K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Hungary is Europe’s unlikely leader in kosher foie gras production — to Viktor Orban’s advantage

December 14, 2021 from The JTA:

"Europe’s two kosher foie gras factories aren’t in France, by far the leading consumer of the fatty liver product. Nor are they in England, home to Europe’s second-largest Jewish population.

"Instead, they are both in Hungary — where there are few Jews and no more than half a dozen kosher eateries in total.

"Hungary has been doing more than advocating against restrictions on kosher slaughter, or shechitah. It also gives substantial government subsidies and concessions to kosher slaughterhouses that operate within the country.

"The subsidies, combined with the animal-slaughter policies elsewhere in Europe and the supply chain interruptions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned Hungary into an unlikely major producer of kosher meat for consumption in Europe and Israel. Among its slaughterhouses are the only two devoted to kosher geese in Europe.

"Following the ban in Belgium, a large slaughterhouse for chickens relocated last year from Antwerp to Hungary to stay in business. And when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shutdown of kosher slaughterhouses in the United Kingdom, the ones in Hungary upped production and one of the abattoirs for geese, Kosher Poultry in the village of Csengele about 75 miles southeast of Budapest, switched to poultry to alleviate the shortages."