ARTIFICIAL MEAT
Since I was asked by a former student, here are my quick thoughts on some Halakhic questions regarding the new "meat". These were merely quick thoughts. For people who have a need to think about this through a Halakhic lens - i.e. for ve-dibarta bam purposes only, not Halakhic:
Hi!
Here are quick thoughts:
1. Such meat (which was never alive) is kosher without humane slaughter (i.e. shehita).
Halakhically, even a breathing fetus calf that was removed after a cow's slaughter (ben paku'a) is minimally acceptable as food (i.e. mi-de-orraita) if it was killed in any way - although the humane cultural standard (mi-de-rabannan) is to slaughter it.
All the more so, this meat.
2. As regards the question of whether such meat must have originally come from the cells of a humanely slaughtered animal, the question is whether one relates to how this meat was originally acquired (as one might be bothered by using a human cell strain that was acquired unethically) or whether one relates to the constantly new cells as unrelated to the original meat (as one might relate to a cell strain as having no connection to an original unethical act).
Since the problematic of killing an animal inhumanely for food is not so severe (is not assur be-hana'a), the origins of the cells and thus the meat should not matter; it is no different than permitting a calf born to a mortally wounded animal because the calf is independent of the cow even as we forbid an egg (and debatably a chick) laid from a wounded hen. These new cells were not part of the dead animal.
As regards the question of whether we should have some degree of sensitivity to how these cells were acquired, there is a Tannaitic debate whether the viable calf born to a mortally wounded cow is forbidden or permitted to the altar. Does one associate the calf with the mother that either had not been protected enough against predators/the elements or had been fed sharp wounding objects negligently? The accepted position is that the calf is acceptable even as a sacrifice to G-d. All the more so as regards this "meat" in which the cells are made from cells that have been made from cells, paralleling a calf born to a calf that had been born to a mortally wounded animal; there are no triggers to recall the original animal.
Note: this argument does not permit killing an animal inhumanely (tza'ar ba'alei hayyim) in order to begin this process.
3. As regards the injunction against eating meat and milk, this new meat had no mother. Thus, the meat is no longer meat. It is all the more so not a domesticated species in spite of the fact that anything born to a species is considered part of that species no matter what it looks like. I will separate the two questions of species and of being an animal:
3a. If a calf is born with genetic mutations that make it appear more like a pig, it is still kosher calf meat. In other words, because it shares the grazing, biological and mating traits of a calf and not a pig - regardless of its appearance - it is a calf. In fact, even if it born dead, as a fetus, it is forbidden to cook and eat with milk - but that again is because it is the embryo that might have been born alive and suckled. In our case there is no emotional relationship (or even economic relationship) between cooking a killed calf/kid in the milk of a cow that is being milked until it will in turn be killed (etc etc), since this "meat" was never a developing calf. This meat is not an embryo.
3b. As regards the lesser injunction against cooking/eating milk with any meat, this "meat" does not come from an animal that was born or gestated. This meat is no different than a plant. Thus, although it has the texture of meat, the injunction does not apply.
3c. However, there is another more general - and weaker - prohibition (that is rooted in the injunction against eating milk and meat together) to consider: the prohibition against wasting protein by eating things like meat and fish together. Such haughtiness has been considered dangerous, a potential cause of leprosy, by the rabbis (and other cultures). There is in fact a modern (since 16th century) debate over whether one should also avoid eating fish with milk/cheese.
True, rich people circumvented that injunction by relating to the custom of rich Europeans to eat the fish and meat in separate courses as sufficient to not be considered gluttonous in consuming both fish and meat together. Nonetheless: I do not see room for circumvention in this case in which permitting such "meat" and milk together would also lead to people cooking and eating killed meat with dairy once the two types of meats are similar enough, cooking and eating such "meat" with milk should be forbidden. This is not a new "fence" but rather an application of the old fence that forbid cooking even chicken with almond milk without adding almonds to maintain the psychological barrier against even chicken and milk. In fact, even those who argued that almonds need not be added because the chicken is clearly not beef/goat/sheep (and the "milk" tastes completely different than real milk), would forbid mixing "meat" that (will soon) taste like meat with real milk.
