Expert: Rikki Spivak - 7/27/2009

Question
What is the difference between Stamm and Glatt kosher?  I worked at a kosher caterer who had two seperate kitchens and did not serve dairy at all.

Answer
Hi Jim, great question.  Glatt kosher refers to the quality of the lining of the lungs of the slaughtered animal. According to kosher law, certain types of abrasions on the surface of the lungs render an animal non-kosher, while other types of abrasions allow the animal to remain kosher.  Regular (Stamm) Kosher meat refers to meat from an animal that may have had the non-problematic abrasions.  Glatt kosher means that the animals were held to a higher standard of kosher because there were no abrasions at all so no judgement was needed to determine if it's kosher or not.  It's considered a higher standard of kosher because it minimizes the element of human error in determining the kosher/non-kosher classification.  As such, many people will only eat meat/chicken products that are glatt Kosher.  I assume that your caterer offered both regular kosher (which is less expensive) and Glatt kosher meat at the facility.  Being that people who eat only glatt kosher are more stringent, they would likely insist that their food not be prepared in the same pots etc. as the regular (stamm) kosher meat.