Kosher Meat Laws
The rules of kashrut governing meat are set out in detail in Leviticus. We have outlined some of the main rules below for ease of reference:
1. Kosher Slaughter Rules
The main aim behind of kosher slaughter rules is to ensure that an animal is killed as painlessly as possible. The method of shechitah (kosher ritual slaughter) involves a quick cut to the throat with a very sharp and completely smooth knife.
Once the animal has been killed, it must be carefully inspected to ensure that there are no blemishes. This inspection process is called bediko.
Following this inspection, it is necessary to remove certain veins and prohibited fats. The sciatic nerve found in an animal’s hindquaters for is example must be extracted because it was the place where Jacob was injured when he wrestled with an angel.
Finally the meat must be drained of blood as the Torah strictly forbids Jewish people to ingest blood.
2. Kosher Meat Rules
- You can eat any land animals that have cloven hooves and chew the cud. This means that badgers, camels, hare and pigs are not kosher. However, cattle, sheep, deer, goats and bison are kosher, provided that they are killed according to the slaughter rules.
- You can eat any animal that lives in the water so long as it has fins and scales. This means that shellfish and molluscs are forbidden. Fish such as salmon, carp, tuna, carp, and herring are permitted
- You may not eat birds of prey or scavengers.
- "Winged swarming things" (in other words, insects), reptiles, rodents and amphibians are not kosher. Since we are not allowed to eat insects, it is important to wash and inspect fruit and vegetables carefully for bugs before consuming them.
In addition to this list, any milk, eggs or other products derived from un-kosher animals are also forbidden.
Re-publishing Information
Please feel free to re-publish this article on your own website. However, if you do so we would be grateful if you would please
add the following ‘about the author’ information:
JFind offers an easy way to find information about Jewish businesses, products and services throughout the UK.
For more info visit: http://www.jfind.co.uk/
To do this, you can simply copy and paste the following html onto your page