Reply To: milk is ossur?

Webbe Rebbe ? [email protected] to me

show details Jun 28 (1 day ago)

Thank you for contacting the OU.

This condition is called Displaced Abomasums (“DA”), in which the fourth stomach, the abomasums (“keivah” in Hebrew) gets moved out of place and fills with air. The procedures used to correct this condition may involve puncturing the keivah, which one would normally assume renders the cow a tereifah and its milk non-kosher.

Recognized kashrus agencies (in America and in most countries) which permit chalav stam do not have a problem with milk from the general dairy cow pool, and here is why:

1. DATA

There is a lack of data as to the performance of the corrective procedures on DA cows, as the government does not track or record this data. The incidence of DA varies from farm to farm, from country to country, and it differs based on various factors, such as cow feed, climate, farm conditions, etc. We know that most cows while they are providing milk do not have DA, but the data about those that do is scanty.

Moreover, there is no regulation of corrective procedures: some vets puncture the keivah, some roll the cow and do not do invasive surgery, some suture the keivah’s outer skin but do not enter the keivah, etc. – there is no uniformity about procedures, nor are they recorded in any reliable fashion.

2. HALACHA

Based on the above, Rav Belsky has ruled that:

a) There is a ruba d’lesa Kaman, permitting any chalav stam milk, as the majority of milk is not from DA cows, and we lack the data for a numeric minority of DA cows.

b) The Shach rules that any sefak tereifah which lives for 12 months is kosher. Since there are poskim who permit DA cows with invasive surgery (e.g. since the incision is for refuah, these poskim rule that the cow is not rendered a tereifah, and there is machlokes over the halachic status of the incisions themselves), and we see that DA cows which undergo surgery do in fact live for well over 12 months, the halacha according to the Shach is that the cows are kosher.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again should you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

The Web(be) Rebbe

Orthodox Union Kashruth Division