Ohio producers object to prison pork ban

While a Michigan company sold pork to prisons in Ohio, that state’s pork producers and processors were upset when pork was banned from being served to prisoners.

The ban came into place after two Muslim death row prisoners sued federal wardens for not offering halal food options when kosher foods were offered to Jewish prisoners. California, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts already quit serving pork, according to meatingplace.com. Ohio is the eighth largest pork-producing state, with 3,700 farms producing four million hogs a year.

An Associated Press story says the prisoners’ lawsuit isn’t really about serving pork, so much as it is about serving meals produced using handling requirements, which are different again from kosher requirements.

Better Pork - February 2012