What's so different about Empire Kosher?

How Empire Poulrty is processed
Cleaning crews work all night for a 5 a.m. start at the main processing plant. Birds have been hand-loaded and crates are carefully unloaded to avoid sudden drops. Even before the processing begins, specially trained rabbis check the birds for injuries or evidence of disease as each chicken is individually handled by staff experienced in detecting any abnormalities.


The actual slaughtering process is swiftly and painlessly performed by hand in accordance with the Jewish Dietary laws that command humane treatment of animals. All processing at Empire is done in flowing cold spring water from Empire's own wells.

According to kosher law, no hot or heated water can come in contact with the birds during processing. Besides facilitating the removal of blood, the use of cold water is believed to minimize bacterial growth and contamination. Throughout the process, incessant attention is given to cleanliness -- this is after all a kosher plant where purity is paramount.

Individual birds go through a series of defeathering machines, all of which use chilled water. The use of cold water can make feather removal more difficult but minimizes the cross contamination found in non-kosher plants where birds are defeathered using hot water.

While special machinery is used throughout the process, much of the work here is still done by hand. That's one of the reasons it takes three times as long to process an Empire Kosher bird and why it costs more. The hand processing includes extra steps, extra inspections. By the time a bird is packed, it has been looked over by hundreds of experienced eyes.

After required government inspections, a staff of specially trained rabbis check each bird for any signs of abnormalities, injuries, growths, adhesions, or evidence of disease. Poultry that doesn't meet Empire's uncompromising benchmarks of healthfulness are immediately culled by the rabbinical staff and removed. In fact, rabbinical inspectors reject hundreds of birds each day which have already passed USDA inspection. What does this mean? For example, in a non-kosher operation, if poultry has a diseased part, the part is simply removed and the rest of the bird is processed and sold. At Empire, the whole bird is rejected as unfit for sale under a kosher label.

After a bird passes this unparalleled series of inspections, it is then, in accordance with Jewish Law, soaked in cool constantly replenished water. This facilitates the removal of as much blood as possible to minimize impurities usually carried in the blood stream. A series of fans dry off excess moisture so that the salt used will not melt on the bird. Each bird is hand-salted with a light coating of coarse salt, then allowed to drain. All salt is then rinsed off with a series of sprays, dips and washes. The results of all these extra steps? A premium quality, all natural chicken/turkey, carefully hand processed to the highest kosher standards of purity and healthfulness. In fact, Empire's poultry is so good, its won taste test after taste test -- from students and faculty at Penn State University, to famous New York chefs in New York Magazine, to chefs and editorial staff at Cook's Magazine.