ABSTRACT
Historically meat has been the primary concern of kosher and halal consumers, and to a large extent this is still the case today. Jews and Muslims have similar religious requirements for meat, and in recent decades production has been lifted out of its traditional religious base in both markets. In the UK, kosher and halal meat are now also widely available in super/hypermarkets, mainstream restaurants and public institutions. Pig meat is specifically prohibited, and Jews are only permitted to consume the meat of animals that 'chew the cud' and have 'cloven hooves'. Meat and poultry can only be kosher if the animal of origin is slaughtered using appropriate methods as interpreted through rabbinic commentaries and traditional customary practice. As kosher production has industrialised in the US and rabbinate supervising industrial plants have come under increasing pressure, glatt has become more important; the Orthodox Union (OU) now refers to glatt as a higher standard of kosher.
