TERMINOLOGY AND CONCEPTS
KASHRUT: Set of laws and regulations that establish the KOSHER or KASHER status of a food product.
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KOSHER: KOSHER or KASHER is a Hebrew word that means apt. Regarding the food area, it refers to a food that, based on biblical laws, is suitable for consumption and that a person who is guided by these laws must eat.
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The KOSHER rating of food depends on 2 variables:
* The origin of the ingredients.
* The status of the production unit.
KOSHER foods are divided into 3 categories:
BASAR / BESARI - Meat / Meat:
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They are the products, sub-products, or products with meat ingredients origins related to birds or quadrupeds. It should be clarified that according to KASHRUT, there are TAHOR (pure) or TREFA or TAREF (impure) animals where TREFA or TAREF animals are not part of the KOSHER food, and not all TAHOR animals are determined as KOSHER because there are slaughter procedures and physical characteristics of TAHOR animals that establish them as KOSHER or KASHER food.
JALAV / JALAVI - Milk / Dairy:
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Milk, or dairy derivatives products, that contain dairy-based ingredients. For a dairy product to be Kosher, it must come from milk that originates from a KASHER animal.
PARVE, PAREVE OR, STAM:
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Neutral. Products without meat or dairy classification such as fruits and vegetables. Also in this group are TAHOR bird eggs, and fish. Regarding the latter, there are also regulations in the KASHRUT that qualify it as KOSHER, including that the fish has a scale and a fin.
ISUR BASAR VEJALAV Prohibition of mixing Meat and Milk. A fundamental of the KOSHER diet is not to mix meat with dairy, Parve products can be mixed with one or the other without restriction.
Halajá: (norm, guideline, regulation, law, proceed) the term Halajá is defined as the correct way or procedure to do something, as well as the norm or sets of norms that establish that something is kosher (apt) or patur (allowed). It is common to use the word Halachic / in English as adjective.
Hejshér: It is a combination of kosher certification and procedure. The procedure or processing determines the kosher status of a product through the control carried out by the mashgiach and by the rabbinical authority.
Mashgíaj: we could translate it as Inspector, Auditor, or supervisor. This is the name of the person who controls and verifies that all the required requirements have been met during the production process.
Bishul Yisrael: Halachic term used for products that undergo a cooking/frying process and the like, in which the halacha determines that a Jew participates in the elaboration process.
Products that go through a smoking, brining or canning process have other necessary regulations to be evaluated in a certification process.
Afiyat Yisrael: Halachic term that refers to baked foods made with grains such as wheat, barley, spelled, rye, and / or oats. For these products halacha determines that a Jew must initiate and participate in the baking process and system .