12-Apr-2005-
Large-scale Business Move Gefilte fish plant opens in Paterson.Few people would call Mendel Monhert's work exciting.
Day in, day out, he stands in an 8-by-10-foot room cooled to a steady 50 degrees, breaking eggs into a glass bowl and checking each one for blood spots. Though he cracks about 21,000 eggs each day, he has no complaints.
"It's a fun job," he said, explaining that he staves off boredom by listening to recorded readings from the Bible.
It's also a relatively new job - at least to Paterson.
Monhert is one of two religiously-trained employees in the egg-breaking department of A&B's Famous Gefilte Fish, a manufacturer of the frozen kosher delicacy widely used on Jewish celebration days.
Last year, the company, which was founded in 1978, moved to Paterson from Monsey, N.Y. And on Monday, city and county officials gathered to celebrate the opening of the company's gleaming, newly renovated 50,000-square-foot plant and the 40 jobs that came with it.
County officials said the company spent about $3 million renovating the property which was formerly occupied by Teva Pharmaceuticals and is located on the banks of the Passaic River.
"It's a substantial moment for Passaic County and Paterson," said Deborah Hoffman, the county's director of economic development. "Because we were able to relocate them from outside the state."
Gefilte fish - a sort of ground fish patty usually simmered in fish stock - is prepared strictly according to kosher law. The fish must have fins and scales - usually mullet, white fish and salmon.
Likewise, the eggs must have no blood spots. So each one is checked by
mashgichim such as Monhert, who are well-versed in Jewish dietary law.
A&B officials said they accept a 22,000-pound delivery of fish once or twice a week, enough to make between 10,000 and 15,000 loves of gefilte fish a day. Most of the fish comes from the Great Lakes and Canada. The final product is sold world-wide with shipments going to Israel, Europe and beyond, company officials said.
A&B is probably the best-known of four or five brands on the market, said Ely Skorski, owner of Koshermania.com, an Ohio-based online seller of kosher foods.
"Everybody knows A&B," he said in a telephone interview, "It's known as a top-of-the-line brand. We sell more of that than we do any of our other brands."
The loaves are made in a chilly, noise-filled production room in the heart of the plant. On Monday, a dozen workers in white coats, plastic aprons and baseball capsw moved around an array of gleaming stainless steel machines and work areas, grinding fish, cutting onions, measuring spices and mixing them all together. Every few seconds a machine emitted a sharp snap to indicate the emission of a dollop of paste, marking another - finishd loaf.
In a room next door, Carlos Lastre, 23, pushed the loaves into plastic bags and onto a conveyor belt ready for packing.
"It's good work," said Lastre, a resident of Spring Valley, N.Y., who said he earns $8 an hour.
With revenues about $5 million and annual growth of 10 to 15 percent, A&B found its former home in New York State became too small, company officials said. The Paterson location is ideal for two reasons, said company founder and President Abe Koth: It is close to Route 80, and the building already had USDA approval under its previous owners.
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