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Nation Continued from Page 14
largely celebrated Passover in homes
and in small groups because of the pan-
demic, meaning that few bulk buyers
were influencing the marketplace. But
this year, with public health restrictions
largely lifted and travel on the rise again,
Passover programs and communal
seders are starting up again — and large
purchases are being made in a market
where live birds have been scarce for the
last year and frozen meat for two years.

said Naftali Hanau, CEO of Grow and
Behold Foods, a small kosher meat
purveyor. Labor costs have risen this year. So
have gas prices and the cost of pack-
aging materials needed to distribute
meat. Now, the war in Ukraine is
increasing the cost of chicken feed, too.

Both Russia and Ukraine are signifi-
cant producers of grain.

“Even if we weren’t buying direct
from them for our contracts, somebody
else was and now there’s not enough to
go around,” Fink said. “The No. 1 big-
Jewish Exponent
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“Chicken is so essential.

You’ve got to have that piece
of chicken to make
a decent dinner.”
ALEXANDER RAPPAPORT
Kosher poultry farms generally freeze
a few weeks’ worth of inventory over the
course of the year in anticipation of the
busy Passover season. But because of
what happened last year, they couldn’t
do that. So the programs have been buy-
ing fresh chicken instead, competing
with consumers for the product.

Why didn’t more meat get pro-
duced for Passover?
Some foods are produced just for
Passover, or in heightened quantities.

But that’s easier said than done when it
comes to meat.

In a typical year, David Elliot Farms
can increase production for a holiday
season — but only by up to 10%. And
that’s with everything functioning as it
normally does.

“This year, we have not been able to
procure any extra birds and we haven’t
had any inventory to speak of in stor-
age,” Fink said.

Why am I seeing prices go up?
Consumers are experiencing sticker
shock across industries at the moment,
as pandemic-era supply and labor
interruptions translate into higher
costs at the cash register.

“This year in general there’s just a lot
of inflationary pressure on everything,”
Yom Ha’atzmaut
gest component of the price of chicken
in the supermarket is really the feed.”
Then, of course, there’s the simple
economics of it all: When supply is
down and demand is up, goods can
command a higher price.

April 28
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Celebrate 74 years of
independence for Israel with this
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What’s the outlook for
kosher-keeping Jews?
Prices are going up and customers
can expect to see limited quantities or
G varieties of kosher
MIN chicken
N products in
O C
P ECTIO
stores. U
S L
IA Consumers
SPEC might do well to con-
sider skipping chicken, whether for
other meats or for none at all. Beef can
be expensive, but it is available.

There are other ways to be inventive.

When Super Bowl buying exhausted
the supply of wings and legs, KJ Poultry
instead offered Alexander Rappaport,
who runs a soup kitchen and pantry in
health made aides
Brooklyn, From
ground home
chicken from
carcasses to that financial
would otherwise
planners go to to
waste. After experimenting with the
nursing homes, this is the
product, his staff at Masbia created a
venue fish,” to show
few recipes perfect
for “falshe
or mock
how your
can it.

gefilte fish made from business
chicken, using
Rappaport believe find
that the
Jews help and our others
readers will continue to buy chicken.

resources they need.

“Chicken is so essential,” Rappaport
said. “You’ve got to have that piece of
chicken to make a decent dinner.” JE
Senior Lifestyle
Senior Lifestyle
May 5
From home health aides to
financial planners to nursing
homes, this is the perfect venue to
show how your business can help
our readers find the resources
they need.

MAY 6
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advertising@jewishexponent.com Reach an affl uent audience of 50,000 engaged readers
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