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Halal and Kosher are terms often heard in the context of meat and dairy, and although it's common knowledge that the terms refer to guidelines on what can be consumed and what cannot, few know what either really means, let alone how they differ. "Is this kosher?" has become a common expression that has transcended the context of religion and food to the point that it simply means "Is this acceptable?" in a colloquial sense. Halal and Kosher refer to what's permitted by Islamic and Jewish religious laws respectively. Halal is an Islamic term that means lawful or permitted. Although...

Kitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”. New guidelines proposed by interfaith group CoExist House say that employers should consider worker’s religions before allowing ham sandwiches placed in the fridge alongside other products. The group also suggests that alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths.

Do you drink "Simply Orange" orange juice? I have for a very long time, because it is really the best-tasting orange juice I have ever enjoyed with breakfast--or any time my potassium or blood sugar needs a lift. Up to a few months ago, when you went to remove the tamper-evident seal across the cap and bottle, the seal read "Kosher for Passover". Now it simply reads "Fresh Taste Guaranteed". Anti-Semitism, or is the manufacturer making darn sure they don't offend muslims?

“Animal rights come before religion” Editor’s note: This story was published in error; it incorrectly suggested that Denmark’s ban is new. See correction appended Denmark enacted a sweeping ban on the religious slaughter of animals in 2014, prompting a furious backlash from Jewish and Muslim community representatives.

A turf war is brewing between a Jewish food cart vendor and Muslim competitors vying for prime real estate in midtown Manhattan, according to the New York Post. Dubbing it an "intifooda," the Post reports that Yisroel Mordowitz, who serves kosher brisket and pastrami sandwiches, is being blocked from setting up near Rockefeller Center by by the "hallal mafia." “This guy is hungry – hungry for money,” said Mohamed Mossad, one of the Muslim food purveyors fighting to keep Mordowitz and his cart, the Holy Rollers, off the corner of 48th Street and Sixth Avenue. “Why doesn’t he go to...

Grub Street never needs a reason to celebrate our city's esteemed roster of delicatessens, but since this week marks the New York release of the new documentary Deli Man, we're going all in on the subject today.There’s an elaborate backstory behind every venerable deli in New York City, but the story behind David’s Brisket House, which has been serving brisket and pastrami sandwiches to the good people of Bedford-Stuyvesant for more than half a century now, is more elaborate and convoluted than most. The original Dave was a Russian Jew who sold the deli to a Romanian Jew, who inherited...

There is no peace in the Mideast — or Midtown. A Jewish kosher-food purveyor says he’s being prevented from settling in the heart of Manhattan by the “halal mafia.” Yisroel Mordowitz insists he just wants to peacefully peddle sandwiches piled high with brisket or pastrami from his Holy Rollers cart in the lucrative Rockefeller Center area, 48th Street off Sixth Avenue. But a group of irate Egyptian competitors block the kosher vendor from setting up on the sidewalk, literally squatting on the curb or placing umbrellas and beverage cartons to cordon off the space. Modal Trigger“This guy is hungry —...

During its coverage of the terror attack at the Paris Kosher supermarket on Friday night, CNN tried to convince its viewers that the attack was NOT anti-Semitic, and that it may have been aimed at Muslim shoppers who shop there as well. Let's go to the videotape.

Two people have been killed in a Kosher store in eastern Paris where a ‘heavily armed’ Islamic terrorist is currently holding hostages, police believe. Sources in the Paris force said the suspected murderer was Amedy Coulibay, 32, who is wearing body armour and brandishing two Kalashnikov automatic weapons. He is said to be working with a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, who is also said to be ‘armed and dangerous’. Shots rang out close to the Porte de Vincennes while the two brothers believed to be behind the murderous attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine were themselves hold up...

Daily Caller France’s Multiculturalist Agenda Makes Jews Pack Their Bags 4:50 PM 01/06/2015 Ryan Girdusky Political Consultant As more French Jews face anti-Semitic attacks, many are leaving for Israel. Most of the attacks have come from Muslims, whether immigrants or French-born, many of whom have not assimilated into French society – if not rejecting French society entirely. Compounding the dangerous situation, France’s left-wing government refuses to acknowledge the scope of this crisis, apparently more afraid of losing Muslim votes they depend on than in defending France’s half-million Jews. Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is expecting “Little Paris” neighborhoods to pop...

