Introduction
Parshas Re’eih discusses at length many of the laws of kashrus. In the contemporary world, many kashrus issues concern gelatin, a product unfamiliar to those of us who are not chemists, food technologists or kashrus professionals.
To the biochemist, gelatin is studied in organic chemistry. To the food technologist, it is an ingredient with a wide range of applications. To the nutritionist, gelatin is an incomplete protein. To a manufacturer, it spells tremendous profit. To the kashrus supervisor, it can present a potential nightmare. It is available in a kosher variety, but another form might be treif min haTorah.
Whether the gelatin that is available in kosher form is considered fleishig or pareve will depend on which posek you ask. And then there is gelatin that is certainly kosher and pareve.
Let us begin with a bit of an explanation of what gelatin is.
What is gelatin?
Gelatin, which is usually odorless, translucent, and almost colorless is derived from collagen extracted and processed from the connective tissue and skins of animal body parts, particularly the bones and hide of pigs, cattle and fish. Collagen is an incomplete protein containing most of the essential amino acids, but missing the amino acid tryptophan and with insufficient quantities of several of the others to be a complete protein. In other words, no one can rely exclusively on gelatin for their protein source.
In today’s world, the most common sources for gelatin are pigskin and beef hides, although it is also manufactured from fish scales and skins.
Gelatin includes many similar compounds with specific qualities and characteristics. Sometimes, the source of gelatin can be determined by chemical testing.
The raw materials from which gelatin is derived are prepared by various curing, acid, and alkali processes employed to extract the collagen. The different processes may have great effect on the properties of the final gelatin products, as does the original source of the collagen. In other words, gelatin is not a specific chemical compound but a raw material.
Gelatin is usually stored and shipped as a powder. When it is used, significant amounts of water are added. Gelatin absorbs five to ten times its weight in water and forms a gel.
Gelatin is probably the most popularly used gelling agent in food, beverages, candies, capsules, etc. Among the many food products that often use gelatin are puddings, candies, ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, soups, broths, sauces, flavors, vitamins and marshmallows. It is also used to remove the pulp or sediment from wines and juices.
P’tcha
Boiling animal feet or fish bones also extracts collagen. This is what produces the gelatinous, fatty layer when making p’tcha.
“Vegetable gelatin”
There is no such thing as vegetarian or vegan gelatin, although there are vegan gelatinous substances, such as carrageen, agar, pectin, arrowroot, guar gum, and xanthan gum. The latter are all derived or processed from vegetable sources, but their use, in general, is more limited than that of gelatin.
Although there are literally hundreds of varieties of gelatin, from a kashrus perspective, there are five different categories. I will list them from the most kosher to the least.
I. Fish gelatin
Gelatin can be manufactured from a wide variety of fish sources, some of them kosher but many of them non-kosher.
Contrary to popular opinion, this gelatin was known hundreds of years ago and is discussed in teshuvos from early acharonim. However, since modern gelatin manufacture used other, non-fish sources that produce a more versatile product, the modern gelatin industry did not produce gelatin from fish until a few decades ago. This gelatin does require proper kosher supervision and certification for a variety of reasons, including guaranteeing that it is derived exclusively from kosher fishes, that only kosher equipment and raw materials are used, etc. Today fish gelatin is readily available and is used, although it is a tiny percentage of the gelatin market.
II. Beef gelatin from kosher slaughtered animals
Gelatin produced from beef bones and hides of animals that were properly shechted and kashered. As mentioned above for fish gelatin, these products require kosher certification. There is a question whether this product is fleishig or can be considered pareve. The primary reason why this beef-based product might be considered pareve is because it is not produced from the meat of the animal, but from parts that are not usually considered edible. There is also the possibility that, once the gelatin is used in the finished product, it is bateil, and that therefore the finished product is ruled pareve. Those who are interested in researching the details of the halachic rulings on this subject are referred to Shu’t Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah 1:37; Shu’t Mishnas Rabbi Aharon 1:16.
