The battle over kosher chicken: The meat company 'Baldi' petitioned the High Court of Justice against the Chief Rabbinate

The company 'Baldi', one of the leading companies in Israel in importing and marketing meat, petitioned the High Court of Justice today (Sunday) demanding that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel be required to apply the existing procedures for slaughtering poultry abroad - or alternatively to publish organized procedures for importing kosher poultry from other countries.

The petition was filed by attorneys Raz Nizri, Dr. Shlomo Ness and Avinoam Segal-Elad from the Piron law firm, after the company 'Baldi' is currently collaborating with a poultry slaughtering plant in Brazil and is making investments worth millions of shekels to promote the move, in order to import poultry from abroad - it claims to have not received an answer as to why the Rabbinate is delaying granting kosher certification to the plant, on the pretext that there is currently no regulated procedure for importing kosher poultry meat from abroad - and this is at a time when procedures exist in Israel and abroad, which have been implemented in practice for years.

Baladi emphasizes in the petition that the slaughterhouses with which it cooperates meet all the halachic requirements that are mandatory according to the procedures for importing beef, but despite this, the Rabbinate chooses not to publish parallel procedures for poultry.

According to the petition, the Rabbinate's position is not based on a halachic prohibition, but rather on vague administrative considerations, while violating the right to freedom of occupation and the broader public interest.

The company stated: "We operate out of social and economic responsibility, and are committed to bringing the Israeli public kosher, high-quality chicken at a fair price. Any delay in determining the procedures, which in fact already exist and have been in place for many years, directly harms the Israeli consumer and the fight against the cost of living."

"Precisely because kashrut is very important to us, we demand that the rabbinate act transparently, in good faith, and put the public good at the top of the list of priorities."