[Avodah] New Raui LaAchilah Question

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 12:49:57AM -0400, mgluck--- via Avodah wrote:
:> 1- Could they be used for hot foods al pi din?

: From the abstract: "Chitin is an abundant biopolymer whose natural
...
: So we're talking about nanofibers of the crab shell (which, depending on the
: crab, may well be edible). Per https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22539071,
...

Reading up more, I think it's the same halachic issues as gelatin --
assuming the original crab shell was edible. They are mechanically
separated out, then modified chemically (acetylated). At what point are
the resulting polysaccharides (the family of biochemicals that includes
chitin) no longer shellfish? Wiki says the same chitin is "a primary
component of cell walls in fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as
crustaceans (e.g., crabs, lobsters and shrimps) and insects, the radulae
of molluscs, cephalopod beaks, and the scales of fish and lissamphibians."
Does the fact that for convenience we used a crab rather than getting the
same result from salmon scales or mushrooms permamently taint the result?

Ah, with one other difference. C is no longer a threat. Their inevitable
choice to be meiqil is not a social factor in choosing chumerah. Although
consistency with gelatin probably is.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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