Chief Rabbi in a flap over price of kosher chicken

“OY” was the first word that came to mind when Nando’s co-founder Robert Brozin got a request from Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein last month — perhaps because he knew it would ruffle some feathers.

Goldstein asked him to lead a task team to investigate the high price of kosher chicken.

A spot check in Norwood, Johannesburg, this week showed that Jews who observe the faith’s dietary laws can expect to pay between R15 and R40 more per kilogram for chicken.

Goldstein said people in his community were struggling to follow their kosher diet because of the high prices and this had caused a lot of distress.

“People are suffering financially and we have a moral and religious imperative to alleviate their suffering,” he said.

He said Brozin was the perfect person for the investigation and that his knowledge of the industry would be helpful.

Brozin said his first reaction to Goldstein’s request was “Oy”, but he signed up because he fully understood the need for the investigation.

“In tougher times, we have to try to find a sustainable solution for more people to eat more kosher food, more often, for less,” said Brozin.

He added that it was still too early to say where he would start the investigation.

A spot check at the Pick n Pay Hyper in Norwood, Johannesburg, found that a full kosher chicken will set shoppers back at least R20 more a kilo than a non-kosher one.

Shoppers can expect to pay as much as R40 a kilogram more for kosher deboned chicken breasts compared with Pick n Pay’s free-range equivalent.

Mike Kingston, an independent consultant in the poultry industry, said the disparity was owing to the strict requirements for preparing kosher chicken and the relatively low demand for it.

To end up kosher, chickens need to be plucked by hand and exposed to salt for an hour.

The salt “acts as a sponge to get rid of all the blood”, he said, “and the salt cannot be reused, so that adds to the high cost”.

Goldstein said kosher chickens were also hand-inspected because they cannot be eaten if there are any wounds spotted in their vital organs.