Avoid all pork and pork products (found in bacon, ham, Canadian bacon, lard, gelatin, Vitamin D3 in milk, and animal rennet and enzymes in cheese). Also avoid shellfish such as shrimp, crab, lobster and fish without fins and scales. All meat must be properly slaughtered (not strangled) and the blood removed before eating. For more scripture references for why we remove the blood from our meat, click here.

The word “Kosher” means “proper or acceptable.” When this term is applied to foods other than meat, it generally means that there are no expressly forbidden products in the food nor have any touched the food. When it is applied to wine and grape products, Israeli wines produced from Israeli grapes are held to stricter standards. Scripture tells us that grapes are not to be used in the 7th year, not even their aftergrowth is to be used that year. Israeli grapes are held to this standard. Otherwise it means that kosher wine or grape juice produced outside of Israel has had no non-kosher additives and has not been touched by a non-observant Jew and typically has been pasteurized (mevoshel) to ensure this. When the term “kosher” is applied to meat, it generally means that the animal was healthy, slaughtered in a humane manner, and the blood removed.