Food Laws Chapter 9 Intro and Kosher

What is one requirement made by Kosher law that regards the definition of "food" and often relates to extracts?

"not fit for either a person or, less critically, for a dog" - if the material would not be eaten by a dog then it is not food

What is the Halacha?

A collection of Jewish religious laws derived from the Written and Oral Torah. Halacha is a legal system with similarities and differences to modern laws of Western societies.

What are "hadiths"?

A collection of records that set down the traditions established by the first Muslim community. Includes various reports describing the words, actions, or habits of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Based on spoken reports after the death of Muhammad. Important tools for understanding the Quran.

What are the waiting times between eating meat and dairy?

After eating meat you must wait from 1-6 hours before you eat dairy. After dairy you only have to wait one hour.

How does the Kosher dietary laws regard insects?

All insects are prohibited - except for the grasshopper. Dyes from insects often prohibited. However shellac and honey (not an actual product of the bee itself) are permitted. Insects that spend their entire life in a food is not a concern. WTF.

What is glatt Kosher? How is this condition determined?

An animal that had perfect, smooth lungs. An inspector called a bodek looks for lung adhesions (scarring due to disease) before and after slaughter. A certain amount is tolerated. Then the lung is blown up using air and placed in water. The inspector looks for bubbles

What types of cookware/dishware cannot be koshered?

Ceramics, rubber, earthenware and porcelain cannot be koshered as the flavors are not released from them during cleaning

All of this Kosher slaughtering protocol so far has been to avoid consuming the blood of the animal. However, after slaughter and inspection there are further procedures to ensure that blood is avoided. Describe how certain cuts of meat are chosen.

Certain veins, arteries, prohibited fats, blood, and sciatic nerve must be removed, a process is called "nikkur" in Hebrew. This means that only the front quarter cuts of red meat can be used because the sciatic nerve is too costly to remove. The avoidance of veins results in smaller cuts of meat.

Describe the Torah, including who wrote it and what it contains.

Contains the written law, the original 5 books of the Holy Scripture, unchanged for 3000 years. Also contains the oral law known as Talmud. Both written and oral law were given by God through the prophet Moses. Some at Mount Sinai and others at the Tabernacle. All teachings were written down by Moses, which resulted in the Torah we have today.Torah means instruction and offers a way of life for those who follow it.

Kosher laws prohibit the mixing of dairy and meat. What animal, however, can be eaten with dairy?

Fish

Illuminate the differences in why Jews follow Kosher dietary laws versus why Muslims follow Halal dietary Laws.

For Jews, ethics and holiness are inseparably connected to the idea of law and MORAL DISCIPLINE. Voluntary submission is the first step to escaping animal instincts. The health benefits of the diet are not important. Muslims do it to abide Divine orders - obeying them will reap rewards in the hereafter and not obeying them results in punishment. Dietary laws are believed to be for health reasons as the laws suggest there is an associated impurity or harmfulness of the prohibited foods

In the Islamic faith, Allah reminds the believers in the Holy Scriptures to eat what is "____________________" meaning "permitted and good or wholesome.

Halalan Tayyiban

What does "taking challah" mean?

If the owner of a bakery is Jewish, a portion of the dough being made is removed and handled specially

If a contemporary situation is not covered in the Quran and Sunna, two other elements of jurisprudence are used to determine permissibility of food. Describe these two elements.

Ijma, meaning obtaining a consensus of legal opinion. Qiyas, meaning reasoning by analogy from the Quran - and Ijtihad, independent reasoning or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty to find a solution to a legal question.

How is the kosherization of food equipment different in homes versus food service facilities?

In homes, equipment is cleaned with liquid soap, left idle for 24 hours to remove "bad" flavor, then flooded with boiling water. In food service, instead of the 24 hour wait a bittering agent like ammonia is used in the boiling water to pick up "bad" flavor. Then a second boiling with clean water to remove the bad flavor.

What is "toveling"?

It is the process of immersing equipment purchased from a gentile. Equipment purchased from gentiles must be bathed in a ritual bath before kosherization. A natural body of water may be used for large equipment. haha it has to be baptised.

What does the Sunna contain?

It is the verbally transmitted record of the teachings, deeds and sayings, silent permissions (or disapprovals) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

How does Kosher and Halal differ in terms of slaughtering practices?

Jewish Kosher does not require that the animal be blessed - the strict following of the slaughtering laws is what makes it Kosher. However a blessing is still usually said by the shochet - not for each animal though. Halal slaughtering of every animal MUST me preceeded by a blessing in the name of Allah, because He provided the animal. Otherwise the meat cannot be eaten.

What is cholev yisroel?

Kosher-supervised milk, meaning that the milk has been watched from the time of milking to packaging. Farms producing cholev yisroel milk have a Sabbath-observing Jew on site at all times.

