Kosher Chicken – What Makes a Chicken Kosher or Not?

While eating kosher is based in the Jewish faith many embrace it for the fundamentally healthy aspects of it.  Kosher food is prepared in facilities that are constantly inspected.  The preparation is carefully monitored and there are no contaminates permitted.  Kosher chicken is an example of a meat that goes through a process that takes at least three times longer than processing a regular chicken.  For this reason kosher food tends to be a little more expensive than non kosher, but when you take into the account the extra steps it is easier to understand.

A kosher chicken must be thoroughly inspected by a rabbinical inspector.  The inspector thoroughly checks the bird for any outward signs of disease or contamination.  This includes any abnormalities that would have passed the rigid USDA inspections.  Once the bird is determined completely clean and pure it is slaughtered.  The slaughtering is done by a certified butcher with a specific kind of knife that has been inspected to be free of nicks or cuts and is extremely sharp. A butcher goes through years of training to be able to slaughter a kosher chicken because the inability to correctly perform the procedure renders the bird non kosher.

The butcher makes a clean, fast cut severing the carotid artery and trachea rendering the chicken unconscious.  Once the proper cut is made the knife is again inspected for cuts and nicks.  Only if none are found is this a kosher chicken.  Once the bird is killed it is hung upside down to drain all of the blood in the body and the blood is covered.  After slaughtering the bird is thoroughly inspected, including the internal organs to be assured they are disease free.  The lungs are inflated to be sure they are also pure.

If the bird is in any way found to be non kosher it should be removed and processed immediately as non kosher meat so it is not wasted.  If the bird is found to be kosher than the processing can be competed.  When preparing your kosher chicken you must be careful to keep it away from any non kosher food and from utensils used in the preparation of non kosher food.  The chicken must remain pure and free of contaminates.  Once cooked it must be served on a plate with kosher food only to remain kosher.  Finding a variety of ways to prepare chicken in a kosher way can make your kosher meals something the whole family enjoys.

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