<o:p></o:p>
Rabbis at the Orthodox Union, the largest kosher certifying organization in the world, are considering the possibility of certifying lab-grown meat, including the previously off-limits kosher bacon, reports The New York Times. Clean meat startups want their bacon, and other products, to be labeled kosher, since they are grown in laboratories from animal cells. The issue the rabbis are considering goes beyond the kosher designation of plant-based meat substitutes already available in grocery stores because startups like Impossible Foods and Mission Barns are using a process that involves taking cells from animals. The cells are isolated and placed into a solution that mimics blood, which encourages the cells to replicate. This has raised questions over whether lab-grown meat can truly be kosher.
Environmentalists and animal activists are already fans of lab-grown meat, and Jewish authorities hope the process will make kosher meat more affordable and reliable. In addition, several synthetic meat start-ups are based in Israel. Israeli rabbis have previously cited rulings in religious law that might allow clean meat to be categorized as pareve, a religious label that is applied to things that are kosher but not derived from animals. Observant Jews could eat lab-grown meat with dairy products, which cannot be eaten with traditional meat. That would make a kosher cheeseburger possible.
One of the rabbis from the Orthodox Union who has visited startups in this space explains that animal cells would have to be kosher, from an animal that was properly slaughtered and not scraped off a live animal; however, many companies want to produce something that does not involve killing any animals. Some startups are researching whether clean meat might be derived from cells in animal saliva or hair because those substances are not meat, they might be used to produce clean meat that would not be categorized as meat under Jewish law.
Mission Barns is one company that hopes to create kosher bacon. However, the rabbi remains skeptical, as there are Jewish rules that warn against doing anything that would make people look as though they are violating the rules, according to the report. Full Story
Related: MO Delays Plant-Based Meat Labeling Enforcement; Hampton Creek Developing Lab-Grown Meat From Supermarkets.
from Industry Operations https://ift.tt/2xQjL4Z
No comments: