On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Kosher food also distinguishes between meat and dairy products. They remain pareve if they kosher chicken pot pie not mixed with or processed using equipment that is used for any meat or dairy products.

Because of the complexities of modern food manufacturing, kashrut agencies supervise or inspect the production of kosher foods and provide a certification called a hechsher to verify for kosher food consumers that it has been produced in accordance with Jewish law. Jewish dietary law is primarily derived from Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14:1-21. The Torah permits eating only those land animals that chew their cud and have cloven hooves. The Torah lists winged creatures that may not be consumed, mainly birds of prey, fish-eating water-birds, and bats.

Certain domesticated fowl can be eaten, such as chicken, geese, quail, dove, and turkey. The Torah permits only those fish which have both fins and scales to be eaten. In addition to meat, products of forbidden species and from unhealthy animals were banned by the Talmudic writers. The classic rabbinical writers imply that milk from an animal whose meat is kosher is also kosher. As animals are considered non-kosher if they are discovered to have been diseased after being slaughtered, this could make their milk retroactively non-kosher. Rabbi Hershel Schachter argued that with modern dairy-farm equipment, milk from the minority of non-kosher cows is invariably mixed with that of the majority of kosher cows, thus invalidating the permissibility of consuming milk from a large dairy operation.

Breast milk from a woman is permitted. The situation of cheese is complicated as hard cheese usually involves rennet, an enzyme that splits milk into curds and whey. Because the rennet could be derived from animals, it could potentially be non-kosher. Only rennet made recombinantly, or from the stomachs of kosher animals, if they have been slaughtered according to the laws of kashrut, is kosher. Jews without Jewish supervision, even if its ingredients are all kosher, because very frequently the rennet in cheese is not kosher.

However, some such as Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik ate generic cheeses without certification. The eggs of kosher birds are kosher. Eggs are considered pareve despite being an animal product. Occasionally blood spots are found within an egg, which can affect the kosher status of the egg. The halacha varies depending on whether or not there is a possibility of the egg being fertilized.