[Sca-cooks] Kosher or Not

[david friedman]

>Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>>So, if I take a pig gene and splice it into a chicken, is the chicken no
>>longer kosher? Eventually I imagine the experts are going to have
>>to deal with
>>those kinds of questions.

and Adamantius replied:

>Ya know, you're sort of kidding, and we all know that, but my first
>reaction is to ask if the resultant critter cleaveth the hoof and
>cheweth the cud ;-).
>
>And as a matter of fact, I STR reading that some genetic tampering
>has been done somewhere to produce a pig that does both, and in some
>odd way has been adjudged by the people who make such calls, as
>Kosher (or potentially so, assuming Kosher slaughter and butchering
>requirements are observed).

There is a science fiction story by Harry Turtledove ("The R Strain")
about a pig strain having been developed which chews its cud, and
about the Conservative rabbi who gets called on to determine if it is
lawful. The scientists were working to get more pig with less or less
good feed, and didn't consider the question of kashrut until someone
asked at a press conference. I haven't heard of any real cases.

Elizabeth/Betty Cook