What Fish and Fowl are Good for Food?
Many have asked for more specific
information on this question after reading Herbert Armstrong’s article "Is
all Animal Flesh good food?" The Bible itself defines what sea life is
good food. "Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas,
and in the rivers, them shall ye eat" (Leviticus 11:9). In verse
10, it is further clarified: "And all that have not fins AND
scales in the seas . . . they shall be an abomination unto you."
"But which fish have both fins
and scales?" is the question asked by many readers. Two points to remember
are that many fish have very small or minute scales, and some have merely
patches of scales near the head and the tail fin. In either case, such fish are
clean and fit for food.
First, let us name the commonly known unclean
fish — these are scaleless fish — which are not fit for food: catfish, eels,
paddlefish, sculpins, sticklebacks, sturgeons, and swordfish.
These fish do not have true scales. Together with these creatures are other
forms of sea life unfit for human consumption: abalone, clams, crabs, lobsters,
oysters, scallops, shrimp, whale.
The complete list of fish fit for human
consumption would be too lengthy to enumerate in this column. Only the most
important clean fish — having BOTH scales and fins — can be named. They are:
albacore, anchovy, barracuda, bass, black fish, bowfin, buffalo, carp,
characin, cod, croaker, darter, flounder, gaby, grayling, haddock, halibut,
herring, jack, mackerel, minnow, mooneye, mullet, needlefish, perch, pike,
salmon, sardine, shad, silver side, smelt, snapper, sole, sucker, sunfish, surf
fish, tarpons, trout, tuna, weakfish, whitefish. If any question arises about
other fish consult such books as Field Book of Fresh-Water Fishes by Ray
Schrenkeisen which may be found in public libraries.
Some people, who are not competent to judge
fish, have thought certain of these clean fish were without scales, but this is
not true.
The second part of the question concerns
fowl. Which birds are fit for human consumption? The answer is found in Leviticus
11:13-19 and Deuteronomy 14:11-20.
Each of these sections lists specific
varieties of birds unfit for human consumption. No clean birds are
listed. Only about two dozen unclean birds are listed out of thousands found
the world over. These unclean birds illustrate the characteristics of all
unclean birds. They fall into types each of which is unclean "after
its kind." The question is, how do these unclean birds differ from those
known to be clean or fit for human consumption? The characteristics of clean
fowl are, of course, determined by the dove and the pigeon (Luke 2:24
and Leviticus 1:14-17) which were anciently used for sacrifice.
By comparing the differences between these
clean birds and those listed as unclean, we can arrive at the following six
characteristics of clean birds: 1) they must not be birds of prey; 2) they
catch food thrown to them in the air, but they bring it to the ground, where
they divide it with their bills, if possible, before eating it; whereas unclean
birds devour it in the air, or press it with one foot to the ground and tear it
with their bills; 3) they must have an elongated middle front toe and a hind
toe; 4) they must spread their toes so that three front toes are on one side of
a perch and the hind toe on the other side; 5) they must have craws or crops;
6) they must have a gizzard with a double lining which can easily be separated.
(Consult articles in Jewish Encyclopaedia under "Poultry," and
"Clean and Unclean Animals.")
Clean birds have all these characteristics; unclean
birds lack one or more of these characteristics. If a bird lacks any one of
these characteristics, it is unclean.
Beside the pigeon and dove, the following
birds are clean: chicken, pheasant, quail, partridge, grouse, turkey, all song
birds, ducks, geese, swan (the word swan is a mistranslation in the King James
Version).
Unclean birds not listed specifically in the
Bible are roadrunners, woodpeckers, and the parrot family (which divide their
toes so that two are on either side of a perch); aquatic and wading birds and
gulls which have no crops or craws, no double lining of gizzards, and often no
hind toe or no elongated middle front toe.
MEAT:
Antelope, Beef, Buffalo, Deer, Goat, Hart,
Lamb, Mountain sheep, Ox, Roebuck
FISH:
Albacore, Anchovies, Bluebill Sunfish,
Bluefish, Bowfin, Buffalo fish, Butterfish, Carp, Chubs, Cod, Crappies,
Flounder, Fresh water mullet, Groupers, Grunts, Haddock, Hake, Halibut,
Herring, Kingfish, Mackerel, Mullet, Pike, Pilchards (sardines), Red snapper,
Redfish, Salmon, Sea Bass, Smelt, Striped Bass, Trouts, Tunas, White Fish,
Yellow Perch
FOWL:
Chicken, Dove, Duck, Geese, Grouse,
Partridge, Pheasant, Pigeon, Quail, Turkey, all song birds
MEAT:
Bacon, Dogs, Ham, Horses, Hyenas, Lizards,
Mice, Pork (including lard), Pork-sausage, Possums, Rabbit, Rats, Skunks,
Snakes, Spiders
FISH:
Abalones, Bullheads, Catfish, Clams, Crabs,
Crayfish, Eel, Lobster, Mussel, Octopus, Oysters, Scallop, Shark, Shrimp,
Snails, Squid, Sturgeon, Whale
FOWL:
Gulls, Parrots,
Roadrunners, Woodpeckers, all others not specifically listed as clean.
OTHER:
Jello & Marshmellows
sometimes contain pork-based gelatin (if they have a "K" for Kosher,
they are probably all right), any saltine cracker that states it uses animal
shortening (usually lard), and anything else that states it uses animal
shortening.
IF IN DOUBT, AVOID ANYTHING NOT
SPECIFICALLY LISTED AS CLEAN