Buying fresh kosher fish from non-kosher supermarket

Diamond Member Joined: Sep 02 2007 Posts: 2715

Has anyone been told (by their Rav) that this is okay to do? If so, were there any requirements? (I.e. bring your own knives, only buy whole fish, etc..)

Executive Member Joined: Jun 04 2008 Posts: 463

my parents used to do it all the time, they were told to buy a whole fish my father used to clean it Smile

My husband was told by our Rabbi (we are sephardi so I can't definitly say for everyone) that fish has a different halacha as far as knives/pressure of a knife transferring taam etc. Basically fish does is 'soft' and doesn't pick up the flavor. We were told in order to buy fish from a non kosher market you have to know that the fish is a kosher fish (salmon) it has to have the scales/skin still on and it must be washed when you get home (in order to wash off anything that might be on the outside).

I have done this many times before. I know it appears to be pushing a line but halachically we were told there is nothing wrong with it.

Posted: Sun, Mar 07 2010, 11:09 pm Post subject:

As long as you bring your own knife, see that the fish is whole before they start cutting, and ask them to cover the surface w new paper or whatever, it's fine.
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Posted: Mon, Mar 08 2010, 2:36 pm Post subject:

This is the guideline from London Beth Din.

All frozen Kosher species of fish, whole or filleted, are permitted for Passover
provided some skin is still attached and no other ingredients have been added. It is
advisable to rinse the fish before use.

http://www.kosher.org.uk/documents/ApprovedProducts2010_000.pdf

Note they have two categories--certified and approved. The above comments on fish is for the latter.

Gold Member Joined: Jul 26 2008 Posts: 2098

I heard 2 different opinions:

- Bring your own knife and board, cut only from a whole fish.

- Fish is cold. As long as it's a kosher fish, there's no problem and they can use their own knife.

Diamond Member Joined: Sep 02 2007 Posts: 2715

A non-kosher supermarket had an excellent sale price this week for salmon fillet. So I just bit the bullet and called the Star-K to see how I should go about purchasing the fish. I was sure they would tell me it wasn't allowed, etc... To my surprise they told me to simply ask for a slab of farm raised salmon from the styrofoam box and to ask them to put clean paper on the scale before weighing it. That's it. We had inexpensive, fresh, delicious salmon for Shabbos.
No need to buy way overpriced, fishy and old smelling fish from the local kosher supermarket. Yay!

Gold Member Joined: Dec 25 2008 Posts: 2041

I buy nearly all my fish from a local vietnamese market that has amazing prices and quality. I have brought this same fish into the shul kitchen with no problem either.

salmonic fishes, according to the OU does not have to have skin on it when you buy it as there are no varieties of unkosher orange fleshed fishes. you can buy that yummy stuff at costco and just rinse it when you get home. some people might also run a knife over it gently and scrape it, but strictly speaking, it is not necessary.

all fish which is identifiable as kosher via skin, can be purchased anywhere. you should just familiarize yourself with what the skin should look like if it has kosher scales.

Posted: Fri, Sep 03 2010, 2:18 am Post subject:

you dont even have to use ur own knife as long as its clean and its cold, because all fish is done cold its fine to use their knife just wash it when u come home.