Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. The liver I bought has a note on the label which says that it was kashered after being frozen.  What is the significance of that?

A. Let us begin with some background about removing blood from raw meat before we eat it.  For most meat this “kashering” is accomplished through melichah/salting which involves soaking the meat in water for 30 minutes, covering it with salt on all sides, leaving in the salt for an hour, and then rinsing the salt off 3 times in water.  However, liver cannot be kashered with salt and instead must be broiled over an open flame.  [Broiling can also be used for other meat.]  Details of how to broil meat or liver are beyond the scope of this article, and nowadays most kosher supermarkets will not sell liver (or meat) which has not already been kashered by their Rabbinic staff.

The general rule is that meat should be salted/kashered within three days of slaughter, and if it is not then (a) the blood can only be removed via broiling (as opposed to salting), and (b) the meat cannot be cooked after it is broiled.  There is a discussion in the Poskim as to whether the 3-day clock stops “ticking” if the meat is frozen, and most are machmir on that issue.  Therefore, it is the standard practice that all meat is kashered within 72 hours of shechita, even if it had been frozen.  [There is a way to extend the 3-day period, but the method of doing that is beyond the scope of this article.]

This is the rule for most meat, but liver is treated somewhat differently.  As noted, liver must be kashered via broiling, and there is a disagreement as to whether liver which was broiled after three days can be subsequently cooked.  Shach implies that liver has the same status as other meat: if three days passed between the shechita and kashering, it may not be cooked.  In contrast, Aruch HaShulchan argues that the entire 3-day rule does not apply to liver.  Hashgachos take different approaches on this disagreement and may or may not allow a restaurant to cook liver if more than 3 days passed between shechitah and kashering.  Consumers are encouraged to ask their Rabbi for direction on which position to follow, and then check with their local hashgachah to find out what their standards are.

If the label on a package of liver states that it was kashered after being frozen, that likely implies that more than 3 days passed between shechitah and kashering, but the liver was frozen for part of that time. They are giving that information to the consumers, so that they can decide whether to cook the liver or not.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, January 3, 2025