Jewish households in Pittsburgh who regularly purchase kosher meats and poultry should still be able to get them despite problems plaguing the country's largest kosher meatpacker.

Problems may arise, though, when Rosh Hashana arrives next week.

Iowa-based Agriprocessors Inc. faces more than 9,000 child labor violations and has been threatened with the loss of its kosher certification by the Orthodox Union.

Nancy Shlomo, co-owner of Sampo Distributors in McKees Rocks, which has distributed Agriprocessors products for years, said the addition of families who purchase kosher meats and poultry only during the holidays will make it much more difficult to meet the demand.

"Every Jewish family wants to have a brisket on the holidays," she said. "So I think there will be a problem, unfortunately."

She said even when Agriprocessors is at full speed there's always a shortage around the high holidays of Rosh Hashana, which begins this year at sundown Monday, and Yom Kippur, which starts at sundown Oct. 8.

It will be even more difficult this year because Agriprocessors has struggled to keep up production since a raid in May that found 389 illegal immigrants working at the plant. The company has been accused of hiring workers under 18 who worked at night under dangerous conditions.

Mrs. Shlomo does not believe the charges leveled at Agriprocessors.

"We don't think these things are going to wash in court," she said. "I'm sure everything will be cleared up. They're very determined to continue."

Daniel Cohen of DC Catering, who caters one or two events a year but was speaking personally as someone who keeps kosher, said, "We've found the availability of certain things is a little down in supermarkets."

Mr. Cohen said years ago several local small kosher slaughterhouses supplied the area.

As the local places closed, larger companies like Agriprocessors picked up that business, he said.

Giant Eagle, which carries kosher meats and poultry in about one-third of its 98 Western Pennsylvania stores, stopped purchasing from Agriprocessors in May after the raid.

Giant Eagle now buys its kosher poultry from Empire Kosher in Mifflintown, Juniata County, and its meats from Alle Processing in Maspeth, N.Y.

"The stores that are kosher are well-stocked, so there wouldn't be any problem for the Jewish community to find what they need there," said Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts.