ATLANTA – The National Chicken Council (NCC) announced its new board of directors members at the trade association’s board meeting held in conjunction with the 2012 International Poultry Exposition.

Elected to serve three-year terms were: Jayson Penn, Pilgrim’s Pride executive vice president for sales and operations; Sara Lilygren, Tyson Foods senior vice president of external relations; and Greg Rosenbaum, Empire Kosher chief executive officer.

Paul Fox, O.K. Industries’ new chief operating officer, was elected to serve a one-year term.

CONTACT: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
202-265-3000 (o) or 202-215-9260 (c), samantha@rabinowitz-dorf.com

Empire Kosher CEO named to National Chicken Council Board
Leading kosher poultry producer’s Greg Rosenbaum to bring his company’s truly natural, socially responsible and strictly kosher approach to national trade association board

MIFFLINTOWN, Penn. – Empire Kosher announced that its chief executive officer, Greg Rosenbaum, was named to the board of the prestigious national nonprofit trade association that represents the entire American chicken industry. He will serve a three-year term.

The National Chicken Council (NCC), based in Washington, D.C., represents the industry in front of Congress and federal government agencies as it works to promote and protect the interests of the chicken industry. Its members include chicken producers and processors and poultry distributors, and member companies represent more than 95 percent of chicken sold in the country. Other board members include such industry leaders as Lampkin Butts, Chairman, of Sanderson Farms; Joe Sanderson, Jr., also of Sanderson Farms; Jim Perdue of Perdue Farms; and Ron Foster of Foster Farms.

“I am honored to take a leading role in the single most influential organization in the U.S. chicken industry,” Rosenbaum said. “Empire has always been a highly regarded producer of kosher poultry products. Now, we’re being recognized for our leadership in socially and environmentally conscious, truly natural production, as well. I look forward to sharing our successes with the other nationally known companies represented on the board, as well as to learn from them and together, further strengthen the American poultry industry and the ways we serve our members across the country.”

Rosenbaum was named to the board during the trade association’s board meeting held last week in Atlanta in conjunction with the International Poultry Exposition.

Responding to changing consumer preferences and an evolving sense of the responsibilities that go along with producing kosher food items, Empire Kosher Poultry has transformed itself into a company dedicated to being truly natural, socially responsible and strictly kosher.  As the world’s oldest and largest producer of kosher chicken and turkey, Empire Kosher has a long history of respecting and adhering to the rituals of kosher slaughter.  However, beginning with its transfer to current ownership in 2003, Empire has taken its focus a step further to ensure that its ethical practices are respected as diligently as its ritual practices.

Empire Kosher offers a wide variety of all-natural, free-roaming, antibiotic-free and 100 percent vegetarian-fed poultry, all with no growth hormones added. Empire uses absolutely no animal by-products — only its own 100 percent vegetarian feed mixed to a unique and exacting formula.

Empire ensures top quality products through its rigorous and thorough Quality Control program.  Its on-site laboratory allows the company to constantly monitor its products and make sure they meet the company’s strict quality standards.  Empire Kosher receives the very highest ratings from the most environmentally and socially conscious stores. The company that monitors Whole Foods, for example, gave Empire Kosher an exemplary 98.8 percent rating for its chicken and a 98.6 percent rating for its turkey.

Greg Rosenbuam, CEO of Empire Kosher,
recently named a board member of National Chicken Council

About Empire Kosher

Empire Kosher produces the best tasting and highest quality, truly natural, socially responsible, and strictly kosher poultry products for a diverse range of customer needs and preferences.  Empire offers a wide variety of chicken products, turkey, deli, fully cooked, gluten-free, organic and kosher for Passover products under its Empire label and a similar line, exclusively for Whole Foods, called Kosher Valley.

Empire Kosher started in 1938, when Joseph N. Katz, an Austrian immigrant, recognized that the Jewish population in America’s suburbs and rural areas could not find kosher foods. Katz sought to change that reality and started his own company on a shoestring budget in a garage in the small town of Liberty, N.Y. and named it after the Empire state. Katz recruited some of the most diligent rabbis from Israel and Europe and invested a lot of time learning to clean and dress chickens under the rabbis’ watchful eyes. In the early 1960s, Empire relocated to Mifflintown, Penn., when Katz purchased a small processing plant there. Today, still headquartered in the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania, Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. is the largest kosher poultry producer in the United States. Practicing sustainable farming, promoting social justice, and strictly observing the Jewish dietary laws, Empire Kosher dependably produces the best tasting and highest quality all-natural poultry products. Empire chicken and turkey are not only for those who keep kosher for religious reasons; Empire Kosher is the best option for any consumer who wishes to eat healthy and safely, buy responsibly, promote worker and animal rights, protect the environment, and support local farmers and their communities.

