There are five primary acts which will disqualify a kosher slaughter. In Hebrew these are referred to as the hamisha poslei shechita (the five disqualifying acts). They are as follows:
1. shehiya/pausing – A pause during the incision renders an animal’s meat non kosher. The knife must move in an uninterrupted motion during shechita.
2. chalada/covering – The knife must be visibly drawn over the throat during slaughter. It must not be stabbed into the neck or blocked by fur, feathers, or any other objects.
3. drasa/chopping – The cut must be made using a back and forth sawing motion across the throat, not by chopping down as one cuts zucchini or radish.
4. hagrama/missed cut – The incision must be made in the correct portion of the throat. Roughly, below the vocal cords and above the bottom of the neck.
5. ikur/tearing – If either the esophagus or trachea are torn during shechita the animal is rendered unkosher. Tearing usually occurs as a result of a nicked or improperly sharpened knife.
The five forbidden acts are foundational to the laws of shechita. They were established thousands of years ago and are still being followed by all kosher slaughterers to this day. As it says in the shulchan aruch Yoreh De’ah 23:1 “Any butcher which does not know the laws of shechita it is not permissible to eat from his shechita. And these are the laws: shehiya, drasa, halada, hagrama, and ikur”
During studies on the effectivity of kosher slaughter performed by world renowned animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, it was found that when followed the hamisha poslei shechita will drastically reduce* or totally eliminate the animal’s reaction to the cut. It’s amazing that these age old laws have been shown to be effective when tested with modern scientific method. If you’re interested in learning kosher slaughter, these laws are the first thing to know.
* In studies, there was either no reaction or the reaction was equivalent to that of an animal receiving a vaccine or having a flag waved in its face. (Grandin Regenstein 1994)