Benefit from meat and milk
Often, pet food contains a mixture of meat and milk. Since the Torah forbids not only cooking and eating milk and meat, but also benefiting from this mixture (Chullin 115b), giving it to an animal is problematic. There is one prohibited situation, four admissible cases and one subject for debate.
Forbidden
There is no doubt that we may not benefit from kosher meat cooked with kosher milk. Halacha considers feeding an animal (according to most authorities, even if one does not own the creature) to be beneficial since we enjoy feeding animals (Shulchan Aruch, OC 448:6; YD 94:6).
Four eligible cases
However, we can benefit from meat from a non-kosher animal cooked with milk, meat from a kosher animal cooked with non-kosher dairy products, meat from poultry, or meat from a non-domestic animal (a Chayah) cooked with milk, and mixed raw. kosher meat and kosher dairy products.
The Mishnah (Chullin 8:4) and the Shulchan Aruch (YD 87:6) expound this Halacha. The Torah prohibiting cooking a kid in its mother’s milk is the paradigm of these Halachot. The ban on benefiting from it only applies in the case of a match: meat from a kosher domestic animal (a “Behema”, such as a kid) cooked with kosher milk.
Thus, you can feed a pet with pork or horse meat mixed with milk, poultry milk, or if the milk and meat are chopped but not cooked together.
The debate: Basar Neveila with milk
Bassar nivaela is the meat not slaughtered correctly (dried). We cannot eat this meat, but we can benefit from it. The Mishnah and Shulchan Aruch allow one to benefit from the meat of an unclean animal cooked with kosher milk. But can we benefit from kosher milk cooked with meat from a poorly slaughtered kosher animal?
Rambam, in his commentary on the Mishnah (Keritut 3:4), writes that neveila meat cannot be assigned the additional prohibition of cooked milk and meat, ein issur chal al issur. So we can benefit from neveila meat to which milk has been added.
However, there is an exception to ein issur chal al issur – when the added element adds a new dimension to the restriction – a issour mossif (Keritut 14). Cooking milk with neveila adds to the beneficial ban. Thus, ein issur chal al issur does not apply to this case.
The Rambam makes a bold counterpoint, which he surprisingly describes as “nekuda nifla’ah», a surprising point. He argues (as Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik explains) that the prohibition of benefit arises from the fact that Hashem forbids us from eating meat cooked with milk. In other words, the prohibition of benefit is not an independent restriction but a consequence of the dietary restriction. Thus, the ban on eating meats cooked with milk is not an issur mossif.
The Acharonim debate whether we follow nekuda nifla’ah. Much of the discussion emerges from the silence of the Shulchan Aruch and even the Rambam in his Mishneh Torah. Pri Megadim, in his introduction to the laws of mixtures of milk and meat, and Chatam Sofer, Responsum 92 strictly regulate. However, the Dagul Merevavah, Yoreh Deah 87:3, writes: “He who relies on nekudah nifla’ah in case of great loss does not lose. » The Aruch Hashulchan (Yoreh Deah 87:12) accepts without reservation the clemency of the Rambam.
In practice, Rav Hershel Schachter (personal conversation) rules strictly. This makes sense since it is a Torah-level prohibition.
Whey and Basar Neveila
Often the dairy ingredient in pet foods is whey (a liquid byproduct of cheese, which separates when milk is curdled – liquid whey is rich in two things: a) whey protein solids and b) lactose, which is a sugar). One can be lenient due to a double safe, s’feik s’feikaemerging from nekuda nifla’ah and the debate over whether whey is a dairy product.
The kosher OU website summarizes the argument succinctly:
The Gemara (Chullin 114a) relates that one who eats beef cooked with “Mei Chalav» (milk-water) does not violate a Torah prohibition. The Rosh (Chullin 8:51) explains that the Torah forbids cooking meat with milk only if the milk is in the form in which it came from the cow, that is, if it contains the milk solids. The Rishonim debate the definition of mei chalav. Some (including Tosafot in Chullin 114a sv HaMevashel) define it as whey. According to this opinion, on the Torah level, whey is pareve, but it is still forbidden by the rabbis to mix whey and meat. However, the Rosh (op. cit.) writes that whey is classified as a dairy product because it still contains milk solids. According to the Rosh, it can only be considered mei chalav when all solids have been removed from the liquid. After extracting the protein solids, the remaining liquid is called whey permeate. If the water component of whey permeate is evaporated, the remaining powder is lactose. Although forbidden by rabbis, there is no biblical prohibition against eating meat cooked with whey permeate or lactose. Shulchan Aruch (YD 87:8) presents the Rosh view as “yes, mi omer“, say some, alluding to, but without directly citing Tosafot’s dissent.
Thus, Rav Mendel Senderovic (Teshuvot Atzei Besamim YD 5) allows animals to be served animal food containing cooked basar neveila and whey. He argues that there is a s’feik s’feika in this case – perhaps the Rambam’s nekuda nifla’ah is correct, and even if it is not, Tosafot may be right to say that whey is not a dairy product. However, the CRC (in its discussion of animal foods containing milk and meat) does not follow this s’feik s’feika and prohibits serving animals a mixture of cooked Basar Neveila and whey.
Conclusion
Surprisingly, the CRC certifies pet food without a mixture of meat and milk which we would not benefit from. However, the brand whose products she endorses may not be available or suitable for her pets. In such a case, it is worth checking the ingredient list to see if the pet food can benefit us. If the only option requires relying on nekuda nifla’ah, one should consult one’s rabbi for advice.
Rabbi Jachter is rav of Congregation Shaarei Orah, rabbi of the Bergen County Torah Academy, and trustee of Elizabeth Beth Din. Rabbi Jachter’s 17 books can be purchased on Amazon and Judaica House.