[Avodah] Treifot question

[Dr. Josh Backon]

>To paraphrase R' YBS - I don't know the halacha or the science but:
>Can current x-ray, MRI, PET technology provide clear enough data to
>check a cows lungs for kashrut?
>Is ability to touch required or was this just the most efficient
>halachik approach available?

I would hope that Aishdas chaver Dr. Meir Shinnar, an internationally renowned
expert on Magnetic resonance imaging will reply to your query. As a non-expert,
it would seem reasonable that an MRI could detect lung adhesions (sirchot)
although it would cost a lot of money to do this. [At the medical school, we
did this on dogs who were given gastroretentive dosage forms and it was a
major "patchkerai"]

It's possible that new cheap terahertz imaging technology could do the trick.

On a purely halachic basis: Rav Herzog in Heichal Yitzchak ORACH CHAYIM
51 seems to permit "bedikot shel yediot ha'teva" (science) even with regard
to the status of an issur karet. Other poskim (e.g. Tzitz Eliezer IX 
37) discuss
whether one can do the nipuach ha'reyoht (inflating the cow's lungs) with a
bellows rather than inflating the lungs with the breath of the Shochet u'Bodek.

In my opinion, using new technology (which may be mutar) rather than having
a SHU"B check using the old fashioned way is overkill and would drastically
raise the cost of kosher beef.

KT

Josh