Agriprocessors halts production at Postville plant

The Associated Press

POSTVILLE (AP) — A spokesman for the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville says all production at the plant has been suspended, at least temporarily.

Chaim Abrahams, who is also a manager at the Postville plant, says company executives are in New York for a bankruptcy hearing Monday. He says they hope to resume production Tuesday, but it’s not clear if that will be possible.

The plant was the site of an immigration raid in May in which nearly 400 workers were arrested. It stopped processing cattle a few weeks ago but continued to process chickens until last week.

The company has struggled to survive since the raid. It filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, and its former chief executive is in jail on federal bank fraud charges.