Sechora - Gelatin

QUESTION: May I buy and sell non-kosher gummy bear candies or marshmallows?

ANSWER: Gummy bear candies and marshmallows are made with gelatin. There is a dispute among poskim as to whether gelatin made from the bones and hides of non-kosher animals is kosher or not. The accepted custom is to consider gelatin made from non-slaughtered animals as not kosher, but it is not clear whether this gelatin should be considered a Torah prohibition or only a Rabbinic prohibition (See Igeros Moshe YD 2:32). If it is only a Rabbinic prohibition, one is permitted to do business with it.

Another approach to be lenient is that some poskim rule that if the non-kosher is only an ingredient in a product, one may be lenient and do business with this product (See Darchei Teshuva 117:63). The question of doing business with non-kosher gummy bears was posed to Rav Belsky zt”l, and he ruled that since we are dealing with a possible Torah violation one should be stringent.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.