JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a groundbreaking ruling, Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Lau stated that the cell-cultured meat produced by Israeli food tech company Aleph Farms is pareve. However, in order for it to be defined as such, the company, which produces its products from stem cells, will have to declare the meat to be vegetarian.
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Rabbi Lau was responding to a halachic request submitted to him. Prior to the ruling, Rabbi Lau paid a visit to the Rehovot factory to determine the way in which the cultured meat is produced. He heard from the supervisors about the methods of production and tested them himself.
Rabbi Lau’s decision referred to previous ways to create cultured meat, the halachic status of stem cells removed from ova, and the issue of Maris Ayin (appearance which can be misleading) and possible causing others to transgress.
Rabbi Lau wrote that “as long as the cultured meat will be sold as ‘the closest vegan product to meat’ and as long as the stem cells will be taken via a procedure of removing cells and growing them in a vegetarian petri dish, the meat will be kosher and parve like any other vegan product.
“However if the cultured meat will be marketed as meat or as a meat product and especially if it will be close to meat in taste and smell during cooking, one must be stringent and not view it as a parev item for mixing, cooking or eating with dairy products.”
Rabbi Lau added that “It is prohibited to advertise the cultured meat with dairy products since all this could lead people to sin and could cause those who see such things to be lenient on matters of meat and milk and show contempt for them. This could also cause people to suspect that a person is eating meat and milk and this is included in “being flawless in the eyes of Hashem and Yisrael.”
Rabbi Lau concluded that “the halachic definition of this meat as kosher and parve is for the manufacturing process which I saw at your factory and dependent on the other ingredients maintaining the local rabbinical standards. Other procedures would require renewed assessment.”
This announcement is expected to have a lasting impact on the vegetarian meat industry in Israel.
Someone get me a cheeseburger!
How does this apply to eating a Beyond Meat “cheeseburger”? Is there an issue of Maaris Ayin?
(FYI: yes, I ask VIN all my important shaalos)
Looks gross.
At this point, they would make more money extracting chicken ova and culturing breakfast eggs.
I heard a shiur from someone at the star k in Baltimore who said in the name of Rav Heineman shlita, that it has a din of flaishik and the original cells need to come from a kosher shechted animal, or else it may be considered traif and perhaps ever min hachai.
This opinion will never be accepted by those whose opinions count.
Rabbi Moshe Heinamann Shlit’a says this is flieshig and explained the lomdus, not for here though. The Cow they are using are his “ben pekuah” so they have no issues of aver min hachai for a goy
I look forward to the day, hopefully soon, when all meat is produced in this painless way, and all slaughterhouses are forever locked. Anyone with any sensitivity who witnesses the pain of the animals being slaughtered would hope that this suffering will end. There are a number of gedolim who believed that there will be no more animal slaughter after Mashiach comes and that we will return to the reality of Gan Eden when man was a vegetarian. I hope we are close to that day.
He is totally wrong.
If the original animal isn’t shechted (which is the case here) it is ever min hachai, “the limb of a living animal”, which is ossur to eat no matter what.
And even when the original animal is shechted, it, and all of its byproducts, remains fleish mamosh.
I wrote a brief Teshuva on this and Rabbi Lau is wrong. I am sure he will change his psak when the proper argument is made to him.