Q. Can I consume calcium pills which contain oyster shell?

A. In a article on Glucosamine and Chondroiton, (News – letter, September 2007), Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinical Coordinator of the cRc, writes: “Oyster shells are rock-hard and so clearly not a food that it is generally accepted that the shell itself is “kosher”; therefore, oyster shells are approved as a (very common) source of kosher calcium“.

Horav Shlomo Millers opinion is however, that if possible, one should abstain from calcium pills that originate from oyster shells, only when no other source is available, and they are a real need (used by medical advice) they could be used. (They are similar to horns and hooves of non-kosher animals).

Rabbi. A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a