New herd targets kosher markets, but ruffles feathers in Jewish community

A Victorian business has developed a herd of cattle and a flock of sheep it hopes will make kosher meat more affordable for consumers.

Known as Ben Pekuah, the “ancient ritual breed” allows all of the meat from the animal to be consumed, according to AK Ben Pekuah’s managing director, Stephen Bloch.

According to Jewish law, animals must meet several requirements to be considered kosher. Cattle must also be slaughtered according to ritual methods but the meat from the hindquarters is rarely sold on the regular kosher market due to the presence of the forbidden fats and sciatic nerve.

The breeding of Ben Pekuah livestock followed an approach by a Melbourne rabbi to the Victorian Farmers Federation about 10 years ago about establishing a new kosher meat supply chain.

But the move has  been rejected by leading Australian rabbis, who follow a rabbinical ruling that the raising of these herds “may lead to widespread dissemination of forbidden foods to the public”.

In a letter signed early this year, the Australian rabbis wrote that “there may be a concern with regard to the prohibition of eating” the forbidden fats and sciatic nerve of a Ben Pekuah animal whose hoof has stepped on the ground. The Rabbinical Council of Victoria strongly supported the letter.

Full report by Darren Gray in The Age

[Featured Image: Rabbi Meir Rabi and Chris Nixon inspect a herd of cattle raised for the kosher market. Photo: Joe Armao]