In Judaism, shechita is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to kashrut.
A 15th-century depiction of shechita and bedikah
Slaughtering poultry according to religious rules, Shalom Koboshvili, 1940
Shechita permit from Rome, 1762. Today in the Jewish Museum of Switzerland's collection.
Shechita slaughter of a chicken
Kashrut is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the term that in Sephardic or Modern Hebrew is pronounced kashér, meaning "fit". Food that may not be consumed, however, is deemed treif, also spelled treyf.
Kosher airline meal approved by The Johannesburg Beth Din
Cloven hooves in goats (upper left), pigs (lower left), and cattle (lower right). Horse hooves (upper right) are not cloven.
A 15th-century depiction of shechita
Kosher dairy dishes from the 19th century in the Jewish Museum, Berlin