משוגענע קו קראנקייט נישטא ביי כשר פלייש

NEW YORK - Orthodox Jewish experts on kosher regulations say that eating beef certified by rabbis might help protect consumers against mad cow disease, though they acknowledge there's no guarantee kosher beef is safer.

Rabbi Menachem Genack, administrator of the kashrut (kosher)

division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, said that two of the new preventive measures announced by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman last week are already part of traditional kosher slaughtering:


_Banning from the human food chain all "downers," animals that are unable to stand on their own. Ancient rabbinical rules forbid use of such animals because they might be close to death.


_An end to stunning cows with an air injection before slaughter to make the animal unconscious. The problem is that the technique might dislocate brain tissue, which is a carrier of mad cow disease. Kosher slaughtering tries to be humane by instantaneously severing the animal's trachea and esophagus with a razor-sharp blade.


Still, Genack acknowledged, kosher rules provide no absolute guarantee for consumers. For instance, kosher animals receive the same feed and come from the same herds as non-kosher ones, he noted.


He also said there's no evidence that the mad cow scare has caused any increase in sales of kosher beef.


Genack and Rabbi Yehuda Kravitz, the Orthodox union specialist on slaughtering, issued a joint statement last week that said "the consumer may be at an advantage by purchasing kosher slaughtered meat, since the likelihood is much less that meat from a cow slaughtered according to kosher laws will be tainted with mad cow disease."


In some countries, the kosher practice of "nikkur," which includes removal of sciatic nerves, also might help preventive the disease, Genack said. U.S. kosher practice is to exclude eating of the entire hind quarter, where those nerves are located.


Genack emphasized that the ancient biblical and rabbinical rules may have "ancillary health benefits" but are observed by Jews to give "even mundane activities like eating a sense of purpose and holiness."


Besides details on slaughtering, kosher requirements include examination of the lungs and other organs for imperfections, along with the draining and salting of meat to remove blood. Also, various species of animals