Kosher Meat

The word "kosher" means proper or fit.  This is because it relates to the kosher dietary law. They are safe to consume and sometimes used as ingredients to produce additional food items.

Previously, most kosher foods were made in the family kitchen or in a store or small factory in the community. At that time, it was simple to know if the product was kosher or not. Sometimes, even rabbis used to supervise the purity of the product.

Presently, industrialization, mass production and shipping have created a situation where many products that Jews consume are treated, canned and commercially stored in industrial settings located thousands of miles away from home.

Kosher Foods:

Kosher Chicken and Kosher Turkey are the most important items that come under Kosher Meat.

The holy book of the Jews, the Torah considers the meat of other birds such as kosher chicken and kosher turkey valid. It does not list special characteristics to distinguish forbidden and permitted birds. Rather, it displays 24 forbidden fowl species.

In United States, poultry items that only mainstream kashrus organizations identify are accepted. They include kosher chicken, kosher turkey, kosher goose and kosher duck.

To determine what kosher fish is, the Torah establishes two criteria. The fish needs to have scales and fins. The scales have to be removed easily. It is important not to damage the skin of the fish.

Usually, kosher fish scales are rounded, smooth-edged and thin. They are similar to the teeth of a comb. This does not include shellfish. In addition, it does not require any special preparation unlike poultry and meat.

Nevertheless, the fish scales have to remain visible to the buyer so that it establishes the kosher status of the fish. Hence, unless properly supervised, it is better not to purchase ground fish or filleted fish. 

According to the rabbinic law, it is wrong to consume meat and fish together. All smoked fish products and processed fish products need the reliable supervision of rabbis. All meat based kosher food has to be slaughtered through a ritual termed Shechita.

Modern halakha (Jewish law) classifies the flesh of both mammals and birds as meat and fish as parve, neither meat nor dairy.