What makes meat kosher?

[Sora]

I began taking steps toward kashrus about 10 years ago, and while information internet may not have been as readily available and plentiful as it is now, it was still a populated with lots of information. Still, I had trouble understanding where to find reliable information and how to process this information in a useful manner.

One thing that I really didn’t understand was that kosher meat was not a style of cooking or a cut. I had envisioned myself going to a regular restaurant and asking the waiter if the chef could “cook my chicken breast kosher,” as if that would cause the meal to be kosher. I also remember purchasing store brand chicken salad from the local (non-kosher) grocery store and trying to work out just what it is that renders chicken as kosher. Cooking regular (treif) meat without any dairy does not render it kosher. Blessing it does not render it kosher. Organic or natural meat from free range, grass fed animals does not render the meat automatically kosher (though kosher meat can address these socially conscious causes).

One must start with a kosher animal such as (but not limited to) a chicken, cow, lamb or turkey. What makes meat kosher is in the slaughtering or shechita process. (Anglicized: sha-HEE-tah with a nice guttural clearing-of-the-back-of-one's-throat sound on the H) So the mechanism that causes an already kosher animal to produce meat that is kosher (good) as opposed to treif (not so good) is primarily found in the way that the animal is slaughtered, and then how it is treated after slaughtering and before it hits the shelf at your grocer.

Fish, by the way, need only have fins and scales such as salmon, tuna, cod, whitefish, or pike. I will have another thread on kosher seafood. 

I’m not going to get into this process because there are many fine articles on the internet that address this. I’m instead going to focus on some quick and dirty tips on how to find kosher meat in your area.

The most obvious place for kosher meat is a kosher butcher, but your neighborhood might not have such an establishment. Kosher meat, in at least limited quantities, is often available through mainstream grocers in neighborhoods with even very modest Jewish populations. These products will be clearly labeled "kosher" (I will have another thread to discuss what markings to look for.) Another great resource is your local Chabad. Do you live on Earth? Yes? Then you probably have a wonderful Chabad House within a reasonable distance. They’re getting their meat from somewhere and they may have a buying pool set up to purchase meat in large quantities.

If the above resources don’t pan out, kosher meat is also available online, and will be shipped to you on dry ice. Simply googling “Kosher meat online” produced quite a few viable results for me.

I know this is a really rough, vague article, but let's get the conversation going! What are some of your tips to finding and buying kosher food? Have anything else to add? Let's hear from you! 

[Tseruyah]

Kosher meat is always an interesting topic. We have to understand, too, that while technically, a shochet (kosher butcher) may have made the killing cut with an inspected, halachically-designed knife (expensive, hand-made items specially designed for the task, scalpel-sharp and coming in sizes according to the animal to be slaughtered--and, btw, knives are also made for circumcisions, called izmels), the animal must be inspected beforehand and after slaughter, its lungs inspected for lesions.  An ill animal's meat cannot be sold or eaten (and shouldn't be!)

There is also the concern that the animals be raised and treated humanely and be fed appropriately (no cannibalistic feed with the ground-up bones of its own species and dried blood, for instance, which is common in commercial feeds.)  What constitutes "humanely" is another thread, I think.  It's my personal opinion that the commercial meat industry's standards are nothing like what the Creator had in mind.

The animals may not witness the killing of others of their kind before their own slaughter.  They must be slaughtered in a separate building or room from the other animals.

It is common practice in regular commercial slaughterhouses to hire shochets (often yeshiva students) for the purpose of producing kosher cuts. In my home town, producers have rabbis come in regularly for kosher slaughtering.  They even get their own parking spaces and the non-Jewish workers complain about the Jews always taking time off, not understanding shabbat and the holy day observances.

 Often, only the front portion of cattle are processed and labeled kosher, since the sciatic nerve, which is forbidden to eat, is difficult and time-consuming to remove and it is more cost-effective for the company to simply sell the back half of the carcass as non-kosher beef.

[Tseruyah]

Buying kosher meat can be done more cheaply per pound if you stock a freezer and go through a commercial restaurant supplier, too. Sometimes the local synagogue will have a purchase points card with a supplier and allow the members to be included in a group purchase, getting a discount for everyone.

[Sora]

I don't eat a lot of meat, but I do once in awhile. When I need meat, I often buy it in bulk with my Chabad. It's very convenient, and I know that their brands are very reliable.

[jewishrecovery]

Oct 11, 2015 8:33:19 GMT -6 Tseruyah said:

Kosher meat is always an interesting topic. We have to understand, too, that while technically, a shochet (kosher butcher) may have made the killing cut with an inspected, halachically-designed knife (expensive, hand-made items specially designed for the task, scalpel-sharp and coming in sizes according to the animal to be slaughtered--and, btw, knives are also made for circumcisions, called izmels), the animal must be inspected beforehand and after slaughter, its lungs inspected for lesions.  An ill animal's meat cannot be sold or eaten (and shouldn't be!)

There is also the concern that the animals be raised and treated humanely and be fed appropriately (no cannibalistic feed with the ground-up bones of its own species and dried blood, for instance, which is common in commercial feeds.)  What constitutes "humanely" is another thread, I think.  It's my personal opinion that the commercial meat industry's standards are nothing like what the Creator had in mind.

The animals may not witness the killing of others of their kind before their own slaughter.  They must be slaughtered in a separate building or room from the other animals.

It is common practice in regular commercial slaughterhouses to hire shochets (often yeshiva students) for the purpose of producing kosher cuts. In my home town, producers have rabbis come in regularly for kosher slaughtering.  They even get their own parking spaces and the non-Jewish workers complain about the Jews always taking time off, not understanding shabbat and the holy day observances.

 Often, only the front portion of cattle are processed and labeled kosher, since the sciatic nerve, which is forbidden to eat, is difficult and time-consuming to remove and it is more cost-effective for the company to simply sell the back half of the carcass as non-kosher beef.

outside of big cities forget about buying kosher meat at the supermarket. in a nearby town the local Chabad has been  instrumental in creating a kosher section at one supermarket in the meat department but they also have a larger Jewish population than the surrounding area.


That said Chabad is in many places and the fact is you know the rabbi and rebbetzin there are eating kosher meat from somewhere, usually they buy it mail order (or sometimes they are driving to another town to buy it in bulk and bring it back). if you ask they will usually allow you to piggyback on their order.