_____________ dietary laws determine which foods are "fit and proper" for Jewish people to consume. _____________ dietary laws determine which foods are "lawful" or permitted for Muslims.

Kosher; Halal

Is most cheese Kosher? Explain how Jews obtain the cheese that they eat.

NO; To ensure cheese is kosher, a Sabbath-observing Jews must add the coagulating agent that makes the cheese curd

Halal dietary laws are found in the _____________ or ______________.

Quran or Sunna

Islamic law is referred to as _______________.

Shari'ah

Name the religious text also defined as "a path, a way, a manner of life, all the traditions and practices" of the Islamic prophet that have become models to be followed by Muslims.

Sunna

Describe the Quran, including what it contains and who wrote it.

The Quran is the central religious text for Muslims. Verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.

In Kosher procedure, what happens after slaughter?

The animal is inspected for defects. Any defects renders the animal non-Kosher.

The heart and liver of the animal will be considered Kosher if it undergoes what process?

The heart must be cut open and congealed blood removed. Then the heart is salted and rinsed like the meat. Liver cannot be soaked and salted due to its high blood content. Instead, liver is broiled to over half cooked using special equipment. Then small amount of salt is sprinkled on the liver

Another food processing issue is tithing. What is this and what does it mean for food producers?

Tithing is giving up one tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the church and clergy. However it only affects products from Israel. Companies must tithe if products are destined for sale in Israel but rarely for exports.

How is bread made without being allowed to rise? Where did this practice originate?

To prevent rising, the unleavened bread is made in 18 min cycles. Why 18? The word for "life" in Hebrew is Chai. Chai equals 18: Hebrew alphabet is mapped to numbers.

True/False: Consumers may use kosher markings as a guide for allergen free products. However, Kosherized equipment does not yield 100% removal of previous materials and allergens may still be present.

True

True/False: Crustaceans and shellfish are prohibited by Kosher food laws.

True

True/False: Even drugs and pet food are not immune to the restrictions of Passover.

True

True/False: Fish can be eaten at the same time as meat but cannot be directly mixed with the meat.

True

True/False: If certified Kosher, there is zero tolerance for bug parts but bacterial contaminations are not monitored.

True

True/False: Only 20% of kosher consumers are Jewish. The diets required by other religions or special dietary needs constitute "gentiles" consuming kosher foods.

True

True/False: Pork is prohibited by Kosher food laws.

True

True/False: Ruminants and fowl are slaughtered according to Jewish law by specially trained slaughterman (shochet) using a special knife (chalef).

True

True/False: Some Jewish groups require total absence of adhesions - beit yosef meat.

True

True/False: To be kosher, all grape-juice based products must be handled by Sabbath-observing Jews from pressing to processing.

True

What does it mean for a Jew to be "separated from the community"?

Violation of the laws of Passover is considered Biblical grounds to be "separated". This is the highest level of prohibition and results in extra strictness during Passover.

Explain the difference between Old Flour and New Flour.

Wheat that has not started to grow by the second day of Passover is considered New Flour and should not be used until the next Passover. Wheat already growing or had been harvested by that day is Old Flour. Winter wheat is often old flour.

According to Kosher food laws, tree fruits cannot be harvested for benefit until the _________ year.

fourth

Although Muslims purchase kosher foods, these do not always meet their dietary needs. What are some food components that concern them?

gelatin alcohol as a carrier for flavors alcohol as a food ingredient

Processing and handling of food products falls into one of three categories: 1)_____________ 2)____________ 3)____________

meat product dairy product neutral (pareve) product, such as eggs, fish, honey

Emulsifiers, stabilizers, surfactants, and other food components used in Western food must be avoided because they are derived often from non-Kosher animals. What methods then do Jews have?

plant oils are used as emulsifiers, etc. and gelatin can be derived from glatt kosher beef hides or fish

The knife used during slaughter has certain requirements. Describe them. What other requirements are there for the actual slaughtering process?

razor sharp, free of nicks, straight blade, twice as long as the neck of the animal. Neck is cut in a specific region. Cut arteries, veins, wind pipe and esophagus. When done right, leads to strong bleeding and a rapid unconsciousness of the animal.

Explain the process of "koshering meat".

red meat and poultry are soaked for 30 minutes in cold water and then salted with Kosher salt for 1 hour (all of this occurs within 72h of slaughter). Meat is then rinsed 3 times to make sure all blood has drained away.

Under Kosher law, what animals are permitted to be eaten?

ruminants with split hoofs that chew their cud domestic birds (not birds of prey) fish with fins and removable scales

Passover is also called _______________. What does this name imply about the type of food permitted?

the feast of unleavened bread; no leavened bread may be eaten or even kept in the household. This means that the grains wheat, rye, oats, barley, and spelt are prohibited.

True/False: if fruit juice is processed in a dairy plant, it is considered a dairy product.

true