Kosher Meat Myth #5
Myth: Meat should not be certified as kosher if environmental and health issues were ignored, or unethical behavior by people toward the animals or workers was committed during the raising or production of the meat.
Myth busted: The rabbis ask, “Why should an animal be denied the right to be elevated to the status of kosher just because people act wrongly?” The Torah sets out other punishments for the wrongs of people. Add a comment Last Updated on Dec052011
Glatt, Non-Glatt, EcoGlatt...What's the Beef?
There is a “glatt” frenzy going on in the kosher world, and it is time to take a close look at it.
If you look at the kosher chicken you just bought, you will probably find a “glatt” stamp on the packaging. If you go to the kosher deli or the kosher section of the store, you will also probably find “glatt” stickers on tuna and egg salad sandwiches, fish and the like. This is first evidence of the “glatt” frenzy. Only red meat can be “glatt”. Why? Because the term “glatt” is a Yiddish word that means “smooth”, and it refers to the lungs of red meat animals. Only! There is no such thing as “glatt” kosher chicken, fish or salads that don’t contain red meat.
So why is “glatt” stated on packaging of non-red meat items?
Add a commentCertification
WHY WE CHOSE PRIVATE CERTIFICATION OVER NATIONAL CERTIFICATION OF KASHRUT
All national commercial kosher certifiers are Orthodox. Their certification on meat is a process certification ONLY. It means that there is nothing in codified Jewish law that expressly says they can’t slaughter and process meat the way they do. That is why national Orthodox certifiers still certify meat slaughtered by shackle and hoist, shackle and drag, and other very cruel means of slaughter.
They also certify meat from feedlot animals, and animals that have sicknesses that don’t disqualify them under codified Jewish law. Orthodox certification does not mean that the ethical laws of Judaism would allow you to eat the meat that they certify.
Last Updated on Dec062011
