Kashrut
Among the numerous laws that form "kashrut" are prohibitions on the consumption of certain animals (such as pork and shellfish), mixtures of meat and milk, and the commandment to slaughter mammals and birds according to a process known as "shechita". There are also laws regarding agricultural produce that might impact the suitability of food for consumption.
Legal aspects of ritual slaughter
According to rabbi Norman Solomon (2000), some Reform Jews regard ethics as more important than diet, and reject the very notion of kosher meat. Within the Conservative (Masorti) denomination of Judaism, there is a broad consensus of accepting meat from animals stunned before slaughter as kosher. With some exceptions, Orthodox Jewish communities uphold the prohibition on stunning before slaughter.