Empire Kosher’s entire product line, recipes, news and FAQs can be found at its website, EmpireKosher.com. Follow Empire Kosher on Facebook and Twitter.

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Ready to Roast

WHAT: Whole, marinated, 3-pound kosher chicken from Empire Kosher can be cooked in its bag in the microwave. Chickens raised free-roaming, vegetarian-fed and without antibiotics. Results were surprisingly tasty and juicy.

GOOD FOR: Anyone who doesn’t have time for traditional roasting and, of course, anyone who wants to keep kosher.

WHY: Because marinating and roasting is a time-consuming process.

AVAILABLE AT: Glatt Express, 1400 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck; ShopRite; Kings.

HOW MUCH: $10.99.

— Kara Yorio

The Thanksgiving turkey leftovers are finished or in the freezer, but a central question remains: Were you eating poultry that was stuffed not only with fresh herbs and bread crumbs, but also with antibiotics that are proven to be dangerous to humans?

This is no longer an idle threat. Good research shows that up to 80% of all the antibiotics used in this country are given to animals, ostensibly to prevent illness and promote growth, but in fact creating a serious problem in the food supply and putting healthy Americans at risk. The overuse of antibiotics in animal production has led to resistance in humans and then, because nature abhors a vacuum, to the rise of “superbugs” that are even more difficult and costly to treat.

The Food and Drug Administration has been aware of this issue for years, but is too reluctant to impose even meaningful voluntary restrictions. Fortunately, Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from New York, has been relentless in pushing her Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which would phase out the nontherapeutic use in livestock of medically important antibiotics in humans. “What we are witnessing is a looming public health crisis that is moving from farms to grocery stores to dinner tables around the country,” Slaughter, the only microbiologist in Congress, said in a statement. “While we’re giving antibiotics to pigs and chickens, we’re allowing people to die.”

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much appetite in Congress to pass the legislation. The Obama administration certainly needs to do more to pursue this issue.

Meanwhile, this is a case where informed consumers don’t have to wait for government regulation to do the wise thing. Since 2009, Empire Kosher Poultry, now the largest producer of kosher chickens and turkeys in the country, has sold poultry that is raised without antibiotics and is fed only a vegetarian diet; other smaller companies are emerging that also sell only kosher pasture-fed, antibiotic-free meat.

An Empire spokesman says that 15 million chickens and turkeys are grown and processed by the company each year. It’s a fraction of all the meat produced nationwide, but it’s still a formidable number, enough to persuade consumers, kosher and not, to take notice. Europe banned farmers from feeding antibiotics to livestock since 2006. Once again, in matters of health, the United States lags behind because of our slavish devotion to eating what’s bad for us.

To taste the brined turkey tested for my article last week, I invited neighbors over for a pre-Thanksgiving turkey potluck Shabbat dinner. It was a great evening. Since most of us only cook turkey once a year, here are some of the tips we gathered in our test run:

We all agreed that most kosher turkeys are not as salty as they used to be, so you can brine them. In brining this turkey, I used salt with equal amounts of brown sugar, as well as thyme and apple cider. Other people add aromatics like juniper berries and bay leaves, and many people advocate using less salt for a kosher bird. If you decide to brine your kosher turkey, make sure you rinse the bird well and pat it dry before roasting. You also must use a cold, not hot, brine; hot brine cooks the turkey a bit and risks salmonella.

Some of my otherwise non-kosher Thanksgiving turkey-eating guests were put off by the feathers often left on kosher turkeys. When I asked an Empire spokesperson about this, he explained that since only cold water is allowed in a kosher slaughter, it is harder to get rid of the feathers. The reason that warm water, which would loosen the feathers and allow for easier extraction, is not allowed is that warm water would begin the cooking process forbidden during slaughtering. I also imagine that with the influx of buyers at Thanksgiving time, it is more difficult for the workers to keep up with the feathers. You can pluck them yourselves or forget about them.

When it is time to roast the turkey, try not to set the roasting pan on the very bottom rack of your oven, but rather the second from the bottom, as things burn too easily on the bottom.

How the turkey is carved is almost as important as how it is cooked. One school of thought—that of our turkey carver for the evening—is that you should first rest the turkey outside the oven for at least 20 minutes, then scoop out the stuffing if using it. Next, remove the legs and the wings by fishing around with the edge of the knife to find the right joint, take the skin off (but don’t discard it–it’s the best part), and with the turkey facing breast up, make a lateral cut at the base of the breast as deep and far back as you can. Then, start diagonally slicing white meat from the top down to the bottom. Lastly, cut the dark meat off the carcass. The backseat-driver school of thought proffered that after resting the bird, cut it down the center, because it is easier to carve that way.