III. Beef gelatin but not kosher salted
A third, interesting product is a gelatin made from shechted animals, as described above, but that was not kashered, meaning the bones were not soaked and salted to remove the blood. Instead, the blood was removed chemically during the processing of the gelatin. To the best of my knowledge beef gelatin from shechted animals that are soaked and salted is currently not an available product.
IV Beef bone gelatin
Of course, gelatin is produced from non-kosher-slaughtered beef bone and hide. This variety of gelatin generated the most halachic literature, since several major halachic authorities ruled that this product is kosher, notwithstanding its origin from a treif animal. Many products labeled as “kosher gelatin” products, which are not treated today as kosher by most kashrus organizations, are based on this heter.
The halachic reasoning in this case can be simplified, without going through all the sources and literature on the topic, thanks to a brilliant analysis of Rav Aharon Kotler (Shu’t Mishnas Rabbi Aharon, 1:17). Some sources in Chazal indicate that there is no Torah prohibition in consuming non-edible parts of an animal that was not shechted. Why is this permitted?
A. Is it because these parts of the animal are not included in the Torah’s prohibition of eating meat from a treif animal?
B. Or is it because, althoughthe Torah prohibits eating such animal parts, consumption of inedible items is not considered eating?
Although this might seem like doubletalk, it is not. Rav Aharon notes the halacha of an inedible product subsequently processed into an edible one depends on these two ways of understanding this issue. And this is exactly what happens in the processing of gelatin. If argument A is correct, inedible collagen sources were never included in the Torah’s prohibition. Thus, if indeed it is true that the gelatin was manufactured exclusively from parts of the animal that are usually not considered food, the finished, now edible, product is indeed kosher.
However, if the Torah’s heter is that consuming items that are not normally treated as food is not considered eating, once the collagen is rendered into an edible product, consuming the resultant gelatin is prohibited.
After a lengthy analysis of the halachic sources, Rav Aharon Kotler himself concludes that rule B is the correct conclusion, although he recognizes that many prominent authorities did not understand the topic the way he did. Upon this basis, we can understand why many prominent authorities permitted the consumption of gelatin from non-kosher bovine animals, but why this heter is no longer commonly accepted.
V. Porcine gelatin
A common source of gelatin in contemporary manufacture is from pork skin, bone and other offal. Most halachic authorities did not consider this product to be kosher for a variety of reasons, including that the most common source material, pigskin, is considered edible food according to halacha. (In fact, it is fried into a high-cholesterol snack food often marketed as a tastier alternative to potato chips.) Nevertheless, there have been several prominent rabbonim who ruled that this gelatin is kosher based on the following reasons:
– In the process of removing the collagen from its source, the skins and other offal are subjected to strong acid and other treatments that render them inedible.
– Gelatin itself has no taste, and therefore it is not included in the Torah’s prohibition. This argument is a bit specious, because industry experts and consumers will tell you that gelatin does have a mild taste.
– In today’s world, the source material for gelatin is not usually considered food on its own.
The majority of accepted halachic authorities do not accept these arguments and consider porcine gelatin to be non-kosher. Nevertheless, one still finds today some products that are labeled as “kosher gelatin” based on these analyses. The official position of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to this day is to allow products with porcine gelatin, but they must be carefully labeled that they are kosher only by those who have accepted the heter to consume gelatin.
In other words, when purchasing “kosher gelatin,” a consumer may have no way of knowing which type of gelatin he is purchasing. The consumer is relying on the hechsher’s standard. If the hechsher accepts only types I or II, the gelatin will be accepted by all rabbinic authorities.
Conclusion
In the “good old days” of the European shtetl, kashrus was completely the province of the local rav, who oversaw the local shochatim and was available to answer any questions that occurred regarding kashering meat, accidental mixing of dairy and meat products, production of local wines, etc. Most raw materials were readily identifiable and, if any kashrus issues surfaced, the local rav was the source of the answer.
How different is today’s world in which raw materials can be sourced from literally any place on the planet, processed in numerous other locations, and the final product manufactured in a different continent. For example, gelatin is manufactured literally anywhere around the world. As a result, we need to have access to a rav who is an impressive talmid chacham, and, in addition, either he or we need access to a highly knowledgeable kashrus expert or agency.
