House of David breaks ground for processing plant

A new House of David kosher chicken processing plant will be completed by March in Tulare, Calif., visaliatimesdelta.com reported. The 60,000-square-foot plant, whose groundbreaking took place on September 9, will process 40,000 chickens daily.
It will initially employ 70 people with plans to add 50 more later. All employees will be local, except for a four-person management team and 12 workers who will handle slaughtering duties, Hillel Shamam, Southern California businessman and owner of the plant was quoted as saying.
The plant will use kosher standards. No injured, unhealthy, overgrown or undergrown chicken will be slaughtered, Shamam added.

Hain Celestial Group ramps up kosher poultry products

The Hain Celestial Group Inc., owner of Hain Pure Protein (HPP) a natural, kosher and organic broiler and turkey producer, recently converted its Plainville, N.Y. facility to kosher production. HPP has introduced the Kosher Valley brand for marketing its kosher poultry products which are produced from vegetarian-fed, antibiotic-free birds.
The company also reported a loss of $41.2 million for the third quarter ended March 31, 2009 on sales of $267.7 million. The net loss was driven by the company taking an estimated after-tax non-cash impairment charge of $48.4 million against goodwill and intangible assets related to the company's European and HPP reporting units. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted net income was $12.5 million, or $0.31 per share, in the third quarter this year.
HPP reports that it is in the process of de-emphasizing sales of conventional turkey and chicken products while it focuses on antibiotic-free products to improve its mix of sales for future periods.