Isn't "Kosher" Good Enough?--September 2000

"Glatt kosher" doesn’t mean what it meant fifteen years ago. Back then, "OU" produced both glatt and non-glatt meat products, not so today. There were many people using glatt in those days, but not nearly as many as now.

We won’t be discussing here what makes 'glatt' meat glatt. And one can only speculate about why things have changed over the last fifteen years. We want to examine here whether people should eat non-glatt meat at all today.

Perhaps you’ve wondered, or heard someone ask questions like these:

"Isn't glatt just that the lungs are smooth?"

"Isn't the Ashkenazic opinion that some adhesions to the lung are acceptable, if properly checked by a responsible "bodek"? Hasn't that been the general Ashkenazic practice for centuries?"

"Isn't it just that Sefardim and Chassidim limited themselves to glatt? Besides, I live in _____; getting glatt around here is like finding snowflakes in July!"

In an ideal world, you might make a point for calling kosher meat strictly kosher and glatt a custom or stringency. However, this does not reflect current kashrus standards.

Today, nearly every kashrus agency in the United States shuns any "kosher" meats that are not glatt. And, while in some communities the rabbis permit non-glatt to be sold, in private these same rabbis almost always urge congregants to avoid it. Often, these rabbis do not push the issue publicly because they fear a backlash from those who have been using the plain kosher products, especially those whose overall level of observance is low. Possibly, these rabbis simply don’t understand the issue well. But, the Orthodox rabbinate uniformly favors glatt.

Today, nearly every kashrus agency in the United States shuns any "kosher" meats that are not glatt.

Two Types of Non-Glatt Meat

Non-glatt can be divided into two types: that which is produced exclusively for the non-glatt audience, and that which was produced for the entire spectrum, but did not qualify to be sold as glatt. In other words, some of the big glatt slaughterhouses sell four products:

1. Bet Yosef glatt meats that come from animals with a completely clean lung.

2. Glatt meats that come from animals that have all of the other prime qualifications for kosher meat, from slaughter, deviening and salting. Used this way, glatt means "prime kosher."

3. Kosher meats that were rejected from the first two categories. If a mashgiach (actually a bodek) is reluctant to accept an animal as glatt, he refers it to the non-glatt section for review. A mashgiach in the non-glatt section must determine whether he deems the meat acceptable as baseline kosher. If not, it is rejected and remanded to be sold in the fourth grouping.

4. Neveilah meats did not have proper slaughter, and treifa meats that came from animals with imperfect organs. These, and other animals rejected by the kosher departments, are sold to the non-Jewish market.

The other type of plant-the kosher-only plant-produces only kosher (not glatt), selling all non-kosher meats to non-Jews. Such a plant may or may not produce good kosher meats, since their starting point is kosher. They are not choosing from glatt rejects-rejected for any of dozens of halachic reasons-but choosing from the entire pool of animals. That is the good point for such a shechita. However, even this type of plant has its drawbacks, which are not relevant to be discussed here.

The Kosher Issues

There are three serious concerns that we know to exist in some non-glatt productions:

1. Post-slaughter Stunning. As we understand, all of the non-glatt plants in the United States permit post-slaughter stunning of the animal. This is done, at least in part, to reduce the perceived cruelty in kosher slaughter. To the best of our knowledge, all Orthodox rabbis reject this stunning, as it may interfere with the soaking and salting process. The stunning can seal in blood, interfering with proper salting. (Knowledgeable butchers regularly reject even glatt kosher meat when it comes in marbled to the point that salting will not remove the blood.)

2. Soaking (kavush). A KASHRUS staff member witnessed a major kosher-only slaughterer leaving his meat for a long time in combos (a huge apparatus capable of toting over a ton of meat) after the soaking of the meat, prior to its salting. In such situations it was observed that the meat was partially covered by water for over 24 hours-effectively soaking it in its own juice (kavush)-rendering it halachicly unusable, at least in part. Such procedures do not occur in a glatt plant.

3. The numbers. A midwest rav told us of a current situation where each week a slaughterhouse is used for glatt kosher slaughter two days, and for regular kosher on another two days. Each day, they slaughter 600 to 800 animals. The glatt shechita is done through a team of 10-12 shochtim and bodkim. About 20-30% are accepted as glatt; the rest are sold as non-kosher. On the non-glatt days, only two rabbis work, one as shochet and one as bodek. They net 90% kosher!

While it is not the position of KASHRUS to comment on specific certifications, nor to endorse or reject any particular hashgacha, it is our position that only glatt meat products should be considered acceptably kosher. As with all halachic matters, please discuss this issue with your rabbi.