Reverend
A little more is involved in Kashruth than just not having blood in the meat.
The quick draining of the jugular vein that is done in Kosher killing is so the
animal quickly becomes unconscious and does not feel pain.
The hind quarters may not be eaten (steak is not kosher, generally) unless the
sciatic nerve is removed. This relates to Jacob's Sciatic injury received when
he wrestled with an Angel.
Also, no milk products nor unkosher animal (horse, pig, etc) may come in contact
with the meat.
The rules of Kashruth are largely outlined in Leviticus although the prohibition
against meat and milk (the admonition against cooking a calf in the milk of its
mother) come from other parts of the Five Books of Moses.
sjl
Douglas Harding wrote:
> I cannot address all the Jewish customs, nor am I familiar with the rail end
> of things as related to what is Kosher. But I do remember hearing in the
> 70's or early 80's that the IBP plant in Oakland, Iowa had a Rabbi who
> worked the kill line. His job was "production" of Kosher beef. My
> understanding is Jews will not eat any meat contaminated with blood. Thus
> for beef to be Kosher the animal must be bled to death. The Rabbi would slit
> the throat of the animal, allowing it to bleed to death, instead of the more
> efficient stun and kill with a 22 method which was preferred by the packing
> plant. The Meat would then be declared Kosher by the Rabbi and was
> acceptable for sale to Jews. Of course this meant it had to be shipped in
> appropriately "clean" trucks or rail cars and handled properly so as to not
> be contaimined or made "unclean". I would assume the hose used on the reefer
> car by the Rabbi was related to a "cleaning ritual", which would allow the
> car to haul Kosher meat.
>
> Check with a Jewish friend or neighbor for more details
>
> Rev. Douglas Harding
>
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