Kashrut

Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, Hebrew: כַּשְׁרוּת) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish religious law. Foods that may be consumed are deemed kosher ( in English, Yiddish: כּשר), from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the term that in Sephardi or Modern Hebrew is pronounced kashér (כָּשֵׁר), meaning "fit" (in this context, "fit for consumption"). Food that may not be consumed is deemed treif ( in English, Yiddish: טרײף), also spelled treyf (Yiddish: טריף). In case of objects the opposite of kosher is pasúl ( in English, Yiddish: פָּסוּל). Although the details of the laws of kashrut are numerous and complex, they rest on a few basic principles: Only certain types of mammals, birds, and fish, meeting specific criteria are kosher; the consumption of the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria, such as pork, frogs, and shellfish, is forbidden, except for locusts, which are the only kosher invertebrate. The most basic eating rule in the Torah is that blood is not to be consumed; therefore, as a step to being kosher, mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a process known as shechita, in which a certified ritual slaughterer, called a shochet, severs the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, and jugular veins in a single, quick cut using an ultra-sharp instrument called a chalaf; doing so causes rapid and massive blood loss. The meat must still go through a process known as koshering or kashering to be considered fit for consumption. The three approved methods are broiling, roasting, and soaking and salting. Meat and meat derivatives may never be mixed with milk and milk derivatives. Separate equipment must be used for the storage and preparation of meat-based...