Paris Charlie Hebdo attack: liveTerrorists take hostage 'and kill two people' as police surround 'war zone' industrial complex in Dammartin, while in Paris gunman takes hostages at Jewish kosher grocery - latest updates Suspects 'take hostage in industrial complex NE of Paris' • Reportedly tell negotiatiors: 'We want to die as martyrs' • Inside Charlie Hebdo attack: 'We all thought it was a joke' • Al-Qaeda plotting attack on Britain • Gunmen take hostage as police close in, in pictures • Said and Cherif Kouachi: the two brothers Latest 13.36 Boumeddiene is apparently the girlfriend of Coulibaly. 13.32 The...

Just days after fire was opened at a synagogue in Paris, a kosher restaurant in the same city was attacked in a similar manner. According to the French-language JSSNews, an air gun was fired towards the Al Haeche kosher restaurant in the 19th district of the French capital. The attack took place overnight Tuesday, and the owner of the restaurant discovered a bullet hole in his window on Wednesday morning, around 7:00 a.m. The damage was minimal and there were no injuries, noted JSSNews, adding that the same type of gun was used in attack earlier this week on the...

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel took another step into open antisemitism today when student activists in South Africa placed the severed head of a pig in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. The shocking gesture was aimed, the perpetrators said, at preventing “people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children.” Jewish leaders were quick to condemn the act, organized by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS,) a body affiliated with the...

Food shelves can be a life line for people dealing with poverty and hunger. But many in the Somali-American community say finding a food shelf that caters to their religious dietary restrictions is almost impossible. “Some food shelves are trying to meet the need, but some of them already got canned beans that have already been mixed with pork — and there is a literacy issue here,” said community activist Fartun Weli. A group of first-generation Somali Americans says they need help in developing a food shelf that specializes in healthy foods that do not contain pork or pork byproducts....

A British supermarket chain is at the center of an anti-Semitism row, after a Jewish shopper found that the Kosher section had been completely removed, and was told by the store manager that Kosher food has been taken down because "We support Gaza." Anti-Israel demonstrators had picketed the branch of Sainsbury's in Holborn, central London, part o fa pattern of aggressive calls to boycott Jewish-made Israeli goods - calls that often spilled over into violence. In one incident Saturday, anti-Israel activists trashed a Tesco store in Hodge Hill while waving Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags, throwing produce on the ground...

Pizza Express is serving ritually-slaughtered halal chicken in every dish on its menu that uses the meat, it has emerged, but customers are only told that the chicken they are eating is killed in line with strict Islamic law if they ask staff, as it is not stated on menus. Under Islamic law, chicken can only be eaten if the bird’s throat has been slit while it is still alive. A Koranic verse is also recited during the ritual. Some non-Muslims object to halal because they claim the method of slaughter can cause unnecessary suffering. …

For the first time, the federal government is required to purchase and provide food banks emergency supplies of kosher or halal products, serving a population whose survival could otherwise be at odds with strictures of faith. The void was first revealed in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which wreaked havoc on the East Coast in the fall of 2012 and led to food shortages for those most in need. A Jewish philanthropic organization in New York alerted lawmakers to the rising numbers of people coming to its food banks and often finding shelves devoid of kosher offerings.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)—which Congress enacted to guide the Executive Branch and courts in defending that right—would not directly protect kosher or halal meat-processing corporations from a hypothetical federal rule that by generally banning certain meat-processing practices effectively banned kosher and halal meat processing by incorporated businesses. Verrilli told the court that the customers of a kosher or halal meat-processing company—not the company itself—would have cause to sue in such a situation. …

Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said on the weekend he disagreed with the call of the incoming president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), John Blackwell, to ban shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) and Islamic halal slaughter. Clegg said, according to the BBC, that stopping this type of slaughter would “remove the right of Jewish communities in this country, Muslim communities in this country, to stick to their religious beliefs about how they prepare food and how animals are slaughtered.” The Jewish Chronicle quoted Clegg as having said that “no government of which I’m part” would ban shechita. …

Denmark has a not-so-kosher beef with Jewish tradition. In February, Denmark's Agriculture and Food Minister Dan Jorgensen approved a new regulation which stipulates that the slaughter of animals cannot be undertaken without first stunning them. Since for meat to be kosher many authorities agree that the animal must be conscious, the move essentially blocks kosher as well as halal slaughter in the Scandinavian country. "This is a serious blow to the Jewish faith and the Jews in Denmark," said Israel's Chief Rabbi, David Lau. In other European Union countries, exemptions for religious reasons have been given for kosher slaughter. However,...