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If I understand correctly, if someone wants to keep an extra-super-high standard of kashrut for themselves, s/he can look for "chalak beit yosef" beef, which means ("super-glatt") the lungs had virtually no adhesions on them.

With poultry, my understanding is there's no such thing as "glatt"; if the chicken's organs look okay it's okay; if there's any questions, it's no good. Hence no such thing as "glatt" chicken.

Are there other issues where some higher standard of kashrut with regards to poultry comes up? Can I buy "super-duper-extra-kosher" poultry? (In America? In Israel?)

(Please DON'T discuss questions of whether this is a wise idea. Just if it's available, and what does it offer.)

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  • But "Beis Yosef glatt" is not "super-duper-extra-kosher". It's (as you noted) a specific chumra. If you seek "some higher standard of kashrut" for fowl, that's a good question, but I don't understand the connection to "Beis Yosef glatt". Do you mean that you seek a chumra for fowl that's kept by those who keep "Beis Yosef glatt"? or that you seek a chumra for fowl that's required by those who require "Beis Yosef glatt"? Or is "Beis Yosef glatt" irrelevant, and all you really seek is, in fact, "some higher standard of kashrut" for fowl, nothing to do with "Beis Yosef glatt"?
    – msh210 ♦
    Apr 4, 2011 at 14:47
  • @msh210, Beis Yosef glatt was an example of a chumra that's fairly straightforward to identify and label. I'm curious regarding any such chumras for chicken.
    – Shalom
    Apr 4, 2011 at 15:14
  • bet iosef is not a humra at all, it is simple the standard halacha, as for everything else, the opinion of maran was accepted
    – Avraham
    Apr 5, 2011 at 22:15
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    @Avraham, yes and no. For Ashkenazim it's a chumra. Even for Sefardim, the actual language of maran is "if an adhesion is k'sidran it's okay, if not k'sidran, it's ever okay." Current chalak beit yosef practice is to assume nothing today is "k'sidran." (Heard from OU's Rabbi Mandel mp3 on shechita).
    – Shalom
    Apr 6, 2011 at 11:47

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Beit Yosef Glatt isn't a chumra. Rather, it's the Rema that's a kulla, leading to Sepharadim and Ashkenazim having different standards of kashrut for cows.

Since the Rema wasn't lenient by chickens, Sepharadim and Ashkenazim have the same standard.

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  • Chanoch, try Rabbi Mandel's shiur on yutorah on kosher meat today. Beit Yosef says k'sidran, all adhesions are okay. Not k'sidran, none are okay. Today's chalak beit yosef says virtually no adhesions are okay as we don't know what k'sidran means. But I'll cede the point, let's say "chumra for Ashkenazim", or "chumra above standard American OU/ London Beit Din / Israeli Rabbanut requirements"
    – Shalom
    May 13, 2011 at 15:42
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The more strict levels of supervision for chickens will include the following:

  • More time taken for the shochet to slaughter each bird (leading to less risk of messing it up
  • Checking the sharpness of the blade more often (leading to less of a chance of using a blade with a nicked edge)
  • Stringencies with salting the bird following slaughter in order to remove all of the blood. For example, filling the entire carcass of the bird with salt, doing so for a longer amount of time, extra rinsings, etc
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From the Star-K's website (my emphasis):

Sometimes suppliers or proprietors will advertise glatt kosher chickens to promote their product. This implies that the "glatt" chicken is of higher kosher quality than "regular" kosher chicken, and that a chicken could be kosher without being glatt. This is a myth, since every chicken in the United States must be glatt in order to be considered kosher. In Israel, the lungs of the chickens are checked due to the prevalence of Newcastle Disease. Indeed, there are two types of chicken that are sold in Israel – Mehadrin and non-Mehadrin. Mehadrin chickens, whose lungs are checked, are considered glatt while the non-Mehadrin chickens would only be considered regular non-glatt.

According to here, "In the U.S., lung adhesions usually do not occur on fowl".

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  • What is the Star-K's source for this? How can poultry be glatt?
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Mar 29, 2015 at 17:17
  • Glatt means smooth lungs (no lesions). Fowl have lungs, and they need to be smooth to be kosher. We just don't check them because there usually isn't any issues with them, and therefore they are B'chezkat Kosher. ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/224/Q4
    – Menachem
    Mar 29, 2015 at 20:50
  • Menachem, I know what glatt means. I was asking through the lens of there not really being such a thing, beyond marketing on chicken such as Empire.
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Mar 29, 2015 at 20:51
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I heard than some labels check lungs (may be other organs) of poultry because of pollution which can cause some diseases. I don't have more information but it could be a way for investigation...

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in short yes, but it has no basis in halacha. the eda haharedit have a hidush on chicken checkings, only they do it and is a new thing that has no basis (meaning is something that was never mentioned before)

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  • Sources, please?
    – msh210 ♦
    May 13, 2011 at 3:37

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