Carving customs aside, this is a day about family coming together to celebrate that for which they offer Thanksgiving. We shouldn’t make light of these family traditions, as we saw in Avalon, the movie about a large Jewish family in Baltimore. In one memorable scene, the family is waiting for their uncle, played by Lou Jacobi, to arrive before they start the ceremonial carving of the turkey. While the younger family members want to feed their impatient children, the elders want to maintain the time-honored tradition and insist, “Don’t cut the turkey,” but to no avail. When Uncle Gabriel arrives, anticipating the coveted moment of the first slice, he sees the bird has already been cut. “What! You cut the turkey without me,” he shouts, leaving the house and never coming back. So please, don’t let my tips interfere with your family’s rituals.

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IF YOU’RE TOO TIRED TO COOK AFTER YOM KIPPUR…

After a long day of fasting and atoning, who wants to cook? This is America! Not to worry! There is now an instant microwaveable kosher whole chicken. It’s made by Empire Kosher, and all you do is pop it in the microwave for 20 minutes and, voila, dinner. I threw one into the office microwave for a test. As a good Lutheran girl I’m not really up on what’s kosher, but I’m totally up on what’s easy. It worked. Mmmm. The aroma blanketed the office, covering up the horrific smell of last week’s burnt popcorn disaster.

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© 2011 CNBC.com

Boneless skinless chicken breasts are an excellent source of low-fat protein, and have become a kitchen staple in many households looking to prepare healthier meals. To find out which brand is best, we tested six popular brands and broiled them without any seasoning.

In the end, our favorite was the Empire Kosher bird, its superior flavor enhanced every chicken dish we tested. The koshering process, similar to brining, involves coating the chicken with salt to draw out any impurities, which also results in moist, flavorful meat.

Online and just about everywhere, it seems that people are focused on “going green”. From farm fresh produce stands and farm-to-table popular restaurants to alternative energy and water conservation plants, “going green” has certainly captured our attention. Products that carry a “green label” are innovative, progressive, and conscience-oriented. But whoever would believe that kosher, specifically kosher chicken would fall into that category?

Yes, its true, kosher chicken has gone green. Well not any kosher chicken, that’s for sure, but Empire Kosher , known for its tasty and kosher chicken, has developed an admired reputation for being socially and environmentally conscious as well as truly natural in every step of the production process.

GKC had to find our more. We got in touch with their CEO, Greg Rosenbaum, to find out what does green and kosher really mean. Greg told us that, “Green kosher is eating healthy, safely and strictly kosher, buying responsibly, promoting worker and animal welfare, protecting the environment and supporting small family farmers and their communities.” I wondered, does the kosher community care about this? I mean, do they really understand? They should! This is revolutionary for the kosher market!Empire Kosher is committing to limiting the number of chickens a farmer can raise at any given time, raising poultry in a humane way that is healthy for both consumers and animals, respecting and replenishing the environment in ways that will ensure its continued viability for many generations to come, providing safe working conditions and a fair wage to employees as well as generous compensations to their network of small family farmers.

GKC is impressed, this puts Empire Kosher ahead of its competition and draws an implicit contrast with other food companies in the news.

Customers and GKC readers repeatedly praise Empire’s exceptional taste, texture and quality of product. Clearly we have good taste, as they year after year, win taste tests by prestigious publications like the NY Times, Gourmet Magazine, Food and Wine, and many more.

Empire CEO emphasized that in addition to being “green kosher”; they offer a wide variety of all-natural, organic, free-range, anti-biotic free, vegetarian-fed poultry. All with no growth hormone added (to better understand these terms go to the Turkey blog from Thanksgiving).

The news about Empire Kosher comes at a great time. Rosh Hashanah is a busy cooking period for the kosher consumer and all of us are eager to purchase products that have the greatest flavor and are mindful of the gifts of this planet. Thank you Empire for being a leader in the industry and for respecting our world.

A little more from Empire…they shared a few holiday recipes that are great for the holidays. I tried them they are super easy and exceptionally tasty!

Empire Kosher Ultimate Rosh Hashanah Chicken
Honey Pecan Chicken
Glazed and Spiced Matzo Stuffed Chicken

Last night’s chicken dinner was awesome. In fact, my 15 year old son said to me, “no offense Ima, but this tastes better than anything you ever made”. Ouch. But that was after he said “Mmmm, this chicken tastes………DEAD” so you can’t necessarily trust his opinion.

