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How Kosher is Your Milk?

URL: http://www.jewishjournal.com/socialjusticerav/item/rabbi_herschel_schachters_chumra_on_milk_abuse_in_the_dairy_industry_201206

It is prohibited by Jewish law to consume the milk of a terefah (a sick or injured animal (Exodus 22:30; Bekhorot 6b; Chulin 116b; Hilchot Shechitah 10:9; Shulchan Aruch YD 81:1); the Talmud lists eighteen different organic diseases or conditions, and the Rambam has 70 (Hilchot Shechita 10:9). However, since milk from different cows is all mixed up, as long as we know that the majority of the milk (“rov,” Exodus 23:2) comes from healthy cows, then we may consider it all kosher without any examination (Chullin 11a-12a). Nevertheless, if there is a frequently encountered minority (mi’ut ha’matzui) of the cows that are sick then Jewish law requires that we must examine the animals to confirm there is no problem (Hullin 11a, 12a; Bi’ur ha-Gra YD 1:4). Milk production has generally not been considered a problem and thus we have been lenient on consumption.

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