(By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com)

A Kashrus expert explained that the problem is probably on account of a short worker on the shechita line – but we are jumping ahead of ourselves.

Let’s start at the beginning.  The Torah, in this week’s Parsha, commands us not to consume blood.  “Any person from the house of Israel or from those among them who eats any blood, I will set my face against the soul that eats blood, and I will cut him off from among his people. For the soul of the flesh is in the blood..” (VaYikra 17:11-12).

The two methods in which we can remove that blood is through roasting and through a process called “soaking and salting,” or Melicha.  All six sides of the meat, whether it be meat or chicken, need to be salted.

The kidney, however, is an organ that is attached on one side to bone.  When the chicken is salted, however, only one side of the kidney would get salted.  The custom in America, therefore, is to vacuum it out before the Melicha process begins.  There is a special and very powerful vacuum cleaner with a probe at the end to help vacuum it out.

Most Kashrus organizations (as well as the Chullin picture Sefer written by Rabbi Lach) tell us that the removal process is so thorough that there is no halachic need to check the chickens that we have purchased from the stores.  The tacit assumption is that finding a kidney is extremely rare.

This author, however, has found that, at times, there is a flaw in the system and that it can be more common than we think. Recently, chicken legs that have been purchased at a local store have been as common as 1 in 8.  In most homes, however, this is not a problem because the women preparing the chicken usually do a pretty good job in cleaning the chickens.  They remove all the “icky” parts.

If it is happening on a local level in the Five Towns, then it is also a national problem as well, because the chicken is supplied by a national supplier.

This author consulted with a top Kashrus expert in Lakewood, New Jersey who explained that he has seen this problem before.  In a chicken plant with 4 lines if one of the workers who has the vacuuming job is significantly shorter than his other three peers, it is possible that he will not adequately reach all the areas that need to be vacuumed.  The one in eight statistic would indicate that this might very well be the problem.  The Five Towns Jewish Times made efforts to reach out to the plant and forwarded pictures.

Neither the stores nor the local Vaad have a system in place to check to see if the kidneys were removed, and probably there is no halachic reason to do so.  But until the problem is resolved it may be a good idea to do a thorough cleaning job in case we have not been.  Each person should check with their own Rav or Posaik.

HOW DO WE IDENTIFY IT?

Each chicken bottom or thigh on the upper bone side has a hollow groove in it that contains a kidney.  It is different in color and size then regular chicken leg meat, and appears similar in color to the liver.  When chicken legs are packaged, it is always on the opposite side of the part that faces the plastic.

DOES EVERYONE AGREE THAT IT IS FORBIDDEN?

Not everyone agrees that the kidney is forbidden on account of the salting on one side problem.  In Israel, the Rabanut level hechsher actually leaves them in.  The BaDaTz removes the kidneys before the chicken is salted.  In America, the prevailing custom among all Shechitas is to remove the kidneys.  This author has never seen kidneys in any of the BaDaTz chickens in Israel.

HISTORY OF CHICKEN KIDNEY REMOVAL

The history of chicken kidney removal is rather fascinating (if the topic interests you).  We do not find any mention in the Talmud of removing the kidney of the chicken before salting.  Nor do we find it in the writings of the Rishonim or the Shulchan Aruch or Ramah.

We first find mention of it in the writings of Rabbi Yoseph Teomim (1727-1792), better known as the author of the Pri Magadim (Yore Deah Siman 69 in his Mishbetzes HaZahav #15.)

He writes:

The Beis Lechem Yehudah further wrote (#20), “it is proper to split the chicken in two (not like Beis Hillel).  The reason is on account of the lung that is hidden between the ribs.”

The Pri Magadim continues:

“He [the Beis Lechem Yehudah] wrote a valid point and I personally conducted in this manner firstly because it is impossible ideally to salt inside in every place and secondly the lung, spleen, and kidneys of the chicken are resting inside and even bdieved they are forbidden if they were not salted at least on one side – the outer side.  They are not salted at all and it is a separate organ and not one thick piece.  Even in the groove one must remove the lung – as ideally it requires salting on both sides.”

It is interesting to note that the Beis Lechem Yehudah does not actually mention removal of the kidney.  It is first mentioned by the Pri Magadim (MZ 69:15).  The Yad Yehudah mentions that, notwithstanding the PMG, – he did not see the lungs nor the kidneys being removed before salting.

WHAT AUTHORITIES SAY TO DO IT?

The Darchei Teshuvah 69:85 says that the kidneys must be removed before salting. The Shemen Rokayach (Vol. I #42) and the Divrei Yosef (#456) both write to do it.

The Yad Yehudah and Shaarei Deah both say that you don’t have to remove them. The Bris Melach, an early New York Posaik (whom the New York Times called the Chief Rabbi of Brooklyn when he passed away in 1913) writes that the halacha is to follow the Pri Magadim and not follow the Yad Yehudah.  The Kaf HaChaim 72:48 makes no mention of kidneys but does mention the lung

WHAT HAPPENS IF IT WAS LEFT IN AND COOKED?

The Shaivet HaLevi Vol. VII #128 writes that it is permitted post facto, bdieved.  The Knei Bosem ruled that it is forbidden and requires a sixty to one ratio.  One should check with one’s own Rav, but this author believes that the custom is to rely on the Shaivet HaLevi.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

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