InJewish law, aben pekuah (Hebrew:בֵּן פְּקוּעָה) is an animal fetus removed alive from its mother, shortly after the mother was slaughtered in conformance with the rules ofshechita (kosher slaughter). According to Jewish law, aben pekuah may later be slaughtered for consumption without adhering toshechita.
According to theTorah, allruminants that have split hooves are permitted to be eaten. They must, however, be slaughtered in a manner prescribed by Jewish law, and certain parts of these animals, including certain fats andgid hanasheh (thesciatic nerve), may not be consumed.[1]
Anything that is inside an animal at the point of slaughter is considered an organ of the animal. Therefore, if a mother was pregnant when slaughtered and a live offspring is removed, the offspring is considered a part of the mother. If the mother was slaughtered in adherence toshechita, then the offspring, aben pekuah, is deemed already to have undergone ritual slaughter, and may therefore be theoretically slaughtered for human consumption without adhering toshechita. According to rabbinic law, if the animal is killed immediately there is no need to performshechita. However, if the animal has started to walk it must be killed withshechita, but the animal's meat remains kosher even if the slaughter fails to conform fully to the regular requirements.[2][3]
The offspring has the same status as the mother, so if the mother was found to beglatt kosher (smooth lungs with no lesions), the offspring is consideredglatt even if its lungs are not smooth.[4] The parts of an animal that are normally not permitted to be eaten, such as thegid hanasheh (sciatic nerve) and thechelev fats, are permitted when they belong to aben pekuah, although its blood is still forbidden.
When aben pekuah mates with anotherben pekuah, their offspring is deemed aben pekuah. However, when aben pekuah mates with a regular animal, consumption of their offspring is forbidden altogether.[5]
A company inVictoria, Australia, has attempted to build a herd ofben pekuah animals in order to reduce the cost of kosher meat.[6][7] This effort met with considerable controversy and has yet to gain widespread rabbinic acceptance and had to close down. However, in 2021 there were efforts to revive the project under the auspices of RabbiOren Duvduvani.[8]