Chevra Mehadrin, a small group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis, recently announced a ban on lox, claiming a parasite that attaches itself to salmon makes it non-kosher. The Orthodox Union says the bagel topping is safe, despite sometimes carrying a worm called anisakis. "The issue has been resolved in Jewish law for hundreds of years already," Rabbi Moshe Elefant told the Post, dismissing the upstate rabbis’ suggestion. But kosher or not, are New Yorkers really spreading worms on their bagels?
Anisakis is most common in wild salmon, according to the Beyond Salmon blog, though herring and sardines also fall prey to the parasite. Wikipedia says that if the worms find their way inside you, you may experience “violent abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting,” forget Jewish guilt. However, despite increasing concern in Orthodox communities, scientists say the worms aren’t a danger. “Anisakis has been around since before man. It’s one of nature’s greatest achievements as a parasite,” said Dr. Ted Myers, Alaska’s chief fish pathologist.
As for whether the worm turns lox into treif, the rabbinical jury’s still out. “Every five years they discover this problem,” Rabbi Dovid Cohen told the Jewish Star, adding that one rabbi considered “writing a teshuva (answer) explaining why salmon is kosher but did not, out of concern that it be used after his death to find justifications to prohibit the fish.” Rabbi Charim Golberg claims that in addition to lox, the other fish on Chevra Mehadrun’s blacklist (hake, flounder, sol, halibut, sea bass, red perch, scrod, pollock, cod and butter fish) should all be considered kosher. “It’s nothing to carp about,” he said.
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