Since I was asked by a former student, here are my quick thoughts on some Halakhic questions regarding the new "meat". These were merely quick thoughts. For people who have a need to think about this through a Halakhic lens - i.e. for ve-dibarta bam purposes only, not Halakhic:
Hi!
Here are quick thoughts:
1. Such meat (which was never alive) is kosher without humane slaughter (i.e. shehita).
Halakhically, even a breathing fetus calf that was removed after a cow's slaughter (ben paku'a) is minimally acceptable as food (i.e. mi-de-orraita) if it was killed in any way - although the humane cultural standard (mi-de-rabannan) is to slaughter it.
All the more so, this meat.
2. As regards the question of whether such meat must have originally come from the cells of a humanely slaughtered animal, the question is whether one relates to how this meat was originally acquired (as one might be bothered by using a human cell strain that was acquired unethically) or whether one relates to the constantly new cells as unrelated to the original meat (as one might relate to a cell strain as having no connection to an original unethical act).
Since the problematic of killing an animal inhumanely for food is not so severe (is not assur be-hana'a), the origins of the cells and thus the meat should not matter; it is no different than permitting a calf born to a mortally wounded animal because the calf is independent of the cow even as we forbid an egg (and debatably a chick) laid from a wounded hen. These new cells were not part of the dead animal.
As regards the question of whether we should have some degree of sensitivity to how these cells were acquired, there is a Tannaitic debate whether the viable calf born to a mortally wounded cow is forbidden or permitted to the altar. Does one associate the calf with the mother that either had not been protected enough against predators/the elements or had been fed sharp wounding objects negligently? The accepted position is that the calf is acceptable even as a sacrifice to G-d. All the more so as regards this "meat" in which the cells are made from cells that have been made from cells, paralleling a calf born to a calf that had been born to a mortally wounded animal; there are no triggers to recall the original animal.
Note: this argument does not permit killing an animal inhumanely (tza'ar ba'alei hayyim) in order to begin this process.
3. As regards the injunction against eating meat and milk, this new meat had no mother. Thus, the meat is no longer meat. It is all the more so not a domesticated species in spite of the fact that anything born to a species is considered part of that species no matter what it looks like. I will separate the two questions of species and of being an animal:
3a. If a calf is born with genetic mutations that make it appear more like a pig, it is still kosher calf meat. In other words, because it shares the grazing, biological and mating traits of a calf and not a pig - regardless of its appearance - it is a calf. In fact, even if it born dead, as a fetus, it is forbidden to cook and eat with milk - but that again is because it is the embryo that might have been born alive and suckled. In our case there is no emotional relationship (or even economic relationship) between cooking a killed calf/kid in the milk of a cow that is being milked until it will in turn be killed (etc etc), since this "meat" was never a developing calf. This meat is not an embryo.
3b. As regards the lesser injunction against cooking/eating milk with any meat, this "meat" does not come from an animal that was born or gestated. This meat is no different than a plant. Thus, although it has the texture of meat, the injunction does not apply.
3c. However, there is another more general - and weaker - prohibition (that is rooted in the injunction against eating milk and meat together) to consider: the prohibition against wasting protein by eating things like meat and fish together. Such haughtiness has been considered dangerous, a potential cause of leprosy, by the rabbis (and other cultures). There is in fact a modern (since 16th century) debate over whether one should also avoid eating fish with milk/cheese.
True, rich people circumvented that injunction by relating to the custom of rich Europeans to eat the fish and meat in separate courses as sufficient to not be considered gluttonous in consuming both fish and meat together. Nonetheless: I do not see room for circumvention in this case in which permitting such "meat" and milk together would also lead to people cooking and eating killed meat with dairy once the two types of meats are similar enough, cooking and eating such "meat" with milk should be forbidden. This is not a new "fence" but rather an application of the old fence that forbid cooking even chicken with almond milk without adding almonds to maintain the psychological barrier against even chicken and milk. In fact, even those who argued that almonds need not be added because the chicken is clearly not beef/goat/sheep (and the "milk" tastes completely different than real milk), would forbid mixing "meat" that (will soon) taste like meat with real milk.
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