every part of the chicken, whether for Subsequently the chickens are custom cut dog food, fertilizer or any bedikahother use they can to order into individual parts. They are then find. He pointed out that the water used to placed on trays and proceed to a machine rinse the chickens after is filtered that vacuum packs them, after which they are and recycled. Next the chicken is placed back in a shackle and proceeds down the line todam a b’einworker holding an industrial vacuum. He suctions away any leftover blood (“ kashrus”) and pieces of internal organs left in the chicken. This is also for reasons of , although it is sanitary as well. Pelleh is the only plant where they vacuum a completely open cavity, seeing everything- clearly. The chicken continues through an auto matic, high-pressure wash cabinet. Then Pelleh Poultry truck on Happy Avenue. it goes through a brush cabinet. Rav Miller told us that Pelleh employees used to brush 204 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 205 AD put in the refrigerator before they are loaded Aside from whole duck, Pelleh also on the truck for delivery. Pelleh chicken is not provides duck parts like legs and boneless theavailable major in frum most stores. As a custom product, breast to the mass market, as well as cooked it is delivered to the customers’ homes within products, including smoked sausage, duck areas like Lakewood, Monsey fry and rillettes (similar to pâté). Everything and Brooklyn. While we were at the plant, is made on-site in their kitchen. Eliezer is one local Jewish couple walked in to buy it especially proud of the natural wood smoker straight from the farm! he installed to create the smoked products. When we asked Ravgeshmak Miller what he- Conclusion likes best about Pelleh, one of the things he mentioned was, “It’s that every thing is so fresh. It’s slaughtered either As mentioned previously, Pelleh Poultry the same day or the day before and it gets is not a product for every consumer. But delivered directly from the farm to your Rav Miller made an interesting point about home. There is no middleman; it’s not sitting the price. It is true that the chicken is more in some distributor’s garage.” expensive. But if you calculate all the extra Eliezer Franklin pointed to Pelleh’s man-hours put into each pound of chicken home-delivered cooked foods, which use- over those at a typical slaughterhouse, the all-natural ingredients and no preservatives. value far outweighs the extra cost. - They use whole spices and vegetables with “It’s like if you were choosing to buy either out fillers and chemicals. He took us into a Chevy or a Cadillac,” he said, “and the Cadil the refrigerator, where there were bags of lac was being offered for just $1,000 more. carrots, onions and other fresh vegetables. Who wouldn’t consider paying just another Growing the Farm $1,000 for a far superior quality vehicle?” Our visit to the Franklins’ unique farm was as interesting as it was educational;kashrus our The Franklin family is currently working only regret was not being able to stay longer! andon expanding kashrus its operations while ensuring Just touring the factory is a lesson in , that each new venture adheres to its quality- as well as a chance to see some creative standards. They have numerous technology at work (have you ever seen a other projects they are currently develop- waterproof computer?!). Pelleh is a company ing. One that has taken off is ducks. Unlike with a long history and a clear eye on the its chickens, Pelleh’s ducks are a whole future, with several exciting new projects in- sale product and are available in kosher the works. Rav Miller is especially proudkashrus that supermarkets. it has been able to grow into a mature busi “Ducks are very hard for most companies ness while maintaining its focus on to produce,” Eliezer Franklin explained. “You at the level ofb’ezras the individual Hashem bird. We look have to slow down the line because the birds forward to seeing what they will accomplish are hard to work with, and they are much in the future, . fattier so you have to clean equipment more often. But since we already go so slow, we really don’t have to slow down much for ducks. So we have found a niche where we can actually compete on price, which we cannot do with chickens.” kashrus He also emphasized how important it is to go slowly with ducks from a standpoint. It is so slow and labor-intensive to Whole spices line the shelves of Pelleh’s pantry. remove the lungs and check them that other places don’t do it, but Pelleh checks every lung. 206 | ZMAN • October 2016 ZMAN • Tishrei 5777 | 207 AD