Very soon after I put the chicken in the microwave, the delicious aroma of the cooking chicken wafted through the house, bringing boys running from all quarters. By the time that chicken came out of the oven the boys were salivating.

It really does look like that. Except no grapes and greenery!
I carved up the chicken – juices were leaking everywhere, which is a good thing! I served dinner – the chicken along with starch and a veggie, and we dug in.

The chicken was moist (“Wet” as one as the kids said…oy) and tender, flavorful and just plain perfect. Seriously. The only problem was that there wasn’t enough of it. It’s a 3 lb chicken. I have a husband, THREE teenage boys with hollow legs, and a nine year old. Plus myself – and we all know I love to eat. Luckily the oldest teen wasn’t here, or there would not have been enough.

The verdict was unanimous. Delicious and please can we have it again tomorrow.

So here’s what I have to say to the folks at EMPIRE. Awesome product – thanks for sending it to me. My kids had a blast telling their friends that we received a chicken in the mail. I am so thrilled to hear you have a BBQ version coming out soon – we plan to try that one as well. I hate carving chickens and turkeys and ducks – could you perhaps use the same awesome microwave technology and sell these fine fowl in pieces? Also – for those bigger families – can you sell bigger chickens – like 5 lb-ers – so that there is enough to go around?

Folks – this “microwaveable” chicken retails at around $10.99 in my area – which is good value seeing as it is pre-cleaned, pre-seasoned, pre-prepared and all you have to do is press a button or two on the microwave.

So from us here at the Hearts / Diamonds Palace – five thumbs up! (or should that be ten?)

*there is an H at the start of HERB – it needs to be pronounced.

Note: I was given this product free of charge. My review expresses my honest opinion and I was not paid in anyway for it.

AWESOMENESS – was just informed that this fall / winter season there will be microwaveable cutlets available – cook for 2 minutes 15 seconds each. Those will be perfect for my son that eats lunch and supper in school!!

“Green Kosher” is the new advertising tag for Empire Kosher food processors, based in rural Pennsylvania. But what does it mean?

There is an important backstory here. Empire is the nation’s leading kosher poultry producer, which has aggressively pursued a progressive image in the media (and particularly the Jewish media). It has done this even more aggressively in light of the shameful behavior of Agriprocessors, previously the nation’s leading producer of kosher meat, which was sort of the poster child of hypocritical religion and perverted business ethics: hiding behind its image of ultra-Orthodox piety, the owners of Agriprocessors abused their animals with inhumane practices, dumped untreated animal waste effluent into local rivers, violated minimum wage laws, busted attempts at unionization, and hired illegal immigrants to use child labor. And through all of this, it was defended by large swathes of the ultra-Orthodox establishment. All okay if you talk to God everyday, I suppose. Finally, ICE raided the plant, the federal government administered tens of thousands of dollars in fines, Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy, and its owner Shlomo Rubashkin, was convicted of several counts of financial, wire, and banking fraud.

Enter Empire Kosher, which has a unionized work force, relies on a network of local, family-run farms for its poultry, and uses only cage-free eggs and chickens. It says that it regularly submits to third-party animal welfare audits. It lavishly funds Hazon, the organization spearheading the Jewish sustainable food movement. Its current CEO, Greg Rosenbaum, collects humanitarian awards by the handful and is close with Bill Clinton.

And now Empire has aggressively begun marketing itself as “Green Kosher.” What does that mean?

Well, it’s not organic. Empire does have a line of organic products, but most of its products are not. So what exactly is it? I checked out its website to get a better description, and this is what it says:

Eating healthy, safely and strictly kosher, buying responsibly, promoting worker and animal rights, protecting the environment, and supporting small family farmers and their communities.

That’s it. All good, but pretty vague. Even George W. Bush said he believes in “protecting the environment and supporting small family farmers and their communities.” Unless there are specific guidelines, it’s not clear whether Empire is green or simply greenwashing. The company has a good record, and after the Agriprocessors outrages, it is important to have a company that is doing good things. But when it comes to environmental standards, one must trust but verify.

Such a posture is particularly important because many progressive Jewish organizations have attempted to add to the kosher laws ecological strictures; many years ago, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (a somewhat ironic last name) proposed replacing traditional kashrut with “eco-kashrut.” It makes sense in a lot of ways: it makes little sense to claim to uphold God’s laws while destroying God’s planet. If Empire really follows up with excellent environmental practices, then it could go a long way to advancing eco-kashrut. But if it doesn’t, it could destory the brand.

Empire just launched the ad campaign, and one hopes that they have prepared for public scrutiny. Either way, that scrutiny should come soon.